NWF Receives Record $25 Million Annenberg Challenge Grant for Largest Urban Wildlife Crossing in the World

Wallis Annenberg and the Annenberg Foundation were recently featured in the Los Angeles Times for their extremely forward-thinking Conservation Challenge Grant to help develop the largest urban wildlife crossing in the world. The Conservation Challenge Grant, also the largest of its kind, is a record-breaking $25 million and “serves as a ‘Call to Philanthropists’ to help protect a threatened global biodiversity hotspot in Los Angeles.”

Due to the bridge’s size and cost, its completion will rely on the donations and funding of over 3,000 private, philanthropic, and corporate donors around the world. The National Wildlife Federation (NFW) must raise roughly $65 million to complete construction on schedule by 2025, and as of July 4, the NWF has already secured an impressive $38 million. Wallis has set the standard for philanthropic organizations with this ambitious challenge, driving donations that will help support the future of biodiversity in Southern California:

“There's a reason I wanted to support this crossing and issue this challenge: We need to move beyond mere conservation, toward a kind of environmental rejuvenation… It's a way of saying, there are solutions to our deepest ecological challenges, and this is the kind of fresh new thinking that will get us there.”