About Vital Impacts
Over the past fifty years, Earth’s wildlife populations have declined by nearly three-quarters, a profound shift that challenges us to rethink how we care for the natural world. Yet even in the face of these losses, there is extraordinary reason for hope. Around the planet, communities, scientists, and storytellers are working together to reimagine solutions, restore ecosystems, and protect the places we all depend on.
Vital Impacts is a women-led 501c3 non-profit founded in 2021 by Ami Vitale and Eileen Mignoni to advance conservation through visual storytelling, community partnership, and strategic investment in local solutions. We harness the power of art, visual journalism, and community partnerships to support conservation and illuminate pathways toward a more resilient future. Central to our work is investing in storytellers. More than 1,000 journalists across 87 countries have received mentorship through our programs, gaining the tools and support to report on environmental issues with depth, sensitivity, and solutions-driven focus. Their stories bring global visibility to local challenges and to the people working creatively to solve them.
This storytelling network is paired with deep community engagement. Through partnerships, Vital Impacts has raised $3.5 million for local conservation initiatives. These resources help safeguard critical ecosystems, support community-led conservation, and ensure that those working closest to the land have the support they need to succeed.
We are also cultivating the next generation of environmental stewards. Our in-person student programs have reached 30,000 young people, inviting them to see themselves as active participants in shaping a healthier, more compassionate world. By connecting students with powerful stories and the people behind them, we spark curiosity, agency, and a lifelong commitment to caring for the planet.
At the heart of Vital Impacts is the belief that stories transform understanding and that understanding drives action. By elevating local voices, bridging science and narrative, and directing resources where they create lasting change, we are building a global community of people who recognize that restoring the planet is not only possible but already underway.
Meet Our Executive Director
Ami Vitale
Ami Vitale is a National Geographic Explorer at Large, award-winning photographer, writer, and documentary filmmaker whose work explores the vital connections between people, wildlife, and the planet. With nearly three decades of experience working in over 100 countries, Ami uses storytelling as a tool for conservation, empathy, and action.
Her career began in conflict zones, where she witnessed firsthand how environmental degradation, including resource scarcity, displacement, and climate instability, profoundly affects human lives. These early experiences shaped her conviction that environmental and social issues are inseparable, guiding her toward long-term, solutions-focused work that highlights resilience, collaboration, and possibility.
As Founder and Executive Director of Vital Impacts, Ami leads a global nonprofit dedicated to harnessing the power of art to drive environmental awareness and tangible change. Through fellowships, exhibitions, and educational initiatives, Vital Impacts supports grassroots conservation organizations, photographers, and youth working on the frontlines of environmental change.
In her role as a National Geographic Explorer at Large, Ami serves as a global ambassador for visual journalism and ethical storytelling, mentoring emerging storytellers and amplifying locally rooted conservation efforts with global significance.
Her work has been recognized with numerous honors, including Conservation International’s Lui-Walton Innovators Fellowship, the Lucie Humanitarian Award, the Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service, the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding Reporting, and six World Press Photo awards. She is an honorary fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and an inductee into the North Carolina Media and Journalism Hall of Fame.
Through Vital Impacts and her own work, Ami remains committed to empowering the next generation of storytellers and building a more hopeful, solutions-driven future for our planet.
Meet Our Board of Directors
Nadia Allaudin
Nadia Allaudin is a Managing Director and Wealth Management Advisor with Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management in Century City with more than 22 years of experience in the financial services industry. She earned the Certified Investment Management Analyst® designation and is entrusted with over $865 million in assets and liabilities.
Nadia founded the annual Women, Wealth & Wisdom Conference in Los Angeles. She brings together professional women to foster deeper relationships and participate in discussions with renowned speakers on health/wellness, leadership and spiritual best practices. She is the Board Chair for the Institute for Women’s Policy Research and is also a Board Member of the non-profit MADRE.
Anastasia Khoo
Anastasia Khoo is the President of American Promise. In this role, she oversees the day-to-day execution of the organization's mission and rapid nationwide expansion. Previously, she served as Chief of Staff, Senior Advisor and Chief Marketing Officer for Conservation International. During her tenure, the organization doubled in size and scale as well as grew in terms of brand positioning, media placements and exposure.
Prior to joining Conservation International, Khoo was the CMO for the Human Rights Campaign. She led historic marketing efforts during the marriage equality campaign associated with the record-breaking “red equal sign” campaign as well as three U.S. Supreme Court cases, five election cycles, and worked to advance federal legislation across the aisle. Additionally, she led conversations across the country through state-based campaigns such as “All God’s Children” in Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas as well as other targeted state outreach in election cycles as well as beyond.
Wanjiku Kinuthia
Wanjiku Kinuthia has close to a decade’s experience in high-level conservation communications with a skill set that includes conservation storytelling, donor communications, digital strategy, organizational branding, and press engagement. She currently works for Maliasili, an organisation that enables local, community-centric conservation organisations to become even more effective. Before joining Maliasili, she worked with the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and Space for Giants. She is a strong believer that effective communications is critical to helping conservation organizations achieve their goals, amplify their voices, and shape global conversations.
Amy Scarfone, PhD
Amy Scarfone has held design leadership roles at Microsoft and Amazon. Her digital design experience spans over two decades of shipping software for virtual reality, gaming, mobile platforms, and websites. Dr. Scarfone has garnered ten patents for software innovation design and her work has been featured and honored in a wide range of books, articles, interviews, conferences, and galleries such as The Apple Keynote, The Boston Cyberarts Festival, Time, Mashable, Engadget, and many others.
Vital Impacts 2024 Annual Report
We invite you to explore the stories, successes and impactful initiatives of the past year highlighted in the Vital Impacts annual report.
Click Here to View Our Annual Report
Financial Transparency
Download our most recent 990 tax form here.
Whistleblower Policy
Vital Impacts requires directors, officers and employees to observe high standards of business and personal ethics in the conduct of their duties and responsibilities. As employees and representatives of the Vital Impacts, we must practice honesty and integrity in fulfilling our responsibilities and comply with all applicable laws and regulations.
Our Whistleblower Policy is intended to encourage and enable employees and others to raise serious concerns internally so that Vital Impacts can address and correct inappropriate conduct and actions. It is the responsibility of all board members, officers, employees and volunteers to report concerns about violations of Vital Impacts’s code of ethics or suspected violations of law or regulations that govern Vital Impacts’s operations. Download a full copy of our Whistleblower Policy here. Whistleblower Policy
Make Your Impact
Donate to Vital Impacts
Vital Impacts is an IRS designated 501c3 nonprofit organization. Your donation is tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.
Nonprofits We Support
How We Select the Organizations We Support
Every year, our print sales play a crucial role in sustaining grassroots conservation efforts worldwide while simultaneously supporting the talented artists whose work powerfully articulates these vital narratives.
Vital Impacts brings together a diverse community of over one hundred exceptional photographers—both established and emerging—who generously share their images with us. This rewarding collaboration allows them to fund critical causes that resonate with them, all while ensuring that their artistry continues to effectuate positive change on a global scale.
Criteria for Selecting Non-Profits
When it comes to choosing non-profit organizations for our grants, we employ a nuanced approach grounded in the collective wisdom of our board members and participating photographers. Our selection criteria ensure that we identify deserving candidates that align closely with our mission to support communities dedicated to protecting people, nature, and wildlife.
Collaborative Nominations: Both our board members and photographers have the chance to nominate organizations based on their firsthand experiences. This grassroots input helps us uncover impactful initiatives across various regions.
Thorough Evaluation: We select our grant recipients through a careful internal review process, focusing on organizations whose missions align closely with our own. We conduct due diligence on the financials of potential grantees and track our funding to ensure it's used for conservation purposes. We prioritize organizations with clear, actionable conservation goals and a demonstrated positive impact on local communities and wildlife. We believe sustainable livelihoods and conservation are intrinsically linked, and we prioritize projects that reflect this philosophy.
Unrestricted Giving: Recognizing that effective conservation work requires robust operational support, we provide donations without restrictions. This acknowledges the necessity of overhead costs for the sustainability of non-profits.
Accountability and Transparency: After funding is distributed, we require grant beneficiaries to submit at least one written update on the outcomes of their projects. We encourage them to include photographs that vividly demonstrate the positive changes facilitated by our partnership.
A Success Story: The Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots Program
After witnessing the transformative impact of the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots program, which cultivates young individuals into future leaders in conservation. With a perfect rating on Charity Navigator, we chose to dedicate our funding to this initiative because it resonates profoundly with our mission. We believe in educating youth, instilling a passion for the natural world, and empowering them to harness their voices for positive change.
We're Committed to Sustainability
We partner only with environmentally responsible organizations and businesses for whom sustainability is a critical part of their business model.
Equal Employment Opportunity & Affirmative Action Employer
Vital Impacts is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. The more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. We are committed to a work environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. Each individual has the right to work in a professional atmosphere that promotes equal employment opportunities and prohibits discriminatory practices, including harassment. Vital Impacts will not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind.