During my years on the global board of The Nature Conservancy, and now as its chair, I have learned to hold urgency and hope at the same time.
The urgency is clear. Climate change is intensifying heat, fire, floods, drought, and unstable weather. Biodiversity is disappearing at an alarming rate. Forests, rivers, oceans, and soils face mounting pressure. These changes reach directly into our own lives, affecting the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, and our physical and mental health.
Yet I also see a remarkable source of hope: we are entering the greatest philanthropic opportunity for conservation in history.
America has transformed great private fortunes into public good before. Andrew Carnegie’s steel fortune helped build more than 2,500 libraries. John D. Rockefeller Jr. acquired and donated more than 30,000 acres that became central to the expansion of Grand Teton National Park. Their philanthropy created institutions and protected places that continue enriching lives generations later.
The scale of wealth today, however, is unprecedented.
Cerulli Associates projects that approximately $124 trillion in inter- and intragenerational wealth will transfer among American families and charities through 2048. Meanwhile, entirely new fortunes are being created today through artificial intelligence, technology, medicine, finance, clean energy, and space exploration. UBS reported that the United States added more than 1,000 new millionaires each day in 2024.
These two waves—the transfer of existing wealth and the rapid creation of new wealth—will reshape philanthropy over the next 20 years.
Consider one simple illustration. If only 1 percent of the projected $124 trillion wealth transfer were directed toward conservation, biodiversity, and climate solutions, it would represent $1.24 trillion. That is an illustration rather than a forecast, but it shows the scale of the opportunity.
Today, only 2 percent of global philanthropic giving supports climate mitigation. Conservation receives only a small share of the world’s charitable capital. The money will exist. The question is whether conservation organizations will be prepared to earn a meaningful share of it.
Research suggests that many of today’s major donors, especially younger inheritors and entrepreneurs, want to see visible, measurable, and transformational impact. They ask questions familiar to anyone who has built a business: What problem are we solving? What will change? How will we measure progress? What can we accomplish during the first few years? What happens after the initial funding ends?
Conservation can answer these questions particularly well.
We can measure acres protected, rivers restored, species recovering, carbon stored, communities strengthened, and additional public and private capital mobilized. We can offer donors something tangible and deeply personal—a forest, river, farm, coastline, or community they can visit and come to love—while also addressing the universal global challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss.
I have seen this potential firsthand at The Nature Conservancy.
In the Seychelles, an innovative, first-of-its-kind restructuring of sovereign debt helped finance marine conservation and climate resilience, contributing to the protection of more than 400,000 square kilometers of ocean. Through Project Finance for Permanence and the Enduring Earth partnership, philanthropy is being combined with government commitments, community leadership, measurable milestones, and durable long-term financing. By securing funding, governance, and legal commitments upfront—and gradually transitioning financial responsibility to governments—the model creates durable, locally-led conservation that benefits biodiversity, climate resilience, and community prosperity.
More recently, The Nature Conservancy’s acquisition of four hydroelectric dams on Maine’s Kennebec River created a potential pathway for river restoration, improved fish passage, and lasting public benefit. These approaches move beyond traditional charitable giving. They have huge scale. They use philanthropy as catalytic capital, taking early risk, demonstrating what is possible, and attracting larger pools of government and private investment.
We must also connect conservation more directly to individual human health and wellbeing. This is what I am personally working to advance through The Nature Conservancy’s Planetary and Human Health initiative.
Healthy forests protect drinking water. Wetlands reduce flooding. Urban trees lower dangerous temperatures. Regenerative agriculture supports living soil and more resilient food systems. Healthy oceans provide protein and livelihoods. Time in nature can reduce stress, strengthen mental health, and renew the spirit.
The outside world shapes the inside world. Protecting nature is preventive medicine on a planetary scale.
Preparing for this opportunity will require conservation organizations to build relationships with entire families, including the younger members who may ultimately decide where inherited wealth goes. We should bring them into the field, listen to their aspirations, speak their language of innovation and impact, and invite more of them onto boards and advisory groups.
We must pair big dreams with credible plans. Donors should see early milestones while understanding that ecological restoration requires patience and permanent stewardship.
The capital is being created. The wealth transfer has begun. If we prepare now, this extraordinary era of private wealth could leave behind something far more valuable than a financial inheritance: healthier people, a more stable climate, a richer natural world, and thriving communities for generations to come.
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Author’s Note:
As a physician, I have spent much of my career studying human health. Increasingly, I have come to believe that understanding, and protecting, the health of the planet is inseparable from protecting our own.