Conservation Trust Funds provide long term financing for management of protected areas, biodiversity conservation projects and sustainable development. The significant majority of the CTFs participating in this study are managed as private organizations, independent of government. They are generally capitalized by grants from donor agencies, governments, foundations, nonprofit organizations, individuals and corporations.

Since the establishment of the first CTF in the early 1990s, Conservation Trust Funds have proven to be highly successful in providing stable funding sources by effectively managing income from investments and leveraging those monies to secure grants and other funds for conservation projects, thus helping to conserve important biodiversity worldwide. As of this writing over 100 Conservation Trust Funds have been established or are in active stages of formation; most are still active while a few have wound down and closed or been absorbed into another institution. CTFs exist in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, and Eastern Europe, building on the structure and functional example of the early CTFs.