Virginia Institute for Invertebrates Ltd

    Invertebrates -- insects and other spineless creatures -- are vital to life on this planet. But no one really knows just how vital they are. In reality, we, collectively, seem to know next to nothing about the rich abundance of these tiny but amazing forms of life. We are aware of less than a quarter of all estimated invertebrates out there. We have only a taste of the extent of their massive decline. And we have only an idea what will happen if they go.

    The Virginia Institute for Invertebrates (VII) is changing that. Our three-part mission is to monitor, witness, and conserve Virginia's invertebrate populations. We've recently earned an exciting grant for land where we can directly interact with, study, and, importantly, begin to conserve local invertebrates -- but without your support, there's no way for this opportunity to flourish into what it should. The cost of manually coordinating efforts to collect, research, and protect insects is impossible to meet without you. Humanity needs invertebrates. Invertebrates need you. Please, donate to support what Virginia needs: bugs.

With small animals, small actions can have big consequences.

Read more about our mission here:

Monitor
We know how important invertebrates are in the ecosystems of Virginia, but we don’t know how the changing landscape is impacting their populations. VII will build and maintain the only network of insect population monitoring sites in the state, collecting valuable long-term data that will guide our conservation strategy and support scientific research.

Witness
We know very little about how even the common invertebrates in our backyards make a living. As habitat changes and species vanish, we risk losing the chance to learn about the incredible richness of life’s diversity. By funding field research in natural history, we will serve as witness to life’s grand pageant.

Conserve
Through the judicious use of land acquisitions and easements, VII is creating the first network of miniature conservation corridors in the state. This network will connect the remaining patches of prime habitat for native Virginia terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates, helping maintain dwindling populations of our most diverse animal groups.

©N. Jantzen 2026