Capitalizing Conservation: Land Conservation Crowdfunding Platform Gives 100%


“I want to disrupt the crowdfunding industry” Galen Guerrero-Murphy, Founder of Natural Capital Network told me. “I can’t stomach taking 10% of your capital, or 5% like so many other crowdfunding platforms do.  I’m not doing this for capital. I want this to be a sustainable model, of course, but Natural Capital Network is here to turn capital into natural capital.”


“When I started this project I wanted to bring an understanding of land conservation to the masses.  I appreciate that getting money into land conservation is challenging. I’m trying to make land conservation exciting and appealing to popular culture. It is and it should be. It’s all that sustains us. It’s all based on the land. I’m sitting at my computer inside, but If there’s no land outside, I have nothing,” Guerrero-Murphy said.

“So, what exactly is natural capital?” I asked Guerrero-Murphy. “Why should it matter to me?”

“Let’s use preserved, coastal wetland on the Gulf States as an example,” he said. “It [the wetland] is providing for every coastal community the service of erosion control. If you sacrifice the wetland to build a house or dredge it for a new shipping channel what you’ve lost is that system for erosion control. You now have oceans churning at coastlines. Eventually, you lose the coastline and houses are falling into water. You see this along every coast when you get rid of coastal wetlands. The wetlands are the natural capital. They provide an ecosystem service of natural erosion control. You now have protection for homes and business, for everything along the coasts.

“We often think of water and lumber as natural capital. You can put a dollar sign on timber and on water- the goods. But, we haven’t figured out the dollar value of water purification or services or erosion and flood control. It's very difficult to calculate those values! There is always a valuable investment to be had in ecological conservation and there are financial returns somewhere in the long term and maybe in the short term too. Land conservation is absolutely a savvy investment,” Guerrero-Murphy explained.

Natural Capital Network seeks to understand and convey the value of ecosystem services and natural capital in a larger way.  They do this by partnering with their projects as they try to raise capital. They stand behind the organizations they support, building trust for the donors and bringing integrity to the crowdfunding industry.

“I’m going to work intimately with organizations in their project and provide consulting and advising for them. [For example, we will ask questions like:]  How do we frame the mission and vision?  What’s the budget and strategy? And, how do you want to design this campaign page? Do you want it to be 30 days or six months? These are options I offer to any project,” Guerrero-Murphy told me.




“How did you convince these farmers to not sell out to corporations who could probably offer them more money to develop their land?” I asked Guerrero-Murphy.

“The idea was introduced in one subak or irrigation district. They have a community and governance structure to manage the water of that region. There is a democratic structure for everyone to engage and come together to talk about what we are going to do.  They came to a consensus to not sell out to another ‘McMansion.’



Introducing land conservation to the island of Bali. I’d say you’re disrupting more than the crowdfunding  industry, Galen.  Somehow, I've always known you would find a powerful way to channel your natural inclination to disrupt things.  Way to go, Guerrero-Murphy.
