The WWF, World Wildlife Foundation, was founded on September 11th 1961 in Switzerland. In 1986 they changed their name and are now known as 'the world wide fund for nature', but they decided to keep the original abbreviation as by this time it was well known throughout the world.
WWF: The Worldwide Fund for Nature
Today the WWF works in more than 90 countries supporting around 1300 conservation and environmental projects. The WWF is the world largest independent conservation organisation and their current strategy specifically focuses on restoring the population of 36 species.
Some of the main species they focus on are elephants, tuna, whales, dolphins and the big leaf mahogany. They are also focused on preserving 35 globally important eco-regions from the Arctic, the Amazon rainforest and the Congo basin. Another important aspect for the WWF is reducing peoples ecological foot print, from croplands, grazing lands, fishing, forestry, water and carbon emissions.
The range of projects they work on is huge, from school nature gardens in Zambia, to restoration of orangutan habitats to the establishment of giant panda reserves. The WWF works not only to protect animals but to make the entire Earth sustainable, this is why they work with animals and people all over the world.
The WWF has many partnerships to achieve its work, they not only work directly with people and animals on a ground level. They also work with government's and with businesses, to bring in new policies and to make industries more sustainable.
In the 1990's the WWF changed their mission from 'to halt and reverse the destruction of our environment', to 'stop the degradation of the planets natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature'. The WWF plans to do this by;
In 2009 the WWF did a lot of work to do with climate change and lobbying governments to agree to policies that work against climate change. They are now working to make sure that the governments do what they said they would do.
The WWF receives most of its funding through voluntary donations, around 60%. Of their entire funding around 45% comes from the UK, the US and the Netherlands. They have over 5 million supporters and in 2008 WWF's total global income was 447 million. And of this only 9% is spent on administration and finance.
During the 1970's a group called the 1001 club set up the 1001 nature fund. This club was set up by Prince Bernard from the Netherlands and Prince Phillip from the UK, together with the other 1001 members each donated £10,000 into a trust to help pay for the WWF's administrative fee's and fundraising aspects. This trust had around £10 million and is still used today.
the WWF have many ways to raise money, as well as the usual voluntary donations, the also offer a scheme to adopt an animal, in this scheme the person pays a set amount each month and in return the WWF sends updates about the species and other interesting things. They also organise several fundraising events such as marathons and runs, in most of the most well known runs they often have several places reserved for people to run to raise money on their behalf. They also have fundraising packs, which can be bought so people can raise money at schools or at work. They also have a 'WWF visa card' which can be used as a regular bank card. www.wwf.org.uk