There are many conservation trust funds (CTFs) of varying sizes and missions, supported by a range of financing, that operate throughout the world. For the purposes of this study, CTFs are defined as legally independent, incountry, grant-making institutions that provide sustainable financing for biodiversity conservation, which often includes financing part of the longterm management costs of protected areas.
While some of these are funded through annual government appropriations or manage sinking funds where capital is spent down over time, many also manage endowment funds, relying upon the return from endowment investments to sustain their operations. There have been recent efforts to facilitate information sharing and greater collaboration with the most important network managed by the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Environmental Funds (RedLAC), a group of 23 Latin American and Caribbean funds.
