Big Life Foundation USA
On the ground in Africa, partnering with communities to protect nature for the benefit of all.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Big Life works to address the crisis of poaching and trafficking of ivory, rhino horn, and other endangered animal parts, as well as the rapidly escalating threat of human-wildlife conflict and habitat degradation while providing a mutual benefit through conservation to the members of the local Maasai communities who share these wild lands.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Wildlife Protection - Anti-Poaching
Big Life strives to prevent the poaching of all wildlife – including thousands of migrating elephants, a growing lion population, and critically endangered Eastern black rhinos – within our area of operation.
Anti-poaching was the first program focus when Big Life was established and continues to be the primary mission focus for the organization: to stop illegal wildlife crimes and arrest poachers.
Big Life’s rangers conduct extensive daily patrols on foot and by vehicle to gather intelligence, detect and intercept illegal activity, monitor activity via hidden field cameras, and use the latest night-vision and GPS technology to thwart poachers and prevent habitat destruction.
Rhino Protection
Big Life works in partnership with the Kenya Wildlife Service to protect the endangered Eastern black rhino population in the Chyulu Hills area. Together, we conduct extensive foot patrols, aerial surveillance, and monitoring via camera traps. We also provide reliable, year-round access to protected watering points in this remote wilderness area to discourage rhinos from wandering beyond our area of operation in search of water during the dry seasons.
In addition to monitoring and protecting the resident rhinos, Big Life has been working to improve infrastructure in the rhino area, the goal of which is to maintain Intensive Protection Zone (IPZ) status, which will allow for the future inbound translocation of rhinos from other territories.
Predator Protection
For Maasai herders, their cattle are their livelihood. When livestock falls prey to local predators, like lions or hyenas, the herders are financially disadvantaged and justifiably frustrated. To prevent herders from retaliating with spears or poisoned carcasses, Big Life incentivizes members of our partner communities to protect their livestock through improved fencing and husbandry practices.
In the event that an animal is lost to a predator through no fault of the herder, Big Life will compensate the herder for a percentage of the market value of the animal. This small consolation is significant to the Maasai, and as a result, retaliatory killings have been dramatically reduced in the area, with lion and other predator populations now on the rise.
Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation
As the human population increases, so do competing land-uses, such as farming and cattle grazing. Fighting for desperately limited resources like water and grass, humans encroach further and further onto what once were wild lands. With less space to share, people and animals now come into contact at an alarming rate, often with catastrophic and deadly results. Big Life works in partnership with the local Maasai to mitigate the impact of wildlife interactions, such as crop-raiding by hungry elephants, both for the people and the animals.
Education & Scholarships
Big Life invests in the future of participating communities by funding teachers’ salaries, providing scholarship funds for local students, and implementing conservation-specific curriculum in classrooms.
The latest UN statistics cite over 1 million children out-of-school in Kenya and lists education as one of the three most critical needs, besides clean water and access to healthcare, within the Maasai regions in Kenya. The desire for education is so strong that families will bankrupt themselves, often selling their cattle (the main livelihood and sustenance commodity) to put their children through school.
Big Life currently offers merit and need-based scholarships, both in the short and long-term, to qualifying students, as well as covering the salaries of several local teachers.
Maasai Olympics
In 2008, the cultural fathers of the new warrior generation asked Maasailand Preservation Trust—now Big Life Foundation—to help them eliminate lion hunting from the Maasai culture. In response, we partnered with the local Maasai to create the first-ever Maasai Olympics: the hunt for medals, not lions. This biennial event is a critically important—and effective—part of the initiative to create a cultural shift in attitudes of the Maasai toward a broader commitment to wildlife and habitat conservation.
Habitat Protection
There’s no point fighting to save wildlife if there’s no space left for animals to live. As the Greater Amboseli ecosystem changes, habitat for wildlife is being increasingly threatened and Big Life is prioritizing long-term solutions to save the natural spaces remaining.
Much of the Amboseli ecosystem is semi-arid and animals move vast distances as the seasons change. Protecting priority areas with strategic food and water resources, and the migratory corridors that connect them, is critical for maintaining a functional ecosystem that will support thriving wildlife populations for generations to come.
Community Support
The number one reason that Big Life’s wildlife and habitat protection efforts are successful is because the local Maasai community is a key conservation partner and benefits from the work. We understand that if conservation does not support the local community in very real and meaningful ways, including financial remuneration, then sustainable conservation efforts will not be possible. One of the best ways to ensure the long-term success of our conservation efforts is to directly support the community, not only through our employment of rangers and field staff, but also through lease payments, tourism revenue, and by supporting education and healthcare.
Where we work
Awards
Member 2016
1% For The Planet
Recipient 2016
Best in America Charities Seal
Top-Rated Charity 2016
Great Nonprofits
Member 2017
1% For The Planet
Recipient 2017
Best in America Charities Seal
Top-Rated Charity 2017
Great Nonprofits
Member 2018
1% For The Planet
Member 2019
1% For The Planet
Recipient 2018
Best in America Charities Seal
Recipient 2019
Best in America Charities Seal
Top-Rated Charity 2018
Great Nonprofits
Top-rated Charity 2019
Great Nonprofits
Recipient 2020
Best in America Charities Seal
Top-rated Charity 2020
Great Nonprofits
Member 2020
1% For The Planet
Affiliations & memberships
Combined Federal Campaign 2016
Combined Federal Campaign 2017
Combined Federal Campaign 2018
Better Business Bureau (BBB) Accredited Charity 2018
Combined Federal Campaign 2019
Better Business Bureau (BBB) Accredited Charity 2019
Combined Federal Campaign 2020
Better Business Bureau (BBB) Accredited Charity 2020
Charity Navigator 4-Star Rating 2019
Charity Navigator 4-Star Rating 2020
Charity Navigator 4-Star Rating 2021
Charity Navigator 4-Star Rating 2022
EarthShare 2022
External reviews

Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of kilometers patrolled by Big Life Rangers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Wildlife Protection - Anti-Poaching
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This reflects the total # of km patrolled to date since Big Life's inception in 2011.
Arrests since 2011
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Wildlife Protection - Anti-Poaching
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This reflects the total number of arrests made to date since Big Life's inception in 2011. The total for 2021 was 393 suspects arrested.
Poaching tools seized since 2011
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Wildlife Protection - Anti-Poaching
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This reflects the total number of poaching tools confiscated to date since Big Life's inception in 2011. In 2022, Big Life rangers confiscated more than 906 kg of ivory.
Number of Maasai rangers employed
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This number fluctuates and is an approximation. In 2022, Big Life employed more than 560 field staff--including 360 trained rangers.
Number of permanent outposts
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Wildlife Protection - Anti-Poaching
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
In addition to our permanent outposts, Big Life also has rapid deployment and tent-based field units who actively patrol the ecosystem.
Number of acres of land protected
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Wildlife Protection - Anti-Poaching
Type of Metric
Context - describing the issue we work on
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
in Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro ecosystem of East Africa
Number of student scholarships awarded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Young adults
Related Program
Education & Scholarships
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This includes students from primary and secondary school through university and medical school.
Number of teachers' salaries paid
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People of African descent
Related Program
Education & Scholarships
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Big Life invests in the future of participating communities by funding teachers’ salaries, providing scholarship funds for local students, and implementing conservation-specific curriculum.
Number of legal cases concluded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Wildlife Protection - Anti-Poaching
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
11 cases concluded in 2022. 862 cases remained ongoing at the end of the year, and Big Life continues to monitor their progress and status in court.
Number of lion hunts stopped
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Predator Protection
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Our rangers intervened to prevent 2 lion hunts in 2022, in collaboration with Lion Guardians and Kenya Wildlife Service. Zero lions were killed in violation of our Predator Compensation Fund in 2022.
Number of livestock animals killed by predators, for which compensation was issued
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Predator Protection
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
In 2022, Big Life compensated Maasai herders for the loss of 386 cows, 3,008 sheep/goats, and 35 donkeys as an incentive not to kill lions or other predators in retaliation.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Big Life Foundation USA (“Big Life") seeks to protect and sustain East Africa's wild lands and wildlife, including one of the greatest populations of elephants left in East Africa.
As the first organization to support coordinated anti-poaching teams operating on both sides of the Kenya-Tanzania border in East Africa, Big Life recognizes that sustainable conservation can only be achieved through a community-based collaborative approach, which is at the heart of Big Life's philosophy: when conservation supports the people, the people will support conservation.
Big Life's vision is to establish a successful holistic conservation model across the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro ecosystem that can be replicated throughout the African continent.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Big Life pursues its mission by utilizing innovative conservation strategies and collaborating closely with local communities, partner NGOs, national parks and government agencies.
Our model is scalable and replicable. By leveraging our partnerships, we can contiguously expand our areas of operation and provide guidance for other partners throughout Africa interested in creating the kind of community partnerships we're pioneering across the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro ecosystem.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Big Life Foundation USA supports one of the largest employers of local Maasai in the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro ecosystem (Big Life Kenya), helping to fund hundreds of rangers and support staff on the ground in Africa to protect wildlife and wild lands for the benefit of all. Our headquarter offices at Mbirikani Group Ranch include a mechanic garage for vehicle repair, barracks and employee housing, and administrative offices. Field operations currently feature 32 ranger outposts, 14 Land Cruisers, 11 rapid deployment units, 2 tracker dogs and handlers, and 2 airplanes used for aerial surveillance. In Tanzania, we've partnered with The Nature Conservancy and Honeyguide Foundation to implement Big Life operations in critical areas along the border.
In addition to our on-the-ground programs implemented by Big Life Limited Kenya, Big Life Foundation USA collaborates with two Big Life entities outside of Africa, whose shared focus is to provide fundraising and administrative support. Big Life Foundation USA is a registered charity and has three full time employees and a Board of Directors. Big Life Foundation Canada and Big Life UK are also registered charities in their respective countries and are governed by independent Boards of Directors.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Big Life Foundation USA helps to fund Big Life Kenya's rangers, who have patrolled more than 4.5 million km across the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro ecosystem, made over 4,200 arrests of wildlife criminals, and confiscated more than 5,900 illegal tools and weapons from poachers and traffickers since our inception. In addition to creating a stable work force and investing in the local community through education and scholarships, Big Life has managed to turn conservation of wildlife species into a money-making venture for the communities such that poaching and retaliatory killings have been significantly reduced.
Now that the ecosystem is known to poachers as protected, we face new challenges. One is the need to create a stable funding source so that our current area of operation continues to be successfully protected for decades to come, but also to increase our funding resources so that we may expand contiguously to adjacent areas. In particular, we need to expand our predator compensation program to additional ranches. A second challenge is related to human population expansion: as community farms encroach on wildlife migratory corridors, so will the incidences of human-wildlife conflict (HWC) increase. Our tactics must evolve to mitigate HWC as well as protect from illegal poaching.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time, It is difficult to get honest feedback from the people we serve
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Big Life Foundation USA
Board of directorsas of 09/02/2023
Greg Gubitz
No Affiliation
Nick Brandt
Orla Brady
Richard Bonham
Tom Hill
Dereck Joubert
Mike Silvestrini
Chris Sattler
Barry Turkus
Jon Cummings
Greg Gubitz
Temple St. Clair
Dickson Kaelo
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 09/02/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.