New Zealand has some of the most unusual animals to be found anywhere, and they evolved without any mammalian predators. People arrived late in the piece, and brought a nasty mix of predators with them- rats, stoats, possums, mice, cats, dogs.  A lot of species were wiped out almost before we even knew they existed.  Those that remain are often under severe pressure and, whilst there have been some brilliant advances, a lot of conservation work in New Zealand remains ambulance-at-the-bottom-of-the-cliff stuff: local predator control, and transfer of remnant populations to predator-free offshore islands. That is the type of work our charity funds. Visit Fauna Recovery New Zealand to find out more. If you sign up for updates on new products from BDG Synthesis, we'll also give you an occasional paragraph on some of these projects.

We are also concerned that New Zealand's social and educational indicators are falling behind other first-world countries. Since 1999 we have supported the Books in Homes program. This program targets 500 elementary schools in the lowest-decile areas, and aims to break the cycle of booklessness in many poorer families. 

By the time the children leave junior school, they will have up to 55 books each, chosen by themselves to keep for themselves.  They choose from a huge variety of book titles, some not that high-brow! Even if a child starts with a comic though, they will associate books with enjoyment rather than with compulsion. They may start a lifetime habit, and gain the tools to escape the poverty trap. Our charity sponsors 1050 children from 5 schools in the central North Island and we are a major supporter of the Kids at Home program, which gets books to preschoolers who have a big sister or brother at one of the schools in the scheme.