About
The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) is a conservation organization working to ensure that wildlife, wild lands, and people can thrive across Africa. Incorporated in 1961, AWF pursues conservation strategies that address threats such as poaching and habitat loss while promoting African-led conservation. It is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, and is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the United States as well as a registered charity in the UK and Canada.
Mission
AWF works to ensure wildlife, wild lands, and people can thrive, through conservation strategies that address threats like poaching and habitat loss while promoting African leadership in conservation.
What they do
AWF organizes its work around three main pillars:
- Leading for Wildlife: empowering African leadership and influencing conservation decision-making
- Living with Wildlife: building resilient ecosystems and supporting the communities that share landscapes with wildlife
- Caring for Wildlife: managing wildlife, countering wildlife trafficking, and applying conservation science
History
The organization was incorporated on March 20, 1961 as the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation (AWLF) and was renamed the African Wildlife Foundation in 1983. Its website describes more than 60 years of conservation leadership. According to ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, its IRS tax exemption ruling dates to July 1962.
Scale and impact
Examples of impact published on the organization's website:
- AWF operates across multiple African countries and landscapes
- Its Maasai Steppe Heartland encompasses 35,000 square kilometers of protected and community-managed wildlife areas
- In landscapes where AWF works, the mountain gorilla population grew from about 700 individuals in 2004 to an estimated 880 in 2012
- As of 2021, six schools had been rebuilt in return for communities' conservation commitments
Financials
According to ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, for the fiscal year ending June 2025 the African Wildlife Foundation reported total revenue of $37,344,195, total expenses of $37,818,711, and net assets of $42,933,466, with total assets of $54,826,766 against liabilities of $11,893,300.
Governance
The African Wildlife Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN 52-0781390). Kaddu Kiwe Sebunya has served as Chief Executive Officer since January 1, 2019. In 2007, Dr. Helen Gichohi was appointed as the organization's first African president.
