Kinship Conservation Fellows Set to Open 2009 Fellowship Applications with Stipend increased to $6,000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KINSHIP CONSERVATION FELLOWS SET TO OPEN 2009 FELLOWSHIP APPLICATIONS WITH STIPEND INCREASED TO $6,000

Market-Based Conservation Leadership Organization Provides an Increase of $1,500 to Each Fellowship Participant

Kinship Foundation

CHICAGO, IL, October 27, 2008 --/WORLD-WIRE/-- Kinship Conservation Fellows today announced that its stipend for Fellows will increase from $4,500 to $6,000 effective with the 2009 Fellowship. Applications will be available for Kinship’s eighth cohort of Fellows beginning November 3rd. Eighteen applicants will be selected to participate in the program, to be held at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington from June 24 through July 24, 2009.

"The increase in the stipend award reflects our commitment to the future of conservation leadership training," notes Kinship Director, Jim Tolisano. "We want to make certain that we provide the tools and resources that serious, career conservationists need in order to excel in their work.”

Unlike many other conservation training programs, Kinship is not tuition-driven. Instead, Kinship operates as a highly selective award program—one which recognizes that financial support not only defrays the cost to prospective Fellows, but at a higher level, confers value on the work that Fellows do

Kinship’s intensive, month-long program focuses on training conservation professionals in the use of market-based approaches to environmental issues. The program combines leadership training with business and economic tools while offering Fellows the opportunity to apply what they learn to an independent project. Ultimately, Fellows become part of Kinship’s active global network of conservation leaders.

During their four weeks living in the San Juan and North Cascades ecosystems, Kinship Fellows work directly with world class leaders in the areas of design, implementation and evaluation of conservation programs. Kinship's active fieldwork component gives Fellows the opportunity to learn from and respond to complex conservation issues within a real-world context.

The 2008 cohort of Fellows represented eleven countries from every corner of the earth, and joins Kinship Conservation Fellows alums who number more than 100. “Kinship Fellows have spurred major breakthroughs through brokering and sustaining several key business-ecology alliances,” said Tolisano. “Our Fellows have established carbon sequestration programs in Brazil, non-timber forest product businesses in Sierra Leone, sustainable ranching programs with indigenous communities in Australia, and sustainable forestry initiatives to protect tiger habitats in eastern Russia– the list is long and impressive. With an increase in our stipend, we hope to ensure that Fellows will have the resources they need to devote a month working with us and expanding these impacts.”

In addition to the $6,000 stipend, Fellows receive lodging and meals for their participation in the month-long program.

To learn more and apply online, visit www.KinshipFellows.org. 2009 applications will open on November 3rd, 2008. The deadline is January 31, 2009.

ABOUT KINSHIP
In 2006, Kinship Conservation Fellows became the new name for the groundbreaking program that launched in 2001 as the Kinship Conservation Institute. Kinship’s mission is to develop a community of leaders dedicated to applying market-based principles to environmental issues. For more information about Kinship Conservation Fellows contact Renee Michaels at (847) 714-1702, Renee.Michaels@kinshiptrustco.com, or visit www.KinshipFellows.org.