1% for Orchid Conservation “Good Faith” Agreement for Orchid Societies

Purpose: To raise money and awareness for in situ orchid conservation.

Fulfillment of Participation:

Donation: An orchid society agrees to donate 1% or more of net revenue each year towards the in situ orchid conservation organization or project of its choice. In situ orchid conservation is defined by the criteria in Exhibit B (Approved Organizations). The criterion is a broad definition of in situ orchid conservation from the buying of habitat to research that supports in situ orchid conservation.

Orchid societies can also contribute to its own in situ orchid conservation projects.

A quarter (.25 %) of the first 1% can be non-monetary donations including volunteering. Orchid Society’s boards will determine the fair market value of any non-monetary donations.

Donations above 1% can be any combination of monetary and non-monetary.

Initial and Continued Donation: An orchid society agrees to make donations to approved organizations (Exhibit B), during each of its fiscal years, or within sixty (60) days after the end of each fiscal year, in an amount not less than one percent (1%) of its net revenues (“One Percent Donation”) in accordance with the following schedule.

(a) Joining Date Occurs Within the First Six Months:  If an orchid society’s joining date falls within the first six (6) months of an orchid society’s fiscal year, the orchid society shall make the donations starting that fiscal year. 

(b) Joining Date Occurs After the First Six Months.  If the joining date falls after the first six (6) months of an orchid society’s fiscal year, the orchid society shall make the donations for the fiscal year immediately following the fiscal year that it joined. However, they can make donations in the fiscal year that they join in.

Reporting of Donation: Orchid Societies will report the amount of its donation and the recipient for a fiscal year to the administrator. This information will be held confidentially. It will only be used in a grand total for promotion to encourage other organizations to join the coalition and to measure how the coalition is doing.

Determination of Fulfillment: An orchid society’s board is the sole determinant of whether the society has fulfilled the 1% for Orchid Conservation “Good Faith” Agreement for Orchid Societies.

Notice of Joining or Termination: A designated board member of an orchid society will notify the Orchid Conservation Coalition administrator of a society’s participation or termination. Participation or Termination is executed upon notification.

Administrator: info@orchidconservationcoalition.org or the current administrator is Mark Sullivan at MarkSullivan@orchidconservationcoalition.org

1% for Orchid Conservation is a program of the Orchid Conservation Coalition. Participation in 1% for Orchid Conservation means you have joined the Orchid Conservation Coalition. This agreement is an agreement between coalition participants. The coalition does not have a board. All coalition participants have equal ownership of the coalition. The Orchid Conservation Coalition is a coalition in every sense of the word “coalition”.

Exhibit A

Trademarks

Exhibit B

Approved Organizations

Criteria for what define a contribution towards fulfillment of 1% for Orchid Conservation.

The underlying premise following the criteria is to give the spirit of what the criteria is trying to accomplish.

Ex situ orchid conservation:

Non-profit organizations that have a collection of species orchids with which they have an active and organized propagation program from which they both sell or give freely the resulting species orchids. Propagation is done vegetatively and from seed resulting from pollination of their species orchids. Neither the lab work nor the raising of seedlings necessarily has to be done by the non-profit organization.

The underlying premise of this ex situ orchid conservation criterion is that a collection of species orchids is not conservation, but by actively propagating and disseminating orchid species to the public the availability increases in the market place and reduces the need to collect (legal or illegal) orchids from their natural habitat. While orchid conservation education is important, it is not enough solely to have an impact on in situ orchid conservation.

In situ orchid conservation:

1. Non-profit organizations that directly buy or work with other non-profit or government agencies to buy orchid habitat in which native orchid species exists. Expenses can also go toward lobbying to buy, researching and evaluating orchid habitat for conservation, maintaining, and protection of the orchid habitat.

2. Non-profit organizations that directly buy or work with other non-profit or government agencies to buy orchid habitat in which native orchid species will be reintroduced into a habitat. Expenses can go toward lobbying, propagation and growing of the reintroduced orchid species, researching and evaluating orchid habitat for reintroduction, maintaining, and protection of the orchid habitat.

3. A non-profit organization that as its primary function reviews grants and awards money to orchid conservation projects as outlined in the rest of these criteria. This non-profit organization should donate 70% or more of the money it collects to orchid conservation as outlined in the rest of these criteria. This leaves 30% for overhead, orchid conservation education, and other things. If the donation goes to a conservation committee of a large orchid organization then that the whole 1% must go to orchid conservation as stipulated in the rest of the criteria. 

4. The expenses of reintroduction of orchid species or the maintenance of already protected orchid habitat.

5. The buying of property or rights that directly insure the continuing protection of the conditions that makes a protected orchid habitat’s environment suitable for their continued protection in situ. Examples: The buying of right for any logging or extraction of minerals, oil, or water, and the buying of land for a protection barrier around the habitat or to keep a wetland from being drained, or a river from being dammed.

6. The study, habitat protection, and environmental supports needed for the protection or reintroduction of an orchid pollinator in which there are protected orchids of the pollinator in the reasonable vicinity.

The underlying premise of these in situ orchid conservation criteria is to protect orchids in their native habitat, the habitat, and their pollinators. The orchid habitat does not have to be owned by a non-profit but does have to be protected from destruction into perpetuity. The orchid habitat does not have to have a “rare” orchid in its bounds.