Mission statement
“Rainforest Action Network (RAN) envisions a world where each generation sustains increasingly healthy forests, where the rights of all communities are respected, and where corporate profits never come at the expense of people or the planet.”
Size and organisational structure
With its headquarters in San Francisco, RAN has staff in Tokyo, Japan, plus thousands of volunteer scientists, teachers, parents, students and other concerned citizens around the world. RAN is a non-profit, tax-exempt corporation. It has a board of directors, 25 staff and seven honorary members.
Sources of funding
Money comes largely from the public, members, fundraising events and grants. In the year ending June 2011, RAN received revenue of $4.1m.
Leadership and key personnel
Lindsey Allen, acting executive director
Andre Carothers, chairman of the RAN board
Brief history
Founded in 1985 by Randy Hayes and Mike Roselle, RAN’s first challenge was to bring the plight of the rainforests to public attention through education, communication and direct action. It has won more than a dozen landmark commitments from America’s largest corporations, including Citi, Home Depot, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Kinko’s, Boise and Lowe’s.
Campaign sectors
To break North America’s fossil fuels addiction, protect endangered forests and indigenous rights, and stop destructive investments around the world through education, grassroots organising and non-violent direct action.
Campaigning highlights
2010: Eight top children’s book publishers pledged to eliminate controversial Indonesian suppliers Asia Pulp & Paper and Asia Pacific Resources International from their supply chains after RAN released a report: Turning the Page on Rainforest Destruction: Children’s books and the future of Indonesia’s rainforests.
1987: RAN’s first direct action campaign, a nationwide US boycott of Burger King, resulted in the fast food chain cancelling $35m of beef contracts in Central America and announcing it had stopped importing rainforest beef.
This profile is part of Ethical Corporation's special management briefing on activist NGOs
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