Conservation Trust Fund Projects - Update

Posted: March 12, 2020

The two Conservation Trust Funds (CTFs) projects are well on their way. Recently the consulting team from Wolfs Company and Aligning Visions sent a comprehensive survey to just over 100 CTFs – the 50% response rate was exceptional, and has produced a robust body of data that will, along with interviews, inform the 10-Year Review of CTFs. We extend tremendous thanks to the CTFs that took the time to complete the survey and contribute to this process. The updates to the Practice Standards for CTFs are also moving ahead. The CTF Projects Task Force will review a complete draft of the Standards in the second half of March.

Starting in mid-April, the draft will be circulated to the Environmental Funds Working Group (EFWG) for review and comment. Anyone who wants to participate in the review process is encouraged to join the EFWG.

We plan to launch the updated Practice Standards and the 10-Year Review at the CFA’s Pavilion at the World Conservation Congress in June.

The CFA Incubator - Update

The CFA recently closed (Jan 31, 2020) a call for proposals for its first round of virtual incubation.  The CFA Incubator will award 5 subgrants of $25,000 each and mentorship support to the top 5 proposals received.  Announcement of the successful proposals will be made next week. Many thanks to our partners and communications channels as well as all of the amazing conservation finance entrepreneurs whom applied. We received 75 fascinating and inspiring applications from a wide geography (42 countries) and diverse organizations with over a quarter being led by women.  The overwhelming positive response to this Call combined with the quality of the proposals received has encouraged us to expand the mentoring support for projects to an additional 10 proposals.  These additional 10 chosen projects will be supported through CFA Staff and Member mentors.  All 15 projects accepted into the CFA Incubator will have the opportunity to present their ideas during the World Conservation Congress at the CFA Pavilion. We are very excited to begin the mentorship process!

 If you are interested in being a mentor and are not part of the CFA Innovation Working Group, please join the Working Group via this link.   

The following is a quick summary of the applications received: 

The diversity of applicant organizations, their geographic distribution and ideas that they contain are truly representative of the CFA membership and indicate the growing interest in the CFA from conservation finance practitioners.  We are pleased to see such a positive response and believe that we can build a solid program that will stimulate additional conservation finance activities. The CFA Incubator Technical Review Committee is currently reviewing all applications using the previously agreed upon scoring criteria. Recipients will be announced shortly.

The CFA is currently seeking additional technical and financial partnerships for the CFA Incubator, building from our current partnerships that include:

·       Fonds Français pour l’Environnement Mondial (FFEM)

·       MAVA Foundation

·       Conservation International Ventures

·       Posaidon

Please contact David Meyers, Executive Director of the CFA for further information.

Again, if you are interested in mentoring one of these amazing concepts but are not yet part of the Innovation Working Group, please join the Working Group by visiting the Innovation WG page on the CFA website or contacting the Secretariat.