About TBI

TBI was established in 1990 to help preserve Lake Tahoe in California and Lake Baikal in Siberia, as well as other significant and threatened lake ecosystems around the world. This preservation is realized through environmental education programs, research, and international exchanges of students, scholars, and practitioners in science, policy, economics, and other related disciplines.

TBI is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the United States based in the City of South Lake Tahoe (California, USA). TBI has staff operating in South Lake Tahoe, Irkutsk (Irkutsk Oblast, Russia), and Ulan Ude (Republic of Buryatia). Operations are managed by the US-based Executive Director and programs are coordinated by the US-based Programs Director in conjunction with Russia-based Program Coordinators in Irkutsk and Ulan Ude.

A Board of Directors in the United States provides policy and financial oversight for operations, and a Board of Advisors in Russia assists with program elements in the Russian Federation. TBI programs have historically operated with a mixture of in-kind support, donations, foundation grants, and different revenue building activities such as the TBI annual event, fees for exchange services, etc.