Who We Are
Friends of Chimps is a US-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit, volunteer-run organization that has been protecting and preserving chimpanzees in Uganda, and the people they live alongside of, since 2010.
Our Projects
Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary
We support operations of this important Sanctuary through grants and donations. The Sanctuary is run under the auspices of Chimpanzee Sanctuary and Wildlife Conservation Trust, also known as Chimpanzee Trust. The Sanctuary is home to more than 50 chimpanzees rescued from the illegal pet and bushmeat trade.
Bulindi Chimpanzee and Community Project
We have helped support this holistic community-based conservation project since its inception in 2014. The Project supports local people who share their environment with the chimpanzees. It does so by offering sustainable livelihoods, investing in children’s education, and improving quality of life. The project helps people sustainably manage their forests, increases their tolerance of the chimpanzees, and monitors wild chimpanzee communities to enhance their welfare and survival.
Friends of Chimps is officially registered as The Friends of CSWCT. EIN # 27-2278948. Address: 712 H St, NE, #1170, Washington DC 20002. Info@FriendsOfChimps.org.
Meet Our Team
The Board of Directors
Our six member Board of Directors includes distinguished chimpanzee researchers with experience in East Africa as well as other experts. All are volunteers, and we help ensure your donation goes a very long way in helping chimpanzees, people, and forests in Uganda.
Nancy Merrick
Nancy Merrick, MD, MSPH is a physician, a former student and long-time friend of Dr. Jane Goodall, and has conducted research on chimpanzees at Dr. Goodall’s Gombe Stream Research Centre and the Stanford Outdoor Primate Facility. She is the author of “Among Chimpanzees,” published by Beacon Press, founder of the advocacy website ChimpSaver.org and, in addition to being a board member, is currently serving as Board Chair.
Sarah Etheridge
Sarah Etheridge, PhD, has worked in primate conservation since 2008, including with chimpanzees in Uganda and orangutans and gibbons in Borneo. She has also researched the interconnection of human and wild chimpanzee populations. She is an associate professor of Anthropology at College of the Canyons, joined Friends of Chimps in 2022, and became Vice President and Vice Chair in 2024.
Rebecca Watkins
Rebecca Watkins is a chemist by trade, and an animal lover by design. She has volunteered with several primate non-profit groups ever since 2002 and joined the Friends of Chimps Board after visiting Uganda in 2014. She currently serves as Treasurer.
Maureen McCarthy
Maureen McCarthy, PhD has studied chimpanzees living in fragmented forests of Uganda for nearly 15 years, including as a collaborator with the Bulindi Chimpanzee & Community Project. In 2021, Maureen joined Friends of Chimps as a board member.
Jim Moore
Jim Moore, PhD studied chimpanzee ecology in western Tanzania for about 25 years, and has always been interested in the sometimes troubled interface between research on apes and their welfare and conservation. He joined Friends of Chimps as a board member in 2014.
Holly Newman
Holly is an accountant working as Director of Finance and Controller at an environmental consulting firm based in Ventura, CA. In her career, Holly takes pride in responsible leadership in support of credible and accurate financial reporting and she brings that same ethical commitment to the governance of the Friends of Chimps Board of Directors. Conservation and environmental concerns have long been a passion of Holly’s. In high school she served as president of the Environmental Club and successfully applied for California state grant funding to establish an enduring recycling program on campus. Since joining the Friends of Chimps board in 2024, she is eagerly learning more about chimpanzees and the communities they live amongst.
Some of our Support Team and Volunteers
Lauren Rubenstein
Lauren Rubenstein is a photographer and a marketing & communications specialist who loves to use her creativity to support the greater good. She joined Friends of Chimps in 2023 and leads the organization’s social media efforts.
Juhi Movva
Juhi Movva is currently a high school student in California. She volunteers with the Long-Tailed Macaque Project and her local Gibbon Conservation Center, where she conducts focal studies on behalf of her director’s PhD research. Juhi joined Friends of Chimps in 2024.
