Navigating the intersection of literature, conservation and fundraising

Anne Broeksma is a unique figure, who stands at the crossroads of literature, conservation and fundraising. She’s one of the co-founders of Environmental Grants, a freelance fundraiser, a poet and a writer.

Her fundraising work has spanned support for museums, nature organisations and conservation initiatives. First publishing poetry she is also now a published author. Her most recent publishing is her nonfiction debut Een verhaal met schubben (“A Story with Scales”) which is centred around the plight of the Pangolin.

Anne’s followed a varied and rare career path, driven by a childhood passion for the natural world, a talent for fundraising and a deep connection to writing literature. Given her many talents, we explore how she navigated such a storied career path and give some context to what it takes to be successful in these interconnected fields.

Working in Conservation and as a journalist or writer are two professions that require some steel and determination to carve a successful career out of. Some of the most passionate and determined individuals work in conservation; writers and journalists also share this same fervour. Both professions integrate many aspects from other fields and rely heavily on storytelling to convey their messages.

Unfortunately, many individuals in these roles often face underpayment for their valuable contribution. To successfully navigate both paths is no small feat.

The seeds of passion

“As a kid, my whole life was about animals… My bedroom was like one big, lush jungle full of toy animals and fake vines.”

It’s often these core memories that are a driving force when committing to a life in conservation. Each a treasured excerpt from childhood or from later in life, a foundational connection to nature that longs to be free’d – a call to the wild so to speak.

Anne’s childhood, like many, set the scene for her lifelong passion for the natural world. A fascination with animals, the jungle and adventurous biologists who mapped the natural world. This sense of adventure found in natural history books also stemmed her love for literature and reading.

“Nature was for me always about… the natural world itself but also the natural world on paper.”

Despite some confusion from others as to why, after high school, she chose Dutch literature and not Biology for her bachelor’s, her love for reading was a big a part of her life as nature. Weaving both passions, her bachelor’s thesis was on natural history encyclopaedias about animals and the origin of animal fables. During her studies she also started to write and perform her own poetry regularly.

This encapsulates the story of Anne’s life, being able to integrate both nature and literature across her career even in the face of opposing forces.

A dream job at Greenpeace

Anne’s first professional role was as a fundraiser for Greenpeace – a dream job stemming from her passion for nature and conservation and the swashbuckling tales of Greenpeace activists saving whales.

“As a child, I was reading about these children’s clubs and going on these boats with Greenpeace activists, saving whales all around the world. And then I thought, I want to work Greenpeace.”

Leveraging her experience at a call centre to earn money as a student, she landed a service desk position at Greenpeace. Despite starting at the service desk, she worked her way up into fundraising roles. For those looking to transition into conservation from other career paths, there are important insights to consider. What are your current skills, how can they be applied to conservation, and where’s the starting point?

“This was a job that did not need someone to have higher education, but I thought, well, it was my dream to work at Greenpeace. Just let’s start with this job… I was very good at selling, making new donors for organisations. So, I thought, “I can use this to get in Greenpeace.”

Fundraising as a career path

Fundraising has become one of the mainstays of her career, when she co founded Environmental Grants during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the goal of helping conservationists in the global south bridge the gap between their research and securing funding. What makes a successful fundraiser? How as a conservationist can you enhance your ability to secure funding for your research? Anne summarised this succinctly, pointing to her skills as a writer and the importance of storytelling.

“I think writing, writing is my skill… both as a conservationist and as a fundraiser, it’s very important to tell stories.” 

“It’s very easy to get into thinking like, oh, it’s very technical, and I have to know all the rules to get this funding… Conservationists contact us through Environmental Grants, and they have a lot of numbers in their application – copying all of this bureaucratic language but you don’t feel the human, you don’t feel the beating heart.”

Discovering a passion for Pangolins

Following Greenpeace, Anne worked as a fundraiser for Free Press Unlimited, an organisation dedicated to strengthening press freedom worldwide. This role exposed her to journalism, the importance of storytelling and again the process of fundraising. Perhaps the most pertinent outcome of her time at Free Press was finding the spark for her life’s work – Pangolins.

“I worked at Free Press Unlimited, I found out about Pangolins… that they are the most hunted mammal in the world, I just wanted to do something. I felt like this is the spark, you know, the calling I was waiting for… to emerge myself more and more into conservation and into writing”

A re-calling to her childhood jungle room and that desire for adventure, the story of the most trafficked mammal in the world inspired a journey of discovery. Intermittently working between fundraising gigs and journalism for Dutch newspapers, funded Anne’s obsession with the plight of the Pangolin. Her book “A Story with Scales” is the accumulation of this work – adventurous field trips, scouring natural history books, the world of illegal wildlife crime and years of collecting “Pangolin stories”

“I quit my job. And then I just prioritised Pangolins for many years. So, I saved money all the time to go on new Pangolin trips, I wanted to find a Pangolin in the wild, that was my official mission.”

Facing challenges with purpose

Navigating the intersection of literature, conservation and fundraising doesn’t come without its challenges.

“Well, I sometimes had a job as a fundraiser that I was well paid and that I really liked. But then I had to think about what is my goal in life? And my goal in life is to write about nature and to do something for it and to do it to preserve the wonders of this planet”.

“So, I think that could be a big challenge for conservationists. If you always remember where you want to get, and don’t forget what you really want to do so that keeps you on the path…”

A message that resonated through the interview is that it’s hard to stay on track and life has its demands, many of the time which can’t be ignored. However, having a concrete goal in mind, a plan of action to achieve that goal goes a long way when navigating the twists and turns of involving yourself in conservation.  If there was one consistency throughout Anne’s story, and a common theme throughout her life, it is that she’s a person who acts rather than existing passively.

Whether you aspire to write a story about Pangolins, pursue a career in marine biology or simply contribute to conservation in some way, remember – there’s no perfect starting point; taking a first small step is far better than taking no step at all.  If you, the reader, want to work at Greenpeace for example, that might just eventually lead you to explore jungles in Africa, hot on the trail of another Pangolin story…

Are you inspired by Anne’s journey and the impactful work she’s doing? If you want to dive deeper into her story and discover how you can contribute to conservation efforts, take a look at her website and the Environmental Grants website.

Would you like to learn more about what it’s like (and what it takes) to work as a conservation fundraiser? Check out our Conservation Fundraiser role profile and our podcast episode with Elena Zurli from Environmental Grants.

Author Profile | Luke Clark

Luke is a conservation biology MSc and early stage field researcher turned business driver in environmental and climate technology. He actively writes about the impact of emerging technologies and their potential to aid climate change and fund conservation work at his newsletter: https://tech4earth.substack.com/ As well as contributing directly to fundraising business development and strategic partnership building for start-ups within this space through his consulting work.

Interviews, Communicator, Fundraiser