It’s graduation season in the United States and we are delighted to launch the Wild Tomorrow Education Fund, celebrating graduates everywhere while supporting access to conservation-related education. Read more in our story below and donate a graduation gift to help ‘pay it forward’ by supporting educational opportunities for less fortunate young people, women, and wildlife rangers.

A young kindergarten graduate at Theleluwazi Creche in KwaZulu-Natal South Africa, one of the two kindergartens supported by Wild Tomorrow. This is one of the young lives that you can positively impact by donating to the Education Fund, while also supporting her dedicated teachers.

May is graduation season in the United States with college students celebrating the end of their academic journey at University and their first steps forward in their professional careers. Graduation day is a very special day of celebration with friends and family. It’s also a day to be grateful for the opportunity to pursue an advanced education, which isn’t accessible to all.

We are delighted to launch the Wild Tomorrow Education Fund, celebrating graduates by providing an avenue to ‘pay it forward’ by supporting educational opportunities for others who are less fortunate and need support for training, education, and gaining experience in wildlife conservation.

Established in 2023 by the Nesci Family in honor of their daughter Izzy’s college graduation and the support she received from the Savage family, the Wild Tomorrow Education Fund is dedicated to supporting the education of future conservation leaders and deepening local connections to wildlife and wild places.

We first met Izzy Nesci when she was 15 and led a club at NYC’s Trevor Day School dedicated to supporting Wild Tomorrow’s work. Through bake sales and other creative student-led initiatives, Izzy and the club raised donations that helped fund the introduction of individual giraffe and zebra at Wild Tomorrow’s Ukuwela Reserve in South Africa. In her final year of high school, Izzy traveled to South Africa as a volunteer with Wild Tomorrow, ‘meeting’ the giraffe and zebra at Ukuwela, helping out at the community kindergarten, removing fencing to open habitat, assisting dehorn rhinos, and helping paint our new ranger camp. She did not stop there, and throughout her University studies, she continued her support as a volunteer at our events including leading Wild Tomorrow’s annual “Standup for Wildlife” Comedy Night fundraiser. As Izzy now graduates with a degree in Environmental Studies and Sustainability from Barnard College, she’s excited that her graduation can help fund educational opportunities for other young people, women, and wildlife rangers.

Izzy Nesci at one of the two creches supported by Wild Tomorrow in South Africa. This support includes daily school lunches for over 70 students, stipends for teachers, building new classrooms, vegetable gardens and more. Photo Credit: Charles Chessler.

The opportunities Izzy had to pursue her college education in New York City are not available to many young people in the US and around the world. In South Africa, education opportunities are deeply inequitable, and children in rural areas are falling behind. Additionally, in rural areas, many people are not able to fully appreciate their own country’s amazing wildlife as wildlife reserves are out of reach. Most have never seen an elephant, rhino, or giraffe.

At Wild Tomorrow, we believe it is vitally important to support individuals who are passionate about wildlife conservation yet do not have the access or financial resources to gain education, training, or equitable access to wildlife and wild spaces.

The goals of the Education Fund are to:

Support the educational needs of children in rural Africa including via our new partnership with Lessons in Conservation.
Supporting educational opportunities and field-experience for young underprivileged youth - both internationally and locally - who seek opportunities in wildlife conservation; and
Fund training programs for wildlife rangers and our Green Mambas all-women ecosystem restoration team.

Please join us and support the Wild Tomorrow Education Fund. As a graduation gift, your donation will build educational stepping stones for the future stewards of some of our planet’s most precious biodiversity.

GRADUATION DAY: LAUNCH OF THE EDUCATION FUND