The Explorers Club St. Louis

The Explorers Club is an international multidisciplinary professional society dedicated to the advancement of field research and the ideal that it is vital to preserve the instinct to explore. Founded in New York City in 1901, The Explorers Club promotes the scientific exploration of land, sea, air, and space by supporting research and education in the physical, natural and biological sciences. The St. Louis Chapter of The Explorers Club was founded in 1988 by Audrey Spafford Jung who also served as the first Chairman. Audrey, a cave explorer, was one of the first women admitted as a member of The Explorers Club and the current Chairman is Ms. Marguerite Perkins Garrick. The St. Louis Chapter of The Explorers Club is a partner of the Bhutan Foundation supporting our research on tigers in Bhutan.

The GEF Small Grants Program

The GEF Small Grants Programme was established in 1992, the year of the Rio Earth Summit. It embodies the very essence of sustainable development by “thinking globally acting locally”. By providing financial and technical support to projects that conserve and restore the environment while enhancing people’s well-being and livelihoods, SGP demonstrates that community action can maintain the fine balance between human needs and environmental imperatives.

SGP recognizes that environmental degradation such as the destruction of ecosystems and the species that depend upon them, increasing levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, pollution of international waters, land degradation, and the spread of persistent organic pollutants are life-threatening challenges that endanger us all.

The program provides grants of up to $50,000 directly to local communities including indigenous people, community-based organizations and other non-governmental groups for projects in Biodiversity, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, Land Degradation and Sustainable Forest Management, International Waters, and Chemicals.

Health Volunteers Overseas

Health Volunteers Overseas was founded in 1986 by Dr. Garry Hough and Dr. James Cobey as an incorporated division of Orthopaedics Overseas. HVO was borne from the work that Orthopaedics Overseas had already done to help the health workers and their patients in developing countries to provide “a maximum good at a minimum cost.” The second part of HVO’s founding vision was outlined by Dr. Ralph Crawshaw: doctors would use their expertise in a more meaningful way by bringing that knowledge to the far-flung areas of the world that lack the same expertise and educational opportunities. HVO is committed to improving access to and quality of heath-care education, training, and professional development of health workers in resource-scarce regions of the world. Additionally, HVO strives to design and implement scalable and capacity-building projects that will strengthen and empower health workers worldwide. Since 1986, HVO has expanded its operations to over 25 countries with more than 85 projects and welcoming approximately 500 volunteers annually. Health Volunteers Overseas has been working in Bhutan for over 20 years, during which time they provided support and trainings to doctors, surgeons, nurses, dentists, and physical therapists building capacity in Bhutan. HVO is working with the Bhutan Foundation and Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital of Thimphu on emergency medicine programming to train health-care professionals on better emergency medical services practice.

Hoffman Creative

Hoffman Creative is motivated by their fascination with people: how they relate to one another and how they engage with the world around them. They are driven by understanding how culture evolves and develops. They are interested in the complex, delicate interplay between human behavior, brand and business. They believe that design can be a powerful agent for positive change.

Their work is ultimately about confidence building. Hoffman Creative helps their clients understand the value of what they have, and how to communicate it powerfully. They help the clients’ brands to flourish.

Hoffman Creative engages in brand and identity, web, print, art direction, film, packaging, strategy, copywriting, and naming.

Karuna Foundation

The Karuna Foundation supports organizations in developing countries in mitigating carbon emissions and helping humans and ecosystems adapt to the changes associated with climate change. This mission comes from a belief in the need to atone for the environmental sins of unrestrained industrialization of the developed world, which is responsible for much of the climate change we are experiencing today. The world’s poor who are living in the developing world are feeling the effects of climate change most harshly, and it is the aim of the Karuna Foundation to mitigate further disruptions and provide support to the populations feeling the effects of climate change. The Karuna Foundation is currently working in partnership with the Bhutan Foundation on the Himalayan Environmental Rhythms Observation and Evaluation System (HEROES) Project in collaboration with the Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Environment. Together, we are also working on broader projects for environmental conservation and awareness throughout Bhutan by supporting the Bhutan Ecological Society, UWICE, and the Royal Institute of Law.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was incorporated in 1861. The MIT community is driven by a shared purpose: to make a better world through education, research, and innovation. Through teaching, research, and innovation, MIT’s exceptional community pursues its mission of service to the nation and the world.

The MIT’s mission is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

The Institute is committed to generating, disseminating, and preserving knowledge, and to working with others to bring this knowledge to bear on the world’s great challenges. MIT is dedicated to providing its students with an education that combines rigorous academic study and the excitement of discovery with the support and intellectual stimulation of a diverse campus community. They seek to develop in each member of the MIT community the ability and passion to work wisely, creatively, and effectively for the betterment of humankind.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was founded in 1958 to encourage peaceful applications in space science. NASA facilitates the expansion of our understanding of the Earth and the universe through human spaceflight programs and unmanned robotic missions around the solar system. In addition to looking outward, NASA scientists also use technology to look inward, researching Earth science and climate change. Education and outreach is also a major part of NASA’s mission, as they engage with the public, educators, and students to facilitate curiosity and knowledge in STEM.

Perkins International

The Perkins Institute is a progressive, multifaceted organization committed to improving the lives of people with blindness and deafblindness around the world. The Perkins mission is to prepare children and young adults who are blind or deafblind with the education, tools, and skills they need to realize their potential. The Perkins organizations include not only the original founding school for the blind, but also Perkins International, Perkins Solutions, Perkins eLearning, and the Perkins Library. Perkins International was founded in 1989 with the sponsorship of the Conrad H. Hilton Foundation. It was with this funding that the good and necessary work of the school was broadened, and its work was taken overseas. Perkins International currently has operations in 67 countries worldwide. It is estimated that Perkins International reaches upwards of one million individuals worldwide, up more than 800 percent in the last five years alone. Perkins International is working in parternship with the Bhutan Foundation to address the needs of children with moderate to severe disabilities. Perkins International will be working with the Ministry of Education of Bhutan, in collaboration with the Bhutan Foundation, on various special educational programming starting work in-country in Spring 2016.

Rubin Museum of Art

The Rubin Museum of Art is an arts and cultural hub situated in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood that encourages its visitors to make connections between contemporary life and the arts and culture of the Himalayas, India, and neighboring regions. The Rubin houses a vast array of exhibitions from ancient to contemporary works in its special exhibits and offers a wide variety of programming (films, concerts, and dialogues) that hope to inspire personal discovery and illumination toward new ways of seeing the world through cross-cultural connections. The Rubin values community access and engagement in an environment that fosters creativity and further scholarship. The Rubin brings art and culture to all, the old-aged and youth alike, through their educational, family-oriented, and unique programming for those with dementia and Alzheimer’s. The Rubin Museum has worked in collaboration with the Bhutan Foundation to bring programming on Bhutan to New York City. Most recently, the Rubin and the Bhutan Foundation worked to bring The Dragon’s Gift: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan to the Special Exhibits collection at the Rubin.

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution was founded in 1846 based on the legacy of British scientist James Smithson, who had a vision for establishing an institution in Washington for “the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.” Today, the Smithsonian is the world’s largest museum and research center with 19 museums and galleries, nine research facilities, and the National Zoo in Washington, DC. The Smithsonian is a large production, employing 6,400 employees, including 500 scientists, and an additional 5,500 volunteers, all of whom research and/or curate a collection of more than 138 million objects, works of art, and specimens. In 2014, an estimated 28 million people from around the world visited the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian continues its mission toward the diffusion of knowledge through the preservation of heritage and history, the discovery of new knowledge, and the sharing of resources with the world. The Smithsonian provides its services free of cost to all, which it considers to be center to its mission. The Smithsonian Institution is contributing to environmental conservation programs in Bhutan. It also hosted the 2008 Folklife Festival in Washington, DC, featuring Bhutan.

Snow Leopard Conservancy

The Snow Leopard Conservancy was founded in 2000 based on the prior experience of its director, Dr. Rodney Jackson, who brings more than 30 years of experience working exclusively in south and central Asia with wild cats, particularly snow leopards. The Conservancy’s mission is to advance community-based stewardship of the snow leopard through education, research, and grassroots conservation action. The Conservancy engages communities to reorient perspectives of these animals from menace to valued community asset, and to encourage a healthy and sustainable relationship between these great cats and the humans who share the same environment. It is through this work that they hope to deepen understanding of these creatures, combining Western science with indigenous knowledge to provide a linkage between biodiversity conservation, reciprocal contribution, participation and responsibility, and monitoring and evaluation. This work is carried out in 7 of the 12 countries where snow leopards can be found: Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, and Russia. The Snow Leopard Conservancy is working with the Bhutan Foundation on the Jomolhari Snow Leopard Conservation program. The program’s other partners include the Jigme Dorji National Park, the Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Environment, and Bhutan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forests.

Squire Patton Boggs

Squire Patton Boggs (SPB) emphasizes quality, efficiency, and alignment with client goals as core standards to improve continually their service delivery and the value of what they do for their clients. SPB encourages and manages processes and tools to improve pricing models, training and resource optimization, knowledge management, and more, all centered on their core focus – delivering the services their clients want, when and where they want them and with the value they deserve. Squire Patton Boggs provides pro-bono services to the Bhutan Foundation in accounting, marketing, and other areas.

TSAO & MCKOWN ARCHITECTS

Tsao & McKown Architects, based in New York City, was founded in 1985 to answer the question of what architecture should be today. The firm believes in the need to put its global experience into the service of local cultures and contexts, where technology meets traditional methods of fabrication. They see that every project uniquely informs the next and that creating special spaces becomes a means to the spiritual. Tsao & McKown Architects works in partnership with the Bhutan Foundation on the restoration, adaptive reuse, and curation of Wangduechhoeling Palace, the birthplace of Bhutan’s monarchy. The Bhutan Foundation is very grateful to receive in-kind support from Tsao & McKown Architects in the restoration of Wangduechhoeling Palace.

U.S. AMBASSADORS FUND FOR CULTURAL PRESERVATION

The US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs established the Ambassadors’ Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) as an opportunity for sitting US ambassadors to participate in social diplomacy in addition to their political capacities. The Ambassadors Fund promotes mutual understanding between the United States and its foreign partners through educational and cultural engagement. AFCP supports projects for the restoration of ancient and historical buildings, the assessment and conservation of rare manuscripts and museum collections, the preservation and protection of significant archaeological sites, and the documentation of vanishing traditional craft techniques and indigenous languages. In addition to providing support for the aforementioned projects, AFCP also provides support for other cultural programming and educational exchanges. The U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation is working in partnership with the Bhutan Foundation in supporting the restoration, adaptive reuse, and curation of the Wangduechhoeling Palace, the birthplace of Bhutan’s monarchy. The other partners of this project include the Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs, Tsao & McKown Architects, and the World Monuments Fund.

Wildlife Conservation Society

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) was founded in 1895 with a mission to save wildlife and wild places around the globe through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value the nature that we all rely on. WCS hopes to create a world where wildlife thrives on Earth with a society that embraces wildlife diversity and values the integrity of life throughout the Earth. WCS sees that there are four primary issues around wildlife and wild habitats: climate change, natural resource exploitation, the connection between wildlife health and human health, and the sustainable development of human livelihoods. The Wildlife Conservation Society is currently working broadly on environmental conservation in Bhutan and more specifically on snow leopard conservation programming.

Yale University

Yale University, School of Public Health, was founded more than a century ago and focuses on research, policy analysis, and training of researchers, practitioners, administrators, and educators to go out into the world to provide a positive impact on the health of populations both in the United States and abroad. The School of Public Health provides Masters of Public Health and dual degree Ph.D. offerings to its enrolled students, which focus on preparing them to apply the knowledge they have acquired in the classroom to everyday situations following the receipt of their degrees. The program includes a wide study on health issues facing the world today, from the study of air pollution effects on respiratory health to the prevention and treatment of cancer and HIV/AIDS to greater research on global health governance and health-care policy and management. The Yale Himalayas Initiative is a unique program that works to support the development of undergraduate and graduate study of the Himalayas: history, culture, and language. The work away from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, includes the development of new and existing partnerships between the University and research institutes and NGOs to create research agendas and methodologies to promote scholarly and practical outputs. In this capacity, the Initiative has also facilitated workshops and conferences to bring scholars of the region together around themes of interdisciplinary and transregional interest. Yale University’s School of Public Health and the Yale Himalayan Initiative are currently partnering with the Bhutan Foundation on issues concerning national public health systems development in Bhutan. This program is being co-developed in collaboration with the Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan and the Ministry of Health.

MyBhutan LLC

MyBhutan LLC is a boutique luxury travel designer and outfitter specializing in bespoke journeys to Bhutan. Founded in 2013 by Matthew DeSantis, MyBhutan offers exclusive private experiences that provide deep cultural immersion while promoting sustainability and empowering local communities.

One of their signature offerings, Sangwa Camp, was featured in TIME’s World’s Greatest Places 2024 for its extraordinary luxury tented accommodations in Bhutan’s most secluded regions. Committed to environmental and social responsibility, MyBhutan ensures all guest travel is carbon negative and sponsors a child’s education for a year with every booking.

With a team of innovators and explorers, MyBhutan crafts personalized travel experiences that showcase Bhutan’s rich heritage.

Direct Relief

Direct Relief is a nonprofit humanitarian organization focused on improving health outcomes for people affected by poverty and emergencies. Founded in 1948, it provides medical assistance globally, offering vital aid in disaster response and supporting healthcare systems in over 70 countries. Direct Relief delivers emergency supplies, partners with local health providers, and funds energy resilience projects to ensure continuous care during crises. Known for its rapid response, the organization is committed to sustainability and expanding healthcare access worldwide.

IEEE Smart Village

IEEE Smart Village is an initiative by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) focused on providing sustainable energy and technology solutions in underserved communities around the world. Launched in 2015, the program aims to empower villages through solar energy and other renewable resources, fostering socio-economic development and improving quality of life. IEEE Smart Village engages volunteers, members, and partners to deliver impactful projects that address energy access, education, and health care. By combining technology with community engagement, IEEE Smart Village strives to create resilient and sustainable communities.

Moderna

Moderna is a biotechnology company pioneering the development of mRNA medicines, with a mission to deliver the greatest possible impact on people through innovative treatments. Founded over 13 years ago, Moderna has made significant strides in mRNA research and drug development, creating a new category of medicines that harness the power of messenger RNA to fight diseases in a novel way. With a rapidly expanding pipeline, Moderna is committed to developing therapies and vaccines faster, using cutting-edge tools like the mRNA Design Studio™.

Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the company operates in 18 locations worldwide, focusing on corporate responsibility, innovation, and creating an inclusive and collaborative environment for its employees. Moderna’s values—Bold, Collaborative, Relentless, and Curious—guide its efforts to build a healthier future, while its clinical programs and vaccines, like the SPIKEVAX® COVID-19 vaccine, exemplify the transformative potential of mRNA medicines.

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP is a prominent international law firm headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1868, the firm has a rich history of providing high-quality legal services across various sectors, including energy, technology, finance, real estate, and intellectual property. With offices in major cities around the world, Pillsbury offers a broad range of legal expertise and industry insights, advising clients ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies. The firm is recognized for its commitment to client service, innovation, and pro bono work, striving to deliver effective solutions in a dynamic legal landscape.

University of Texas at El Paso

The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university located in El Paso, Texas. Established in 1914, UTEP is known for its commitment to access and excellence, serving a diverse student body with a strong emphasis on educational opportunities for Hispanic students. The university offers a wide range of undergraduate and graduate degree programs across various disciplines, including engineering, business, education, and liberal arts. UTEP is recognized for its research initiatives, particularly in the fields of health sciences, engineering, and environmental sustainability, contributing significantly to the local and regional community.

Pangolin Crisis Fund

The Pangolin Crisis Fund (PCF), created by the Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN) in partnership with Save Pangolins and Re (formerly the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation), is dedicated to saving pangolins from extinction. Pangolins, the most illegally trafficked wild mammal in the world, are hunted for their scales, meat, and body parts, driving all eight species toward the brink of extinction. The PCF’s mission is to eliminate the demand, trafficking, and poaching that threatens pangolins globally. Through strategic investments in the best conservation projects, the PCF works to stop poaching, reduce trade and demand, and raise awareness about this little-known yet critically endangered species. With 100% of donations going directly to on-the-ground conservation efforts, the PCF plays a pivotal role in protecting pangolins and their habitats.