Leaderboard
Coming soon!
About
Miles for Monarchs is a virtual fundraising campaign hosted by the Monarch Joint Venture. The campaign raises funds and awareness for monarch and pollinator conservation while encouraging participants to spend time outdoors and support personal wellness.
Individuals, teams, and organizations can track the miles they travel—walk, run, roll, bike, paddle, swim, anything self-propelled—during the campaign, enjoying nature and learning from Monarch Joint Venture conservation experts along the way. Funds are raised through registration, sponsorship, donations, and merchandise purchases, all of which support monarch and pollinator conservation efforts.
During the campaign, participants’ miles are added together to symbolically “migrate” alongside monarch butterflies. Each year, monarchs travel between breeding grounds in the U.S. and Canada and overwintering sites in Mexico and along the California coast. Eastern monarchs can travel up to 3,000 miles, while western monarchs migrate to coastal California. Together, participants work to complete as many 3,000-mile monarch migrations as possible, celebrating these incredible journeys and the campaign's collective impact. While Miles for Monarchs is not an official competition, participants can track their progress on leaderboards, adding a fun, friendly challenge to the campaign.
FAQs
The Basics
The Monarch Joint Venture (MJV) is a national conservation nonprofit that implements science-based conservation actions for monarch butterflies and other pollinators through four main pillars: habitat, science, education, and partnership. Conservation actions are organized in a regularly updated Monarch Conservation Implementation Framework, which serves as a guide to conservation planning for individuals, partners, and other interested stakeholders nationally. As a leader in monarch conservation, the MJV supports conservation planning and implementation efforts on a broad scale by facilitating information sharing, partnership building, and carrying out identified conservation priorities throughout the monarch’s migratory range.
MJV was founded in 2008, inspired by the collaborative model of bird joint ventures that successfully united diverse partners for migratory bird conservation. While monarch conservation carries that same spirit of international cooperation, our work is driven by voluntary partnerships and community action rather than direct legislative support. After a decade at the University of Minnesota, MJV became an independent nonprofit in 2018, expanding our capacity to lead and support conservation nationwide.
More information can be found on the MJV website.
Your registration and donation support MJV's work to conserve the monarch butterfly, its migration, and other pollinators. Donations support our habitat conservation, science, education, and partnership programming.
With questions regarding Miles for Monarchs, you can contact our Outreach Coordinator at miles@monarchjointventure.org.
Miles for Monarchs is a fundraiser supporting the Monarch Joint Venture's mission to protect monarchs and their migration. While the campaign includes tracking miles and a leaderboard, it is not an official competition. If you are participating with friends, family, or coworkers, feel free to host internal competitions. For example, some national organizations will enroll their staff in Miles for Monarchs and compete to see which state's staff can travel the most miles.
Registration + Making a Team
Registering for Miles for Monarchs gives you access to a range of benefits to support and celebrate your journey:
-Discounts on items in the MJV's online store and courses on the NECTAR Hub
-Free access to the Gardening for Monarchs course on NECTAR Hub
-A personal profile on the Miles for Monarchs website where you can log your miles, share social media profile links, and view the leaderboard.
-Weekly emails every Monday and Friday packed with educational content, fun activities, and encouragement to keep you motivated
Miles for Monarchs is a fundraiser; registration fees, purchases from our online stores, and donations directly support the Monarch Joint Venture's conservation work.
To create a team, a designated team leader must register first and create your team name. Once your team leader has successfully registered, the rest of your team may register separately.
Yes! Reach out to miles@monarchjointventure.org if you have a group of 10 or more people who would like to participate in Miles for Monarchs. Sponsorship opportunities are also available for organizations that would like to register their staff as a large group. Learn more here.
Engagement Opportunities
Walk, run, roll, bike, paddle, swim, anything self-propelled. All miles are good, whether on a treadmill, in your snow shoes, or on a local bike trail.
Miles for Monarchs is available wherever you are! Teams, additionally, do not need to be in the same location! This may be a fun opportunity for those separated by geography to participate in an event together.
Monarch Joint Venture strives to make Miles for Monarchs an inclusive and enjoyable experience. If you use a mobility device, you can still track the distance you travel, whether self-propelled or motorized. If you have questions or need further accommodations, please reach out to miles@monarchjointventure.org.
Yes! If you don't have a fitness tracker, you can use the simplified conversion guide below to log your activity:
For every 30 minutes of activity:
-Low intensity (easy walk): ~2 miles
-Medium intensity (brisk walk or light jog): ~3 miles
-High intensity (run): ~4 miles
Example: 30 minutes of a brisk walk would count as approximately 3 miles.
The main page on this site is available to participants and includes a simple online form to log/track your miles as you go. We suggest entering your miles for the previous week every Monday. Please make sure your miles reporting matches your registration information (name and email address).
Yes! When you post on social media, follow and tag the @MonarchJointVenture for a chance to be featured on the Monarch Joint Venture's social media stories.
Absolutely! Sponsorship demonstrates your commitment to conservation while engaging staff, customers, and partners in a shared campaign. Sponsors gain visibility among a dedicated conservation audience and can activate their networks in support of monarchs and their migration. Sponsors may contribute through an upfront sponsorship gift or a mileage match, pledging to donate $1 per mile logged by their organization’s participants or all campaign participants. We welcome conversations about customized participation opportunities that align with your goals. To learn more about sponsoring Miles for Monarchs, visit our sponsorship opportunities page.