Strategic Funding Partners

A family company and a major player in the food industry through portions of dairy, fruit and plant-based products, and one of the world leaders in branded cheeses. Their corporate mission is to provide everyone with healthier and more sustainable food. Bel is also committed to fighting climate change and is working towards reducing their net Greenhouse Gas emissions, including contributing towards increasing the capacities of carbon sinks through practices such as the preservation of ecosystems. As such, Bel is partnering with African Parks to fund the Chinko Conservation Area through the purchase of VCS carbon credits that were issued for the first time in 2023.

The Government made a significant 5-year commitment of US$6m when President Patrice Talon invited African Parks to assume management of Pendjari National Park in the W-Arly-Pendjari (WAP) Complex that spans Benin, Burkina Faso, and Niger. The aim of the partnership is to preserve, manage, and develop this unique landscape. In addition, the Government of Benin has been instrumental in expanding our footprint into W Benin through a funding commitment of US$6 million. Their contribution has been critical in attracting other private and institutional funding to support the management of Pendjari and Park W-Benin in Benin, which represents a significant portion of the largest intact wild ecosystem in West Africa.

In 2024, Bill visited three parks under African Parks’ management—Garamba in the DRC, and Boma and Badingilo in South Sudan. During his visit, he witnessed the breathtaking Great Nile Migration, the largest land mammal migration on the planet. His continued support helps safeguard these extraordinary landscapes and all protected areas under African Parks' portfolio across the continent. As a strategic partner, he has made generous multiyear commitments, reinforcing his dedication to conservation. 

A U.S. private foundation, supports nature and wildlife conservation efforts and various initiatives aimed at increasing opportunities to access quality education, including leadership, career development, and scholarship programs. In 2024, the Foundation continued its commitment to African Parks by supporting the restoration of Siniaka Minia National Park in Chad. It also sustained its support for our dugong conservation efforts in Bazaruto Archipelago National Park in Mozambique.

A Dutch foundation, DOB Ecology believes that strong and healthy ecosystems are vital ingredients for life, wellbeing, and sustainable development. The mission of DOB Ecology is to support partners that work to protect and restore threatened ecosystems and (re)build the conditions for resilient livelihoods of local communities. The multiyear partnership between DOB Ecology and African Parks revolves around intelligence-based conservation in Odzala-Kokoua National Park.

Donna and Marvin are extraordinary advocates for conservation and wildlife protection, deeply committed to saving elephants and other large species threatened by poaching. Their partnership with African Parks began in 2012, and they have played a pivotal role in supporting anti-poaching efforts across Central Africa. In 2024, they further reinforced this commitment with targeted support for Garamba National Park in DRC. Beyond their strategic contributions to African Parks, the Schwartzes also provided critical funding to support families affected by violence in W National Park, Benin. Marvin serves on the board of the African Parks Foundation of America.

Edith is a long-time advocate for conservation with a deep passion for species protection and habitat preservation. She has dedicated over three decades to advancing these critical causes. Since 2013, she has played a vital role in supporting African Parks. In 2024, her continued strategic partner-level contribution toward safeguarding the Great Migration in South Sudan and supporting community development efforts in the region exemplifies her unwavering commitment to preserving this remarkable landscape and the surrounding communities. Edith serves on the board of the African Parks Foundation of America.

The Lottery has been raising funds since 1989 to support organisations working towards a fairer and greener world. At least 40% of every ticket sold goes to charity. The Lottery has steadily grown to become the biggest charity lottery in the Netherlands, supporting 147 non-governmental organisations. Since its founding, the Lottery has dispensed over €8.0b. Over the last five years, African Parks has received €4.5m in unrestricted funding. Also, we were the recipient, together with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Peace Parks, of €16.9m for a Dreamfund project in 2020 to boost the ecological and socio-economic development of the world’s largest terrestrial transfrontier conservation area, the Kavango Zambezi (KAZA), which helped us fund operations in developing Kafue National Park.

A joint initiative of Save the Elephants and the Wildlife Conservation Network, the ECF is a flexible and responsive fund that supports the best efforts by the most trusted organisations globally, working to secure a future for elephants in Africa. Since 2015, the ECF has not only contributed more than $6.6 million to African Parks, but also expertise on best practice in elephant conservation. This has benefitted critical surveillance, intelligence-based protection, and human-elephant conflict mitigation activities for some of our most threatened elephant populations.

The EU has been a crucial long-standing partner of African Parks, driving joint conservation and development goals in Central, East and West working together towards joint conservation and development objectives in central Africa. Since 2005, this partnership has fostered helped create areas of stability in a volatile fragile regions and attracting additional funding and new partners. The EU’s support has been critical in managing large landscapes, enhancing safety and security for both people and wildlife, and creating opportunities in green sectors. Together, we remain committed to advancing our shared vision for a sustainable future. Through improved management of these ecologically important landscapes; striving towards safety and security for people and wildlife; and strengthening opportunities in green sectors, we will continue to work towards our common goals.

The Foundation is a conservation trust fund promoting the preservation of protected areas of the WAP Complex, while advancing education, science, and local economic development. The Foundation was set up by the Benin Government and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), with financial contributions from the Benin Government, Global Environment Facility (GEF), and Financial German Cooperation (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau – KfW). The Foundation has been providing significant annual financial contributions towards management of Pendjari National Park since 2017. In 2019 to 2020, FSOA provided 85% of funding to implement a Priority Action Plan to secure the Beninese W National Park, which evolved into a full management mandate to African Parks in June 2020. The Foundation also contributed significantly to the funding of the first 3-month plan from the African Parks mandate for the management of Park W-Benin, up to December 2020. In 2023, the FSOA contributed 1 120 000€ to Pendjari and W in Benin. Its larger vision is to create a sustainable source of funding and to support the synergy of activities within the W-Arly-Pendjari Complex.

A Swiss foundation established in 1996, is committed to helping protect the biodiversity of our planet through active conservation of threatened species and their habitats, and restoration of degraded ecosystems. Fondation Segré became a strategic funding partner of African Parks in 2016 and has contributed over US$9m to support a range of parks. In 2024, Fondation Segré assisted African Parks in Ennedi Natural and Cultural Reserve and the Boma-Badingilo landscape.

A Swiss-based philanthropic organisation funding initiatives that work to reverse the impact of climate change in two key areas: access to clean energy and protection of tropical forests. Good Energies is part of Porticus, which manages the private philanthropic endeavours founded by the Brenninkmeijer family business owners with the aim to help create a just and sustainable future where human dignity flourishes. The partnership between Good Energies and African Parks evolves around harmonizing forest conservation and community development in Chinko Conservation Area, Central African Republic.

Gregory and Jennifer Alexander make conservation investments to address the declining biological diversity of life on Earth. They support results-orientated, entrepreneurial organizations that maximize the impact of their philanthropic dollar and focus on proving, and then expanding, their impacts over time. Since 2015, they have provided unrestricted support to African Parks, while also investing in African Parks’ Incubator Program, which assists select NGOs with the implementation of the African Parks’ model.

The Danish Hempel Foundation is a shareholder of the Hempel Group and a dedicated philanthropist. The Foundation is committed to make a difference by empowering children to learn and to address the biodiversity crisis, focusing on three crucial areas: sustaining specific key biodiversity areas, the development of new sources of finance for biodiversity conservation, and strengthening collective efforts. The Hempel Foundation is supporting African Parks since 2022, starting with Nyungwe National Park in Rwanda, followed by South Sudan in 2023 and Gambella National Park from 2024.

The Foundation views its resources as rare risk capital that can improve conditions and create change in the most difficult circumstances and geographies. Since 2014, the Foundation has supported a range of habitat and animal conservation projects, as well as operational and security improvements, at Rwanda’s Akagera National Park. In 2021, the Foundation took the lead in supporting the historic translocation of 30 white rhinos to Akagera National Park. Continuing its commitment, in 2024, the Foundation provided ongoing support to safeguard the flourishing rhino population at Akagera.  

Legacy Landscapes Fund (LLF) is an international fund, established by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development as an independent charitable foundation under German law. Its financial resources stem from public and private sources. In addition to funding from the German Government through KfW Development Bank, NORAD and the French Agence Française de Developpement, each site needs to have a private match-funding partner. LLF addresses the biodiversity financing gap by sourcing significant and sustained long-term funding from both public and private donors, thus contributing to conserving biodiversity within a 30x30 framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Two protected areas managed by African Parks are among the pilot sites receiving funding from LLF: Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of Congo and Iona National Park in Angola.

An initiative operated and managed by the Wildlife Conservation Network, the LRF is a nimble and flexible fund investing in the most innovative and effective projects across Africa to recover lion and restore their landscapes. Since 2017, the LRF has contributed over US$5.4m to African Parks. This funding has benefitted nine different African Parks sites, with a particular focus on several parks in West and central Africa, given the extreme vulnerability of lion populations in these regions. The LRF has invested heavily in Chinko in the CAR, part of a vast 65,000 km² wilderness that has immense potential for lion recovery.

An independent charitable foundation established in 2007 with teams in Switzerland, Sub-Saharan Africa, and India. The Foundation strives to improve the quality of life of people facing disadvantages, contribute to healthy ecosystems, and build resilient, inclusive, and prosperous communities. The multi-year partnership with African Parks centers on advancing the urgent global mission of protecting 30% of the Earth by 2030 to prevent irreversible biodiversity loss, while simultaneously providing sustainable livelihoods to communities living in and around protected areas.

Paul provided the bulk of the initial funding that established African Parks in 2000. In 2010, his daughters Alicia and Tannetta Fentener van Vlissingen committed €25m to the African Parks Endowment Fund, in accordance with their father’s final wishes. Income from the Fund is earmarked, primarily, for African Parks’ overhead costs. During 2024, the Fund contributed €1.5m to African Parks.

Mike and Georgia were introduced to African Parks in 2024 and made a multiyear commitment to support our conservation efforts in South Sudan, helping to protect the Great Nile Migration and the region’s vast landscapes for the benefit of biodiversity and wildlife. Their generous support enables African Parks to expand our work in the region and collaborate with tribal communities on the sustainable management of their land and natural resources. Committed to advancing conservation at scale, Mike looks forward to visiting some of our parks in 2025.

Founded in 1988 by philanthropists Jody Allen and the late Paul G. Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, the foundation works to enhance the arts and culture experience, mobilize young people to drive change, and advance science and technology solutions that address wildlife conservation, ocean health and climate change. The foundation also funds cutting-edge research in all areas of bioscience through the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group. In 2024, the Foundation committed support to African Parks' eDNA pilot, advancing the use of Molecular Ecological Network Analysis (MENA) to quantify and monitor changes in ecosystem structure, composition, function, and intactness. This pioneering initiative is designed to assess the ecological integrity of protected areas, enhancing conservation decision-making and contributing to global biodiversity targets. Piloted across diverse biomes, the project is establishing key indicators of ecological integrity in restored and conserved ecosystems. In its first year, over 5,500 samples were collected across five parks—Zakouma, Odzala-Kokoua, Akagera, Iona, and Kafue—laying the foundation for scalable, science-driven tracking of conservation impacts.

Since 2015, African Parks has received more than £11 million, awarded by Postcode Planet Trust, thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery. This unrestricted funding is helping African Parks protect wildlife and habitats in conservation areas.

PSP supports innovative leaders solving humanity’s big societal, environmental, and health challenges. PSP made a commitment to support African Parks’ Rhino Rewild initiative, aimed at rescuing and rewilding over 2,000 southern white rhinos. The leadership gift has provided strong operational and security for long-term impact, helping to build capacity and ensure the success of this historic conservation effort.  

For over 30 years, Rainforest Trust, a US-based Nonprofit, has been dedicated to supporting the creation and expansion of protected and conserved areas worldwide. Focusing on regions critical for threatened biodiversity and large wilderness areas, Rainforest Trust, in partnership with donors, local NGOs, and communities, is working to establish formal protection across an area of over 100 million acres. In 2021, Rainforest Trust partnered with African Parks in a collaborative effort to bolster the legal framework of the conservation area to create the Chinko National Park in the Central African Republic (CAR). This initiative serves as a catalyst for broader regional conservation endeavors. Building upon this success, Rainforest Trust entered into a second partnership with African Parks in 2024 to facilitate the restoration and expansion of Boma and Badingilo National Parks in South Sudan to safeguard the remarkable antelope migration. African Parks is grateful for Rainforest Trust's pivotal role in this US$11 million commitment.

The Rathmann Family Foundation leverages the talents, experience, and passion of its members and communities by supporting individuals and organizations dedicated to making a meaningful impact. Since 2015, the Foundation has been a steadfast supporter of African Parks, continuously expanding its commitment. In 2024, the foundation made a multi-year investment in Rhino Rewild, strengthening our efforts to rewild over 2,000 Southern White Rhino to well-managed protected areas across Africa.

RWF supports ambitious projects, partners and programs to foster a planet where people and nature thrive. With the passion of their founder, RWF works with urgency and an earnest belief that it will take all of us to reach global conservation goals, protect biodiversity, and create opportunity for communities. Rob Walton has been an invaluable partner to African Parks since 2003, providing support to safeguard the long-term health of protected areas, which are critical to the well-being of wildlife and local communities across Africa. In 2021, the RWF made a transformational US$100 million five-year commitment, the largest endowment gift in African Parks’ history. Portions of the Foundation’s annual contributions have supported various parks within our portfolio, including Chinko, Ennedi, and Liwonde, as well as sparked matching grants to Iona and Odzala-Kokoua, in conjunction with the Legacy Landscapes Fund.  Moreover, RWF has made pivotal commitments to support the development of the African Parks Conservation Academy, advance the reach and effectiveness of the Incubation Program, and help launch the Rhino Rewild effort to rescue and rewild over 2,000 southern white rhino. These efforts reflect the Foundation’s unwavering dedication to nurturing conservation leadership and building capacity for long-term impact.

Stichting African Horizon’s mission is to support nature conservation and Protected Areas in Africa. The multi-year partnership with African Parks focuses on Bangweulu Wetlands in Zambia, and enables projects that safeguard the biodiversity of this unique landscape, and at the same time provide benefits to over 50,000 people living in the Wetlands, who are in urgent need of sustainable livelihoods.

A charitable foundation established in 2017 by Jan Verhagen, a Dutch entrepreneur, Natura Africae is dedicated to the conservation of national parks and protected areas in Africa, recognising the reciprocal relationship between the livelihoods of local communities and the successful protection of an ecosystem’s wildlife. The Foundation provided €4.25m in 2024, supporting park operations in Liuwa Plain, Odzala-Kokoua, Iona, Ennedi, and a special drought relief program in Matusadona. The grant also provided catalytic funding to strengthen African Parks’ community development work, in particular related to education.

The Agency has been implementing the Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE), an important effort to preserve the Congo Basin’s ecosystem, assisting governments and local communities to work together to sustainably manage natural resources and make long-term plans for forest land use. With a commitment of $27m over the last 8 years (2016-2024), USAID has been providing support to African Parks to improve protected area management and wildlife conservation in the Garamba Complex and the Chinko Conservation Area within the Mbomou-Uele border region, straddling across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR), and to promote sustainable livelihoods among households dwelling inside and in the periphery of these protected areas. Apart from a myriad of conservation and sustainable livelihood impacts being achieved, this USAID partnership is contributing towards the establishment of a foothold for governance, security and stability for the surrounding communities, and the wider DRC-CAR-South Sudan transboundary landscape.

INL advances security, stability, and the rule of law, prerequisites for sustainable economic development and protection of natural resources. Since 2017, INL has partnered with African Parks on critical law enforcement support in protected areas, enhancing the professionalization and effectiveness of rangers across Africa. While standardized operational capacity transcends all protected areas under African Parks’ management, 10 protected areas have received direct support in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, the Republic of Congo, the Central Africa Republic, Benin, Malawi and Zambia. INL support has led to the development of leadership and core training infrastructure, enables air surveillance, improves the welfare of rangers and canines, enhances technology for communication, wildlife monitoring and information management and advances national and regional collaboration with other security and conservation partners. Evidence management training and support to judicial systems, have also contributed to notable increases in wildlife crime convictions. These interventions not only protect wildlife but also contribute to increased security of neighbouring communities and regional stability.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) operates to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats. Since its initial partnership with African Parks in 2013, USFWS has consistently provided support to bolster our conservation endeavors in key protected areas across central and western Africa. In 2024, USFWS continued its commitment by supporting the management and protection of Odzala-Kokoua and Zakouma, as well as backing elephant conservation initiatives in Chinko, Pendjari and W.

A private philanthropic foundation dedicated to the long-term conservation of endangered wildlife and wild places in Africa. It supports innovative approaches that disrupt traditional wildlife protection paradigms, with a focus on comprehensive training, equipment, and technology for rangers. Since first partnering with African Parks in 2014, the foundation has remained a steadfast supporter, investing in eight parks across seven countries. This commitment was championed by the late David Bonderman, who we lost in 2024, whose visionary leadership and deep dedication to conservation left an enduring impact. His legacy through the Wildcat Foundation has strengthened protection efforts across Africa, ensuring the continued safeguarding of critical ecosystems. In 2024, Wildcat continued its vital support for the development and implementation of conservation law enforcement strategies in Garamba National Park in DRC and Kafue National Park in Zambia. 

WWF has been supporting African Parks since 2007, with the goal of promoting the African Parks management model across Africa. WWF Belgium became a strategic funding partner in 2017, supporting the Malawi parks and Liuwa Plain National Park.

The Foundation is a private charitable organisation dedicated to supporting innovative, lasting solutions that improve lives, empower communities and strengthen connections to the land. The Foundation’s relationship with African Parks began in 2015 with a grant to support the restoration of Akagera National Park, followed by a significant investment in Malawi’s Liwonde National Park and Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve. In 2017, the Foundation made a ground-breaking commitment of US$65m to provide ongoing support for Akagera and the Malawi parks, along with start-up funding for five new parks. This enabled the addition of Pendjari and W in Benin, Bazaruto Archipelago National Park in Mozambique, Iona National Park in Angola, Matusadona National Park in Zimbabwe and Nyungwe National Park in Rwanda. In 2021, the Foundation furthered its support of African Parks with another extraordinary commitment of US$108m, which will provide for the continued support of current Wyss-funded parks, as well as start-up funding for another five new parks. Three parks recently added to our portfolio – Kafue National Park in Zambia, Badingilo and Boma National Parks in South Sudan – are benefitting from the Wyss Foundation’s latest commitment and five are benefiting from renewal commitments – Bazaruto, Pendjari, Majete, Nkhotakota and Liwonde.