Donald Slavik was an entrepreneur passionate about wildlife.  He spent his life traveling to exotic locales to see rare species.  Donald strongly believed that maintaining our natural world was the most important thing we as humans could work towards. He believed that the extinction of animals due to human incursion is a tragedy. Most importantly, Mr. Slavik believed that humanity could raise the global standard of living while living in peace with the natural world. As a parent, he prioritized and emphasized education because he believed it was the key to change. In 1995, he founded the foundation, around the same beliefs, with his wife and daughter to give grants to organizations working in defense of wildlife and nature. Although we have grown significantly since then our/his values remain unchanged.