Conservation Wellness: The Standard & The Gate
Without the health of nature, health does not exist within our family. The wellbeing of the two are intricately combined.
Guaymí de Osa · The Ngöbe Indigenous Reserve · Costa Rica

"CW Certified" doesn't exist yet. The pilot decides if it should.

We could write a certification checklist today. We're not going to. A set of criteria with no field data behind it is a logo, not a standard. Costa Rica already showed the alternative, earning credibility first and recognition after. This is what the founding pilot actually tests, and how a lodge, practitioner, or NGO fits into it.

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Certifications issued so far, on purpose, until the data exists to justify one
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Metrics that gate the standard, published before a single criterion is written
Osa Only
Where the standard is being built first, and the only place it's committed to so far
THE GATE
Two numbers have to exist, in public, before a single certification criterion gets written.
The first is the NGO response rate: when guest funding actually reaches a frontline organization, does it send back a field report, or does the funding go quiet? The second is the repeat-donation rate: when a guest receives that report, does it change whether they give again. Only once both numbers are published from the pilot itself does a standard get written from what the data actually showed, not from what sounded good before anyone tested it.
Both thresholds are being set now, before enrollment closes, against published sector benchmarks for donor stewardship and retention, not chosen after we see how the pilot performs. Whatever those thresholds are, they'll be published alongside the results, not the other way around. Want the full reasoning behind why we're gating it this way? Read the Pilot Methodology.
THE STANDARD, DEFINED

The Conservation Wellness Standard

Currently in Pilot · Osa Peninsula

Here is where those two numbers come from.

Every certified stay or session in the founding pilot creates a moment tourism certification has never tried to measure directly: the point where a guest, mid-treatment, directs a contribution to a frontline conservation NGO of their choosing.

Not a percentage of the bill. Not routed through Conservation Wellness. Given directly, at the moment of care, so we can find out, in public, whether that NGO reports back, and whether the guest gives again.

The session heals the guest. We're building the proof that it heals the ecosystem too.
Certified Conservation Wellness

A founding pilot for what happens after the donation box.

We're running a six-month founding study to test a harder question than any existing certification asks: not just whether guests will give, but whether NGOs will show up for the guests who do.

✓

Conservation Wellness never holds or processes the funds. Guests give directly to the NGO they choose, at the time of certification, through that NGO's own donation channel. We record what was given, to whom, and by whom, solely to measure impact and report it back. Tax treatment of a contribution depends on the guest's home country and the receiving NGO's status there; we're not a party to the gift and can't advise on deductibility. Guests should confirm with their own advisor or the NGO directly.

How the Founding Pilot Works · 6-Month Study
01
Guest chooses which frontline NGO to support at the point of certification.
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The contribution and NGO choice are recorded, guest, amount, organization, building an actual funding history for that NGO over the pilot's first three months, before we make any ask of them.
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At month three, once there's a real three-month funding record to point to, we reach out to that NGO and request a short field report describing what those contributions actually funded, due within the following three months, not a receipt of thanks.
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Over the remaining three months, we track whether a qualifying report was sent, how long it took, and whether it led to a second donation. Many frontline teams are one or two people. Response time is recorded, not just response or silence.
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Guest Directed Giving
Guests choose which NGO their contribution supports, at every certified lodge stay or wellness session in the pilot.
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Field Restricted Impact
Funds bypass administrative overhead entirely. They go directly to frontline operations: the rangers, the patrols, the reforestation crews, the biological monitors.
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Measured, Not Assumed
Every organization that responds with a field report earns public recognition as a certified pilot partner. Every result, good or quiet, will be published at the end of the study period.
Become a Founding Partner No cost to join. Funds never pass through Conservation Wellness. Direct replies within a few days.
Pilot Study Categories · Osa Peninsula · Costa Rica

Organizations are named here only once they've responded with a verified field report. For the pilot's first three months, contributions accumulate and are recorded by focus area, we don't reach out to an NGO until there's an actual funding history to show them, not just a request. Outreach begins at month three, once that funding history exists.

Land · Reforestation & Corridors
Funds Accumulating
Contributions directed toward reforestation, biological corridor protection, and ranger supported land stewardship on the Osa Peninsula.
Pilot Tracking Active
Sea · Marine Patrol & Enforcement
Funds Accumulating
Contributions directed toward marine patrol, anti-poaching enforcement, and protection of the Golfo Dulce's coastal waters.
Pilot Tracking Active
Species · Research & Monitoring
Funds Accumulating
Contributions directed toward wildlife monitoring, camera-trap networks, and research supporting the Osa's most vulnerable species.
Pilot Tracking Active
ALONGSIDE CST, NOT INSTEAD OF IT

Two certifications, two different questions. Neither replaces the other.

i.

What CST Already Does

Audits how a property runs day to day. Rigorous, government backed, and not built to ask about conservation funding.

ii.

The Gap It Doesn't Cover

Whether a dollar from a guest's stay reaches a named frontline team, verified and reported back. That's what CW Certified, if earned, would fill.

iii.

A Second Layer, Not A Rival

A property could hold both: CST for how it runs, CW Certified for what its guests fund. Different questions, same shared goal.

The standard doesn't exist yet. The evidence is being collected in public.

READ THE FULL METHODOLOGY →
For Lodges & Practitioners

A limited founding cohort, not an open program.

Founding partners are certified first, named first, and shape the standard before it's finalized. There's no cost to join and no funds ever pass through Conservation Wellness. Guests give directly to the NGO they choose. We're keeping the founding cohort small and limiting it to the Osa Peninsula.

Become a Founding Partner Direct replies, typically within a few days.
For NGOs

Guests are already sending you funds.

If your organization works on the Osa Peninsula, contributions from certified guests may already be reaching you. We track those contributions for the pilot's first three months, then reach out directly at that point to ask for a short field report on where they went, due within the following three months. You don't need to wait for us, send us a field report any time, and we'll name and feature your organization as a certified pilot partner, with the traffic and visibility that comes with it.

Submit a Field Report We reply to every submission.
SOURCES
  1. Conservation Wellness. Pilot study methodology, currently enrolling; response-rate and repeat-donation thresholds published prior to enrollment close; results published at 3 and 6 months.
  2. Donor stewardship and retention benchmarks used for comparison: sector-wide nonprofit fundraising retention research (e.g. annual donor-retention reporting from organizations such as the Fundraising Effectiveness Project / AFP). Applied here as an external baseline, not as data collected by Conservation Wellness.
  3. Tax treatment of charitable contributions varies by donor country of residence and NGO status; Conservation Wellness does not provide tax advice. Guests should consult their own advisor or the receiving NGO.

The precedent this pilot is following, and the failure patterns it's designed against, are sourced in full on the Pilot Methodology page.