Mongabay welcomes Dave Martin as Development Officer

Over the past year Mongabay has experienced rapid growth, with our staff more than doubling, traffic to Mongabay-Indonesia surging 300 percent, and our contributor network expanding to 20 countries and more than 100 correspondents. Already the new year appears to hold the promise of further expansion.

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This year Mongabay plans to formally launch a Spanish-language initiative, Mongabay-Latin America (Mongabay-Latam). By the end of 2016 we hope to have daily Spanish environmental news reporting in a dozen countries across Central and South America.

This exciting growth requires additional resources. Accordingly, we’re pleased to announced that Dave Martin has joined our team as our development officer. Martin will work closely with Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett A. Butler on fundraising and outreach.

“We’re thrilled to have Dave as part of the Mongabay team,” said Butler, who launched Mongabay in 1999 out of his passion for nature and wildlife. “He will provide a tremendous boost to the organization, helping us inspire, educate, and inform more people around the world.”

Martin comes to Mongabay from a unique background – he has lived and worked in the Ecuadorian Amazon as a territory sales manager at Runa, an organic Amazonian beverage company that strives to improve the livelihoods for indigenous farmers in the Amazon. Previous to Runa, Dave had great success as a grassroots fundraiser.

mongabay_inspiring_educating_informing_logoNature is a great source of inspiration for David and he loves to share his passion for the natural world with everyone he meets.

“I’m so passionate about Mongabay’s mission that I feel compelled to tell everybody I meet about it,” said Martin. “The transition from being an amateur Mongabay “fanboy” to full-time employee is quite honestly a dream come true.”

“I’m excited to be on team because I see endless potential in Mongabay’s abilities to educate people. Our planet is in peril and people need to know what’s going on.”

Martin holds a Master’s Degree in Humanities and Social Thought from New York University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Globalization and Socioeconomics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

“We’ve excited to have Dave’s help in taking Mongabay to the next level,” said Tiffany Roufs, Mongabay’s operations officer. “We have big plans for 2016 and beyond.”