About
Our mission is to empower young people to make a measurable difference for threatened species and habitats through conservation, education, and storytelling. We aim to create a world in which young people inherit and help maintain a biodiverse planet.
who we are
Reserva: The Youth Land Trust, Inc. is a nonprofit, tax-exempt charitable organization (TIN 84-2906892) under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Reserva was founded in August 2019 by Callie Broaddus and a small group of international youth organized by co-founder Bella Lack, which has since grown to over 100 people 26 and under from 30+ countries. We gathered initially around the simple idea of our flagship project—creating the world’s first entirely youth-funded nature reserve—and the long-term goal of creating a network of youth led reserve projects around the world. We are a diverse community of solution-oriented optimists who believe that young people have the financial and organizational capacity to make tangible impacts for the conservation of nature. That’s why everything we do—from research and storytelling to internal governance—is designed to empower youth in every stage of the conservation process. To the best of our knowledge, we are the only nonprofit in the world currently working internationally to conserve wild places entirely through the lens of youth empowerment.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
It’s a fact of nature that diversity makes us stronger. It’s what we fight for in conserving nature, and it’s what we embody as an organization. At Reserva, we actively listen and change course thanks to feedback from youth of varying cultures, nationalities, time zones, socioeconomic backgrounds, language proficiencies, and other perspectives. We are grateful for the diversity in our team, and we are committed to fostering a welcoming environment for people of all backgrounds while continually pursuing ways to make our programs more equitable and inclusive. To this end, we conduct annual anonymous surveys to monitor the makeup of our Youth Council and Board of Directors to ensure we pursue and maintain diverse perspectives in our leadership and broader community.
A Letter from the founder:
I had spent the last nearly seven years designing books at National Geographic Kids, working as a wildlife photographer and journalist in my spare time. Then, in 2018, Rainforest Trust appointed me to their Council. Utterly humbled (and slightly confused), I began brainstorming a way to earn my spot—to merge my passions for wildlife, storytelling, and education in order to support land conservation. In the summer of 2018, I landed on the concept of a fully youth-funded nature reserve—something that had never been done before, that had potential to inspire world leaders, that would excite and empower young people, and that would fight both climate change and biodiversity loss.
With advice from colleagues at National Geographic and the knowledgable staff at Rainforest Trust, I expanded on this original nugget of an idea to form Reserva: the Youth Land Trust—a group meant to recognize that young people have more than just a voice; they have financial power, and they can wield it for the planet if given the platform.
I know this to be the case because I witnessed it first hand in 2014, when my little sister lost a tragic five-month battle against cancer. A few weeks before her birthday, she asked if we could establish a fund that she would use to fight climate change from her hospital bed. She set a goal of raising $18,000 by her 18th birthday, and my family figured out the logistics of setting up a fund. By her birthday, she had raised nearly $70,000. Today, Finley's Green Leap Forward Fund has awarded $500,000 in grants to organizations fighting climate change, and it continues to grow. All because one kid had a platform to act.
Finley Broaddus
Since launching Reserva and meeting the impressive, diverse, passionate, interesting youth that make up our international Youth Council, I have been inspired every day by the resolve and optimism these incredible young people demonstrate. It is my hope that through Reserva's land purchase projects and education and storytelling campaigns, every young person will feel the same level of empowerment that my sister experienced. I believe that young people, if given the platform, can save the world. And I believe that Reserva could be that platform.
— Callie Broaddus
Founder & Executive Director
From top to bottom: Lucy, Carter, Javier, and Daniel on the September, 2019 #ReservaExpedition, relaxing mid-hike after taking a quick swim in the river. Read about this day in our Field Notes! Photo by Callie Broaddus.