World Wildlife Fund

Conservation trust funds provide an investment avenue that can be used to finance program costs over many years. Trust funds also establish the administrative and management mechanisms that help involve local people and enable non-governmental organizations to work together with government agencies to carry out conservation activities. By providing sustainable funding, building local capacity, and encouraging stakeholder coordination, conservation trust funds can greatly enhance the impact of conservation investments.

The translocation of Greater one-horned rhinos from Royal Chitwan National Park to Royal Bardia National Park is a joint initiative of the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation, the WWF Nepal Program and Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation.
© WWF-Canon / Jeff Foott

A trust fund can be broadly defined as a financial asset(s) that (1) is legally restricted to a specified purpose; (2) must be kept separate from other sources of money (such as a government agency's regular budget); and (3) is managed by an independent board of trustees or directors. Depending on the legal system of the country, trust funds can be established as foundations, nonprofit corporations, common-law trusts, or special institutions.

Trust funds can be financed by debt swaps, through grants or donations, or through other financing mechanisms such as earmarked taxes and fees. There are three primary types of trusts funds: an endowment fund (where the interest, but not the capital is spent); a sinking fund (where the income and part of the capital is spent every year, eventually sinking the fund to zero over a pre-determined time); and a revolving fund (which continually receives new revenues from earmarked taxes or fees and continually spends these revenues).

WWF developed the world's first conservation trust fund in 1991 in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. There are more than 40 trust funds around the world that are based on the model developed by WWF.

To learn more about WWF's participation in the development of conservation trust funds, read about some of our featured projects.