Headquartered at 1400 Maiden Ln in Del Mar, CA 92014, Nature and Culture International is a conservation nonprofit that has helped protect more than 21 million acres of endangered ecosystems across Latin America since its founding in 1997 by Ivan Gayler. The organization operates programs in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru, partnering directly with indigenous communities and local governments rather than imposing top-down conservation plans. That grass-roots model has earned Nature and Culture International a four-star rating from Charity Navigator and a $300,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation for its municipal watershed conservation work in Ecuador. Staff across the United States, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru number between 51 and 200 employees, with the Del Mar office handling accounting, administration, marketing, and development. Conservation efforts focus on creating legally protected natural reserves, restoring rainforests and threatened ecosystems, and establishing water funds that link ecosystem service payments to effective watershed protection. The organization's cost efficiency is remarkable — permanently conserving areas larger than some U.S. states for as little as $1 per acre. Fellow Del Mar conservation nonprofit WILDCOAST, located just minutes away on Jimmy Durante Blvd, shares a similar commitment to ecosystem protection along the California and Mexico coasts. Nature and Culture International's strategic goals include protecting more than 50 percent of natural habitat within 14 to 18 large biodiverse eco-regional landscapes and scaling up transboundary connectivity corridors. Residents interested in supporting Del Mar's broader nonprofit community can also explore the Del Mar Foundation at 225 9th Street, which provides grants and programming that strengthen the village's civic life.