Conservationist

Note: This is being advertised in a single city, but all interested and qualified parties are encouraged to apply despite current location!

FishCat.org is a nonprofit organization focused on empowering global communities to help solve deforestation, extinction, and climate change. We partner with landowners to create FishCat Nature Reserves that can secure habitat for wildlife and provide talented conservationists with sustainable jobs and nature-based livelihoods.

We are looking for a passionate Conservationist to grow our Nature Reserves guided wildlife experience model from anywhere you are located. So far, we have three reserves setup and are looking to create more through your work with us:

1. FishCat Nature Reserve Gal Oya

https://goo.gl/maps/tZoECdYvksUaymHV7

(1 acre being reforested, 35 acres being protected)

2. FishCat Nature Reserve Raman

https://goo.gl/maps/igV3vUX9no2jstqa7

(60 acres being protected)

3. FishCat Nature Reserve Cedar Cove

https://goo.gl/maps/uz3egkTwnKNgBezQ8

(80 acres being protected)

Responsibilities:

As a FishCat Conservationist Guide, you will be responsible for the following:

— Building strong relationships with prospective landowners interested in partnering with FishCat to turn their land into a Nature Reserve

— Working closely with and providing the landowner with FishCat partnership contract documents to initiate guided wildlife experiences on their land while following all safety and legal compliance requirements as per local jurisdictions

[FishCat will provide all necessary details for the above]

— Posting photos and info on flagship species on the Nature Reserve as seen and experienced by you, and personally communicating with people

— Building on your fan base and people’s interest (prospective donors) in going on a safe, guided tour with you to see the species in the wild on the Nature Reserve

— Guiding small groups of donors on nature walks in the field to see species, participate in relevant conservation actions designed by you/FishCat, and have them donate to FishCat to support your contract help create more Nature Reserves

Ownership:

This is an independent contractor position with your choice of bi-weekly or monthly payments. Your payout depends entirely on the donor revenue generated by your guided wildlife experiences conservation services in the field. While nonprofits like ours have no owners, our model embraces your individuality, and you can view and operate these FishCat Nature Reserves as your own. Once you are settled in and financially stable, you can also visit your Fellow Conservationists' Nature Reserves worldwide and exchange ideas for better operations.

Execution Example:

You have spent your life studying bobcats and barn owls, and you go outdoors in nature to check on these species almost daily. Your photographs of these species in the wild and your work on helping protect their habitat through your research and conservation efforts have impressed many of your friends and fans who follow you. However, you have run out of funding to support yourself and your ideas to help protect these wild species, and you are not in a position to pursue your career due to a lack of sustainable financing. This is where our model comes in.

You can partner with a private landowner who, let's say, owns a 50-acre property that is habitat to your favorite species. You know this landowner personally, or you can build a strong relationship with them through your network, and you know the landowner is deeply interested in nature conservation. You can now tell them that you are a Conservationist with FishCat.org and can help establish manage their land as a FishCat Nature Reserve. Once the landowner is onboarded with our partnership contract tailored to meet all legal and safety compliance at the local and global scales, you can begin to execute guided nature walks with your followers and fan base. People have paid exorbitant amounts to see photograph wildlife through corporate tours; we are here to provide this same access to our Conservationists who passionately work to protect and restore landscapes and are already the most invested in protecting and restoring habitat for their favorite species.

Think of your Nature Reserves as outdoor zoos without the borders, the structures, and the hierarchies. You set the group size and pricing for your guided nature walks, keep track of how much donors contribute via FishCat.org, and share progress with our CPA and core team on revenue you have helped generate for FishCat. You then decide what payout is appropriate to you based on the donor revenue runway you have helped create for FishCat.

Contract Payments:

Contractor payouts should ideally not exceed 50% to help ensure healthy donor revenue runways in FishCat's accounts. To our knowledge, this beats any corporate sales commission offering. In some cases of greater need, up to 70% can be granted based on review by our core team members, who are also Fellow Conservationists.

We have only just begun, and our current retainer independent contract payouts in Sri Lanka and India are currently ranging around $100-$300 per month; however, you can work your way up to payouts around $1000-$3000 per month or higher depending on your ability to engage higher numbers and levels of donors in the field. We recognize that living wages vary from country to country, and you can leverage our global team of conservationists to bring in donors to you. As an example, if you take 5 of your fans/followers out on a 5-hr day hike to see bobcats or barn owls, and each of your fans decides to donate $50 for your field guide service to them, you make $250 for FishCat, and you get to keep $125. The other half helps FishCat ensure financial sustainability for all our operations.

Our core mission is to enable financial sustainability for all conservationists, and you can count on the core team as your support system for job security over the long run. Our incredible network of Conservationists will be by your side and help you build relationships until we see you through to success while you execute on this model both for yourself and our mission.

Financial Sustainability:

To ensure financial sustenance at FishCat, we invest the remaining 30-50% cash floats into maintaining our operations, i.e., core team member salaries, consultant fees, endowment fund, web development, business service expenses, office needs, field uniforms, and field supplies. This helps continuously improve the overall FishCat.org experience and model.

Impact:

At FishCat, we are an 8-year-old startup company recently de-structured to form a network with no supervisors, only supporters. We are now 16 Conservationists strong and growing. Essentially, your work conserves nature and fundraises for us as a whole to provide more of our Fellow Conservationists with sustainable jobs across the world and incentivize more landowners to turn their lands into FishCat Nature Reserves Legacy. We believe this conservationist-built, community-based, scalable, ubuntu-inspired operation can help solve deforestation, extinction, and climate change.

FishCat Support Network:

• A global network of like-minded conservationists
• Continuous training mentoring by Core team
• Access to all FishCat Nature Reserves
• Business resources from FishCat
• Core team support 24x7x366
• FishCat.org field uniforms

Core Team Eligibility:

Being a core team member is a major commitment, and comes with an incredible amount of responsibility. You can be a core team member if you can commit to the abovementioned points of helping manage FishCat's business operations and providing round-the-clock support to our network of Conservationists. You can also graduate to apply for a salaried core team position once you have delivered 2 years of consistent service and impact through donor engagement, Nature Reserve establishment, and conservation success as vetted by our current core team.

If you are a passionate conservationist interested in building and growing your career with this opportunity, please reach out with a personal message to us and your LinkedIn profile.

Job Types: Full-time, Part-time, Contract

Pay: $100.00 - $3,000.00 per month

Schedule:

• Day shift
• Monday to Friday
• Night shift
• Weekend availability

Application Question(s):

• Dear Prospective FishCat Contractor,

This personality test is a part of our hiring/contracting process at FishCat. It will take you about 5 mins to complete — please send us a screenshot of your resulting graph and score: https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/MACH-IV/

Thank you,
HR Team

• If possible, please share your Linkedin so we can connect you to our worldwide Conservation team!

Education:

• Associate (Preferred)

Experience:

• Conservation & Forestry Scientists: 1 year (Preferred)

License/Certification:

• Driver's License (Preferred)

Willingness to travel:

• 100% (Preferred)

Work Location: Multiple Locations