The Trust

Created to help extend Wilderness’ reach and capacity to support conservation and development projects.

Purpose of the Wilderness Trust

Wilderness Serra Cafema Namibia Purpose Impact

The goal of the Wilderness Trust is to make a difference to Africa, its wildlife and its people. The Wilderness Trust, formerly the Wilderness Safaris Wildlife Trust, is an independent non-profit organisation. The Wilderness Trust was established by the Wilderness Group of companies (known at that time as Wilderness Safaris) in 2000. At the time, it was recognised that Wilderness Safaris could only do so much for conservation in the course of its day-to-day activities and that a dedicated entity was needed to take matters further. More funds and a greater reach would make the conservation and development activities more effective and impactful.

Accordingly, it was decided that an independent entity that facilitated fundraising and the disbursement of the monies to deserving projects would mean that, both directly and indirectly, Wilderness could assist more people, wildlife and places.

The relationship between Wilderness and the Wilderness Trust is symbiotic. In many projects supported financially by the Wilderness Trust, Wilderness contributes significantly through logistics and in-kind support (e.g. equipment; manpower; fuel; vehicle servicing; access; accommodation) to ensure the enhanced viability of the work. Wilderness has also long been a donor to the Wilderness Trust. On the other hand, the fact that the Wilderness Trust is independent also means that it is able to engage with projects beyond the geographic scope of Wilderness’ camps and concessions and ensure that conservation and development are the driving forces, unconstrained by business realities.

A few words from our Chairman

The Wilderness Trust has achieved significant impact since its inception, but suffered equally with Wilderness the effects of the Covid pandemic (while at the same time providing a conduit for vital [food supply] support to highly impoverished communities neighbouring the areas in which Wilderness operates). The Wilderness Trust has, over the last 18 months, as part of post-Covid recovery, positioned itself for greater impact into the future. This has included strategic review, alignment with Wilderness’ newly adopted impact pillars to Educate, Empower and Protect; improvements to its governance structures and processes, monitoring of grants and activities, and transparency of activities; careful thought towards potential new approaches to fundraising activities, and optimising and synchronising the activities of Children in the Wilderness across its regions.

While this journey is ongoing, good progress has already been made, as reflected in the recently released Wilderness Trust Report covering the period 2018-2023. The Wilderness Trust affords its donors the benefit of independence, while also benefiting from the tremendous and privileged platform it gains from its relationship with the Wilderness Group, which breathes life into, inspires, and supports, the activities of the Wilderness Trust. It also demonstrates the responsibility of the Wilderness Trust to achieve the greatest possible impact, at a time in history when its imperatives are more critical than ever before.

Our Impact Strategy

To make our support as impactful as possible, the Wilderness Trust focuses its funding on conservation and development projects that fall under Wilderness’ three key impact pillars: Educate, Empower, and Protect. We support initiatives that are educating children, empowering communities and protecting wildlife from people and people from wildlife.

Impact initiatives

How do we achieve a positive impact?

Learn about our Educate, Empower and Protect pillars that outline the ways in which we are making a positive impact at Wilderness.

Educate

Improved education increases economic opportunity, family resilience and support for conservation of wildlife.

Empower

The creation of conservation economies gives value to wilderness and wildlife. Employment and support for development of small businesses reduce reliance on natural resources.

Protect

Conservation hospitality unlocks resources to reduce human-wildlife conflict and protect habitats from human impact.

History

A brief history of the Wilderness Trust and its historic milestones.

View timeline

Leadership

Meet the leaders of the Wilderness Trust.

Meet the board

Financials

A financial overview of the activities of the Wilderness Trust and associated entities.

Be part of our impact

Ways to Contribute

Donors have the choice to contribute to general funds, a particular Impact category (Educate; Empower; Protect), or even a specific project. Since our US-based fundraising partner, Empowers Africa, charges only nominal administration costs, and the Wilderness Trust does not charge any fees at all, donors are assured their monies are being spent completely on their chosen component.

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