Why we Donate to The Bee Conservancy

The Mission and History of

The Bee Conservancy

The Honeybee Conservancy was founded in 2009 by Guillermo Fernandez in response to the news that bees across the globe were in crisis. In fall of 2020, The Honeybee Conservancy relaunched as The Bee Conservancy to better capture our work protecting all bees and securing environmental and food justice through education, research, habitat creation, and advocacy.

As a child immigrant from Cuba, Guillermo grew up in a crowded, multi-ethnic urban area where one-third of the community lived in poverty. His neighborhood, like so many others, was a food desert; fresh fruit and vegetables were near impossible to find, supermarkets stocked mostly processed food, and local restaurants were all fast food chains. There was little-to-no green space, just concrete as far as the eye could see, and the community suffered from rampant health issues that were the result of poor nutrition and degraded environment.

Decades later, Guillermo started The Honeybee Conservancy

First, he wanted to help save the bees, who pollinate 1 in 3 bites of food we eat and are vital to healthy ecology. Second, he hoped to find ways to empower underserved communities like the one he grew up in to produce healthy food and build green spaces.

Our initiatives, such as our flagship program Sponsor-a-Hive, have served hundreds of thousands of people across the United States, and protected an estimated 10 million bees to date.

Content on this page is from thebeeconservancy.org