Collaborate

Thanks to your generous contribution, we will be able to promote excellent science to together achieve a single health of the planet and people! Currently, you have the opportunity to collaborate with CREAF through three options , among which you can choose the one that resonates with you the most:

• Science Center of Excellence Fund
  supports the mission and work of CREAF to advance the frontiers of science by acting as a bridge between academia, administrations, the private sector and society, in a safe, friendly and efficient work environment
• Citizen Science Fund
  promotes and energizes CREAF's citizen science projects, to together promote and lead open and participatory science throughout the scientific process, based on the direct cooperation of citizens as 'scientific volunteers'
• Research Fund for Forests of the Future
  includes i. Research Grants (support for Young and Senior Talent so that they can continue to advance in their leading research), and ii. Scientific Grants (promotion of responsible and sustainable applied forestry science, accompanied by an efficient work environment)

If you want to join science and accompany us in our mission as donors-collaborators of the center, you will have the opportunity to be part of our growing Community of CREAF Patrons and Friends.

Donations and grants to CREAF help us advance the Science of Excellence in Ecology, and its transfer of knowledge and innovation, through our work, so that we can continue to provide answers and solutions to together adapt ourselves and our ecosystems to the greatest challenges of Global Change and thus be able to face them together!

Thanks to your generous contributions, we can:

• supporting the talent of younger research staff as well as consolidating senior talent (scholarships and direct grants for doctoral, post-doctoral and senior research), taking care of personal development with equal opportunities
• develop new solutions for the climate emergency (new digital tools and methodologies, demonstration projects, participatory governance projects, etc.)
• continue to produce the scientific evidence needed to
  • inform public administrations-politicians-managers (reports, guides, manuals, training, etc.)
  • train people with tools and knowledge to make the best decisions in public debate (talks, participatory workshops, training, etc.)
• disseminate our science of excellence in ecology, climate change and biodiversity to society to promote a culture of knowledge and responsible environment ( training society through scientific dissemination, environmental awareness and education, cooperation and participation in scientific volunteering, scientific vocation, equal opportunities, etc.)
• act as a bridge to continue uniting the efforts of all actors in the territory to improve our environment in a comprehensive and sustainable way over time
  As a public center, we inform our collaborators, as well as the entire public who accesses our communication channels, in an open and transparent manner annually about the lines of work that have been able to be promoted, enhanced, accelerated and innovated thanks to the contributions of our growing Community of Patrons and CREAF Friends.

Ecology moves us! CREAF is a public research center that provides scientific evidence and solutions to solve the biggest and most complex challenges facing the planet and society in the 21st century with a major socio-economic-environmental impact (biodiversity loss, climate change, water scarcity, forest management, land use change, etc.). We have been providing knowledge and tools for +35 years around the world: conservation, management and adaptation of the environment and society to global change . With a global and holistic vision , we address each challenge, with a special focus on the Mediterranean (extremely vulnerable to climate change).

If you share our same values and want to join our collaborative science, accompanying us in our mission as donors-collaborators of the center, you will have the opportunity to be part of our growing Community of Patrons and CREAF Friends : let's go hand in hand with science for a rigorous and reliable knowledge society to achieve our global health together!

Now your donation costs you even less, whether you are an individual or an entity/self-employed person! We can offer you tax advantages for your donation/financial aid (tax deduction on your income tax return at the national/regional level, IS or annual expenses).

In addition, your sustained commitment and support for science is rewarded! With the legislative improvements at the regional level, and also at the state level, you have the opportunity to access greater benefits with the recurrence of your contributions by being part of our growing Community of Patrons and Friends of CREAF .

You will find all the details of the tax benefits you can enjoy here >fundraising-pdf-fiscals-cat.pdf (creaf.cat)

If you are interested and need to know more details about these advantages , please contact us at filantropia@creaf.uab.cat and we will help you in your donation process through CREAF.

As a public center constituted as a non-profit organization , we reinvest all the funding we receive for our activity in our purpose. We face increasing institutional challenges from the unstable and fluctuating socio-political-economic context that endangers our stability and sustainability to continue doing research of excellence in ecology to protect the health of our planet. That is why we reinvent ourselves and improve by innovating in the diversification of our strategy to be able to continue achieving our mission, vision and values. One of these innovations is materialized in our own CREAF scientific philanthropy strategy.

Our commitment to creating a culture of philanthropy for science aims to offer opportunities to people and entities with whom we share our institutional values -committed to quality environmental research and the health of the planet-, to connect and empathize, so that they can get directly involved with our science by collaborating with our cause. For this reason, these new institutional and professionalized strategies are required, which allow us to:

• to act as a bridge between science and society to together be the engine of progress and social-environmental change that we need to protect our global health
• Weave synergies between CREAF and the private sector (entities and individuals) to accelerate the social impact of R&D so that everyone can be better prepared for the future.
• promote collaborative applied science that solves global challenges, with greater value for society and private entities, collaborating with all key agents in the territory
• promote and consolidate complementary and diverse funding channels that allow improving, consolidating and raising the level of excellence of research in ecology and applied science and dissemination carried out at the center; while ensuring our competitiveness and institutional sustainability of CREAF

The main objective of the program is to promote excellent science and improve its applicability for greater social impact , thus ensuring that the results correspond to the needs and values of our society and are useful in the long term. For this reason, we now offer new and diverse opportunities for society (both entities and individuals) to collaborate and directly support CREAF's scientific research through social patronage, impact investment in sustainable CSR and planned strategic philanthropy.

Thanks to the generous support of committed individuals and entities, our growing Community of Patrons and CREAF Friends , we are one step closer to achieving a resilient future together for our health and that of the planet.

From the beginning, we have had our own CREAF 'Code of Ethics and Good Practices with the Private Sector', based on national and international standards, managed by our Philanthropy Coordinator and periodically reviewed by our own internal Philanthropy Commission of the center and an external Consultant expert in International Philanthropy.

Yes, and that's it! That's why, for example, exclusive digital Crowdfunding platforms for scientific projects (i.e. Goteo) were created a few years ago, due to the increasing demand and recognition from a society committed to a rigorous and reliable culture of knowledge, which wants to know and understand its environment. There are many success stories in the world in sponsorship and other formats of collaborative financing to support scientific research. Certainly, most of them so far are in the USA where there are hundreds of years of tradition in fundraising and social philanthropy (society is very aware of the power and impact of social sponsorship); but there are also more and more cases in Europe in the last 20-30 years (i.e. https://www.ihes.fr/soutien/ ).

The word philanthropy means “ love of humanity ” in the original Greek meaning. Focusing on what one can do best when one is at their best, when one uses it as their personal tool for change : serving, supporting, solving, catalyzing, innovating and partnering with others to achieve meaningful change together in our community, nation, society and planet.

The increase in competitiveness and the scarcity of resources for research and the environment (due to the fluctuations of the socio-political context and the critical economic crisis of a few years ago) have caused the research and ecology sector to find itself in a precarious and unsustainable funding model. The main global needs are still:

• training, retention and stability for the best research talent
• ensure equal opportunities (JEDI)
• R&D and knowledge transfer at the highest level of excellence
• have the best infrastructures of a public research center
• accelerate the social impact of scientific research

Therefore, our public university research sector is currently in a new stage of diversification and innovation with new intersectoral collaborations, as we as institutions face the growing challenge of diversifying our funding sources, for which a new strategy based on institutional philanthropy is being professionalized and integrated.

CREAF's Scientific Philanthropy strategy represents a framework for direct strategic collaboration between science and society in which we get involved by joining forces with companies, foundations and donors with whom we share values in the greatest challenges we face as a society and the possible joint solutions. The ultimate goal: to open up new complementary funding opportunities for research talent, promoting public-private collaboration as a direct funding route (through donations, sponsorships and other various formats of philanthropic aid) that allows us to promote more applied research, to accelerate the socio-economic-environmental impact of our research. For this reason, CREAF, as a public center established on a non-profit basis, initiated this new strategy at the end of 2019, with a new Office specialized in managing these collaborative relationships with the private sector (companies, foundations and individuals) with whom we share common interests, and thus be able to understand the current needs of society and create joint win-win value propositions to address them, managing these collaborations in a professional, strategic, honest and transparent manner.

CREAF (Centre for Research in Ecology and Forestry Applications) is a public research centre dedicated to terrestrial ecology and territorial analysis, established in 1987 as a non-profit consortium. Our mission is to act as a bridge between academia, administrations, private entities and society, promoting awareness and the exchange of collective knowledge for the protection of the planet. We are a leading centre in Europe and a Mediterranean "Hub" for science and innovation in ecology, awarded for the second consecutive time with the Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence award - the only one in terrestrial ecology - (Ministry of Science and Innovation), the CERCA 'A' Centre award (Catalonia), and the HRS4R award (European Commission).

Our team has an average of 250 people of multiple nationalities, and we have an OTM-R policy, our own Equal Opportunities Committee and Plan (JEDI - Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion), and our own Head of Research Social Impact and Strategy.