The world’s largest nature conservation NGOs

As delegates gather in Yerevan, Armenia for the U.N.’s COP17 biodiversity summit, I thought it might be useful to put together a list of large nonprofit organizations involved in international conservation.

The list includes NGOs involved in international conservation or environmental work whose average annual expenses exceeded $100 million over the past three years. Figures are in U.S. dollars, in millions, and the list is ranked by expenses.

Developing a ranked list of NGOs can be fraught. So caveats apply.

NGO finances can be lumpy because of the timing of multi-year grants. I used three-year averages of revenue and expenses to smooth out those fluctuations.

Organizations can also have multiple entities. Together, the 11 largest WWF entities averaged $971 million in annual expenses over the past three years, for example. So don’t put too much into an organization’s specific rank on this list.

One can debate which organizations belong on the list. Some may question whether WRI is a conservation group. I included it because its analysis and tools are widely used in conservation decision-making. What about Greenpeace? You can decide.

Neither the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), nor the National Park Foundation are focused on international conservation, so they are excluded.

Governments carry out most conservation activities. Companies, collectives, Indigenous associations, and community groups can also be involved. The list may omit large organizations whose work is confined to one country. And some listed organizations devote considerable resources to non-conservation activities: WCS operates a network of zoos in New York City, for example.

The list: NGOs involved in international conservation and environmental work that averaged more than $25M in annual expenses over the past three years.

Table includes average revenue and expenses over the past three years and the most recent filing used in the data.