Wolfs Company led a consortium of international consultants to assist The MedFund in designing its 2021-2025 resource mobilization strategy and action plan. This project was executed in collaboration with Sid Embree (AtmosClear Canada Inc.) and Josephine Langley.
The MedFund will share further insights on its strategy during an in-depth webinar on resource mobilization for CTFs on the 18th of May 2021. Check the webinar series about the 2020 Practice Standards for CTFs to join this session.
A financing mechanism to address crucial needs
The MedFund is a Conservation Trust Fund (CTF) based in Monaco that mobilizes and manages capital from diverse sources to provide sustainable financing for marine conservation in the Mediterranean.
It invests financial resources through an endowment fund and grants part of the generated interest to NGOs and national authorities that manage marine protected areas. This type of long-term financing is combined with funds raised through sinking and revolving fund accounts.
By covering recurring costs to manage priority sites, The MedFund helps protect key species, ecosystems and ecosystem services from climate change impacts and various other human-induced pressures that affect the Mediterranean Sea.
A targeted strategy to mobilize resources
The MedFund’s goal is to support more than 7,000 km2 in more than 20 sites across 7 Mediterranean countries by 2025. To do so, it aims to capitalize a €30 million endowment fund.
In order to reach these goals and guide resource mobilization efforts, our team assisted The MedFund in the selection of 22 top potential donors. We compiled and analyzed a database of more than 250 relevant entities, including institutional donors, philanthropists and private sector actors.
Interviews and desk research helped us identify donor priorities and their areas of affinity with The MedFund.
To support future communication, we developed in-depth thematic proposals on the links between Mediterranean marine protected areas and relevant topics such as climate change adaptation, species connectivity, fisheries and the blue economy.
The strategy also integrates key findings, lessons learned and recommendations from “CTFs 2020: Global Vision, Local Action” and the “2020 Practice Standards for CTFs”, two global projects led by Wolfs Company.
Moving beyond traditional financing
While public and private donors provide fundamental support to The MedFund, innovation is considered crucial to mobilize ever larger sums of capital to achieve its goals. In addition to donations, the strategy zooms in on alternative financing mechanisms that offer further resource mobilization potential within The MedFund’s context, including:
- A Mediterranean marine protected area bond
- Debt conversions
- Financing mechanisms within the blue economy
Our assistance to The MedFund was funded by a project of the Global Environment Facility’s (GEF) International Water Focal Area.