The Rockefeller Foundation recently announced a $2 million grant that will help researchers learn more about the outcomes of the relationship between people and ecosystems through two studies - one in southeast Asia and the other in Madagascar. Both are core modules of the Health & Ecosystems: Analysis of Linkages (HEAL) initiative through the Wildlife Conservation Society. 

"People's well-being depends on the environment," said Dr. Zia Khan, vice president of Strategy and Evaluation at The Rockefeller Foundation. "The unmanaged consumption of resources, destruction of habitats, and far-reaching effects of pollution are straining people's ability to live productive and healthy lives, particularly the world's poor and vulnerable."

Both parts of the study will be led by Dr. Samuel Myers, a researcher from the Harvard School of Public Health. The first module will take place in southeast Asia where individuals use fire to clear land. Teams from Harvard University will study the impacts of this practice on human health. The second module will teach more about the outcomes of unsustainable harvesting processes in Madagascar that are hurting marine and terrestrial wildlife populations and how those changes will impact nutrition. 

Organizations that are providing funds for multiple nonprofit programs might find it easier to manage their large-scale efforts with fundraising management programs that can account for funds as they are disbursed to recipients.