Microsoft’s co- founder, Paul Allen donated USD 1 million to the great ape foundation, the Jane Good Institute, to help in the study and the protection for gorillas in Africa. This amount will go to the DRC to ensure that the animal’s subspecies are to extinct as well as assist in ocean research.
It has been noted that less than 5000 of the Grauer’s gorilla survive in the eastern part of the Congo. Fighting, poaching and illegal mining have threatened the survival of the species,
The foundation was launched by Paul G. Allen a philanthropist and Jody Allen in 1988. More than 40% of the Foundation’s funding in this cycle will fuel scientific research projects that have international reach.
“The Foundation is not afraid to fund projects and groups that fall outside a traditional funder’s radar, and absorb some risk in order to jumpstart experimental programs and breakthroughs in the communities we are passionate about,” said Susan M. Coliton, vice president of The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. “We fund with a purpose, and believe each of our grants has the potential to be a tipping point between status quo and real societal change.”
The Allen grant, though, is also planned to help fund gorilla sanctuaries, and equip rangers with GPS phones and tablets to record gorilla sightings and illegal mines and has donated close to USD10 million to African charities as well
Other important contributions include a set of 3-year grants to researchers studying Human Accelerated Regions (HARs) at the University of Washington, Max Planck Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital.