What type of structure is WILDLABS and how is it funded?

Question

According to their website,

WILDLABS is the central hub for conservation technology online, connecting 6,000+ conservationists, researchers, field biologists, engineers, developers, makers, and #tech4wildlife experts from around the world! With huge challenges like wildlife crime and poaching, climate change, deforestation, and extinction threatening ecosystems around the world, it’s more important than ever for conservationists to have access to the tools, resources, and networks needed to rise to those challenges.

I have heard about the WILDLABS website from this Stack Exchange site (and in several comments/answer of this Meta thread), especially about their forum and their research directory, which the conservation community overlaps with bioacoustics. In a way, their website looks like an scientific society with subgroups, discussion and member directory (which some users of the present SE are part of), but they don't say so.

Question: Is WILDLABS a company or a non-profit organization? How are they funded?

I find it ambiguous from their "About section" of their website (see above citation) and from their Community Guidelines page which says that:

WILDLABS.NET (the “Website”) is owned by Fauna & Flora International ("FFI"), a limited company registered in England under company number 2677068 and a registered charity under charity number 1011102, whose registered office is at The David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ, UK, representing the WILDLABS collaboration.

But I don't understand if it refers to the website only or is extendable to Wildlabs too.

Answer 1

WILDLABS is a non-profit. It's "headquartered" at FFI, but is run by a consortium of NGOs (e.g., Conservation International, Wildlife Conservation Society [WCS], World Wildlife Fund [WWF], Zoological Society London [ZSL]). They are led by a Steering Committee made up of conservation tech professionals at these organizations. And the team who runs it all is also made up of people from some of these different organizations (e.g., Steph O'Donnell, community manager, is from FFI; Ellie Warren, editorial lead, is from WWF, etc.). It is funded by these organizations in addition to industry partners (including Microsoft, Google, Arm), philanthropies (e.g., Moore Foundation) and government agencies (e.g., UK Space Agency). More info on that here.

It really is an online community, with the online discussion threads, member directory, events calendar, posts, thematic groups, etc. There is also DM'ing functionality through the site. You can post articles, job postings, funding/grant opportunities, other links, or discussion-type question posts. A lot of people use WILDLABS for job searching for example. They have a ton of virtual programming (zoom meet-ups, the 'tech tutors' series), a research program (the most recent publication being the 'State of Conservation Tech'), a fellowship/awards program, and editorial series. WILDLABS also has a HUGE Twitter presence with the #tech4wildlife hashtag.

I mentioned this in a comment above in response to WMXZ, but WILDLABS is also conservation-tech focused, so it would have the most overlap here with those doing ecoacoustic/passive acoustic monitoring work.