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Funding and Financial Overview
Reports and Statements
During this year of financial upheaval, we were immensely gratified by the commitment of our supporters. In the face of a historic economic downturn, our members and other donors continued their support in record numbers. In this year we achieved the highest levels of membership support in our history. While we did experience declines in higher-level gift amounts, the overall continued support was inspiring.
We also enjoyed continued success with direct government support of our complex local-to-global solutions in places like the Coral Triangle, the Congo, the Amazon and Namibia. Government revenues increased to $33 million this year from a previous high of $29.5 million. Much of that success was driven by collaboration with our WWF Network colleagues and other conservation partners. With all of this support, we were able to make the largest investment in conservation program accomplishments of any fiscal year in our history, growing our program funding to $130 million – an 8 percent increase over last fiscal year.
Even with all this good news, we did not escape this recession unscathed. Just as many others experienced large portfolio losses, our endowment, reserves and net assets declined significantly over the year. Many of our foundation and corporate supporters reported similar declines in their philanthropic funds and as a result our revenues in those areas declined. In response to these declines, we implemented appropriate austerity measures, reducing less critical expenses, deferring less urgent programmatic work, and – most difficult – making reductions in staff. With a proportional decrease in mission support activities, we maintained a strong, efficient spending ratio, with 82 percent directed to worldwide conservation.
While the economic future remains uncertain, our collective commitment to conservation achievements must remain resolute. This year, we’ve seen our members and donors demonstrate that commitment, empowering us to succeed as we face the challenges of climate change, species extinction, and threats to our forests and oceans. Our sense of programmatic urgency, balanced with strong accountability and transparency, makes WWF a sound investment that delivers conservation dividends now and will do so into the future.
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Co-Chairmen of the Board Larry Linden and Roger Sant hold WWF accountable for best practices in governance, accountability and transparency at all levels of the organization.
