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Other Areas of International Assistance
Because Dancing Star Foundation is an Operating Foundation, operating its own sanctuaries, it is able to provide very few grants and accepts no unsolicited grant proposals.
In past years, however, the Foundation has on occasion given modest grants and donations as contributions to other non-profit entities that are making extraordinary strides to help habitat and biodiversity. These include two years of assistance and consultation in Russia with one of the few animal sanctuaries in that country, a small oasis in the midst of serious turmoil, where over 500 dogs, cats, and several native owls were being rescued and treated by a dedicated staff; the new Portuguese native donkey sanctuary working to save from extinction a unique breed of equine, the Miranda; a donkey sanctuary in India; and a dog sanctuary in Bhutan, located on nearly three acres of land owned by the National Biodiversity Centre, and operated under the auspices of the Bhutan Trust. The Foundation has also made other small grants in New Zealand, as well as providing modest honoraria for its deeply appreciated DSF Research Fellows.
Also, the Foundation's own in-house research and documentation has been effectively leveraged to help collaborating scientists in the field who work with DSF, such as a small research project to survey an endangered primate species by university scientists in northeastern Brazil, and an expedition to survey a rarely explored region of high biodiversity value in southern India.
DSF has funded international conferences, such as its November 2006 "Translocation Workshop" (See Archives) which it conducted in partnership with the Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust of New Zealand. DSF also developed and funded for five consecutive years its "Island Fest" (See Archives) which brought many of the greatest conservationists, nature artists and filmmakers from throughout New Zealand to Stewart Island/Rakiura for free public lectures, films and workshops. The first year's Festival was six days and nights of presentations, and the last two years' festivals were done in collaboration with the Southland Museum and Art Gallery, in Invercargill.
DSF has provided other presentations, lectures and screenings in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and Bhutan (where the very first screening of part of its feature film, "Hotspots" took place.)