Mission

The Bee Conservancy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting bees, safeguarding the environment, and securing food justice through education, research, habitat creation, and advocacy. We strive towards a day when all bee populations thrive in protected habitats and are supported by an engaged global network.

Purpose

The Honeybee Conservancy was founded in 2009 in response to 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 expanding work protecting honeybees and native bees across North America and beyond.

Bees lie at the heart of our survival, and they have been dying at unprecedented rates. Their hard work pollinating plants is not only essential to healthy ecosystems, but to sustaining animal and human life too. Bees pollinate one-third of the food we eat. From apples and squash to buckwheat and coffee, bees are responsible for pollinating most of the fruits, vegetables, seeds, and nuts that are essential to our diets. Honeybees in particular play a huge role in agriculture, contributing over $15 billion to the value of U.S. crop production.  

Each year, bees are experiencing massive die-offs throughout the U.S. and Canada. In 2017, the rusty patched bumblebee was the first bee added to the endangered species list in the continental U.S. A 2019 survey from the Bee Informed Partnership states that nearly 40% of U.S. beekeepers lost their colonies during the previous year. Compared to 1947, the U.S. honeybee population has declined by 60%.

At The Bee Conservancy, we take a multi-pronged approach to protecting bees and the environment. Through educational and research programs, the creation of Bee Sanctuaries, and distributing bee homes to underserved communities through our flagship Sponsor-a-Hive award, we inspire and empower people to become environmental stewards and help build a better world together.