The BBC Wildlife Fund

With global warming frequenting headlines across the globe on a much more frequent basis, it is not surprising that charities are hard at work, raising money for those projects which support endangered species.

And this is exactly what the BBC Wildlife Fund has been set up to do. As a charity that is registered with the Charity Commission, the BBC Wildlife Fund is responsible for the distribution of donations to those projects that are working to protect endangered wildlife throughout the world.

This could include animals and plants and the wild places that each project needs in order to ensure the safety, and improve the natural conditions that they need to survive.

You may recall that the BBC filmed a number of programmes in 2007 – the Saving Planet Earth season. This enabled the fund to raise £1,603,488 before the end of 2007 and it has now been agreed where this money will be allocated.

How Did The Programmes Help?

The series of Saving Planet Earth programmes, put together by the BBC and shown in the summer of 2007 gave an insight into how these projects can make a difference to animals and plants.

It was off the back of these programmes that the BBC set up its Wildlife Fund and are working to raise money to help support the projects that were featured in the series, along with many others.

The BBC itself, however, has not donated to the charity because of broadcasting regulation, but instead has worked behind the scenes to get the Wildlife Fund up and running.

How The Decision is Made

Obviously, from the example above, it is clear that this fund has a lot of money to designate to worthy wildlife charities.

But, in order to make sure that all the money is spread out evenly, and goes to the right people, the BBC Wildlife Fund has a board of trustees made up of people with experience in business administration, environmental issues, or who have been involved in conservation projects.

Applications to the fund by projects are submitted to Board of Trustees and assessed according to the strict criteria set out when the fund was initially set up. Now, unlike many other grant applications, the criteria for the BBC Wildlife Fund aren’t as complicated.

It is very simple in the fact that the project has to protect a key species within an ecosystem, involve the community and addresses a clear plight. The application must also have some evidence of being a success in the past and demonstrate how it will continue to be a success in the future.

Where Does it Come From?

The money that the BBC Wildlife Fund is able to donate to the various projects chosen by the Board of Trustees is raised in a number of ways. Obviously, the public pay a huge part in this. However, the fund also has two corporate sponsors help in other ways to make the fund a success.

Firstly, British Telecom (BT) provides the online donation facility that allows people to pledge money to the fund in a very quick and efficient way. BT, in particular, have a very strong commitment to reducing the threat of climate change.

The second corporate sponsor is high street bank, HSBC who was the initial sponsor of the Saving Planet Earth event that raised money for the fund. HSBC has developed their technology to enable people to donate to the fund via ATM machines and also work with staff within their branches to make the pledging process much easier.