5W Foundation

Founded in 2015, 5W Foundation set out to launch a new era of transparency, accountability, trust, and inclusion in the conservation charitable giving space. Their mission centers around supporting front-line conservation teams persevering to protect and conserve species at risk of becoming globally extinct according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Instead of providing direct financial support, the 5W Foundation sources, donates, and distributes critical and vital equipment to front-line conservation work. Through their next generation approach 5W Foundation can show all donors how and where 100% of their donated funds are used.

“We are the custodians of our donor funds and best intentions, not the owners of those funds, and 100% of funds donated to a species are spent on that species” says Founder, Jeff. This ideology is the bedrock of the 5W Foundation. Their innovative use of carbon-negative Web3 public ledger technology to track and record all donations and how, where, when, with whom and why donations are being utilized is groundbreaking. Allowing 5W Foundation to show donors that their donations are going directly towards initiatives such as boots for rangers guarding critically endangered rhinos, drones for conservation wildlife monitoring, or veterinary supplies for front-line conservation vets.

As Jeff stated “Everything counts. Everything helps.” Coming from a wealth of experience from working in conflict zones, medical evacuation, hostage rescue and security operations, Jeff and his team first joined conservation efforts through helping contacts in the space. With their book of contacts he began sourcing small drones for wildlife counts, fence line sensors to detect game reserve intruders, and training a few anti-poaching rangers. From this, Jeff started receiving more frequent enquiries and requests for help, and with that, and the belief charitable giving should be transparent, the 5W Foundation was born.

Protecting their operations with Project Galileo

With one head office, and operations working mostly remote, the 5W Foundation is currently working to support 21 species in over 11 countries whilst keeping overhead costs down and donations directed to conservation. With donations coming from around the world, either fiat or crypto currencies, cybersecurity is vital to 5W Foundation’s operations. As Jeff succinctly puts it “No website = no donations = no conservation.”

The need to work securely while remote, with every aspect of the organization from communications, infrastructure, donations, and logistics being online emphasizes how important cybersecurity is to the organization’s operations. For 5W Foundation, it is critical to make use of any available tool or service to ensure peace of mind when it comes to their web presence, for both themselves and their donors.

“Cyber security tools for us mean the difference between being able to save wildlife lives and not. It’s that simple.”

The 5W Foundation discovered Project Galileo in 2024 and the organization gained access to advanced cybersecurity tools that would otherwise have been out of reach. Since onboarding, the organization has taken advantage of:

• Zero trust tools: To protect internal operations, they’ve also adopted Cloudflare’s Zero Trust tools. Without the resources of a large IT department, they’ve still been able to set up configurations that restrict access to sensitive content and track usage patterns, enhancing security without adding complexity.
• DDoS protection plays a critical role in keeping these websites online, especially during times of heightened visibility or controversy. By shielding them from disruptive attacks, it helps ensure that communication, donation processing, and the sharing of urgent information can continue uninterrupted.
• Simplified DNS management, as it offers greater control and transparency, which means the organization can more easily manage its domain name system records. This can improve site availability and performance, and also help prevent some types of cyberattacks that target DNS systems.
• WAF-protected infrastructure, which blocks anomalous activity and mitigates threats before they impact the site. This helps to protect against things like SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and other common web exploits.
• Better insight into traffic patterns and potential vulnerabilities. This increased visibility allows them to detect and respond to threats more quickly and proactively, and also helps them to understand how their site is being used.

Upon joining Cloudflare’s Project Galileo, the 5W Foundation has never been taken offline despite daily attempts by malicious actors. Since March, Cloudflare’s WAF mitigated events for the 5W Foundation were up by 200%, with nearly 37k mitigated events. The organization also noticed a marked improvement in the speed and operation of their website, a welcome development when improving donor experiences. As Jeff states, “Project Galileo is our solution” for combating malicious activity.

With Project Galileo’s protection, the 5W Foundation can focus on its mission; supporting front-line conservation efforts and providing transparency and accountability in the conservation space.