The conservation management plan guides the implementation for how the income raised is put to best use. The plan, approved by the Foundation, provides costed annual work plans to guide the Foundation members and the ICS implementing team, and details the required annual reports on the outcomes of the existing activities.
Competent and respected NGOs to undertake the development of the management plan, implementation of and reporting on its activities.
Clear decision-making: In order for the conservation management on the islands to be effective, each Foundation meeting needs to conclude with clear actionable decisions. Ambiguity of decisions can lead to uncertainty on how to proceed in the intervening period, especially by field conservation staff. Incorporating a secretariat to manage the operations of the Foundations (in our case managed by ICS) would ensure that high-level decisions are translatable to activity-based implementation.
The Endowment Fund is established to enable members of the Foundation to contribute financially to conservation management on the island. It also allows for capital to be invested in order to generate an income in perpetuity. The surplus at the end of the financial year is usually transferred into the endowment fund which is managed by an international investment firm. The return on investment is either put back in the endowment or used to support priority environmental projects on the island.
A governing constitution for the establishment of the Fund, operational guidelines stipulating the rules and procedures managing the fund and use of the proceeds, as well as sufficient contributions to generate an income from the endowment.
Supporting under-resourced islands: Some islands have active Foundations where the financial contributions cover the conservation management more than sufficiently. However, other Foundations with less economic activities, or with extremely sensitive habitats, receive fewer resources. Therefore, promoting cross-subsidisation between Foundations would support less resourced islands with equally importance ecosystems, as well as helping to support islands struck by natural disasters, e.g. cyclones.
