About Us

South West Wildlife Fundraising Ltd (SWWFL) inspires people to support their local Wildlife Trusts through membership and a regular donation.

We are owned by and work on behalf of local Wildlife Trusts in Avon, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Gwent, Hampshire & Isle of Wight, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Somerset, Wiltshire and Worcestershire.

We specialise in providing face-to-face membership fundraising for our Wildlife Trusts, engaging with our communities both at local venues and events and door-to-door. We use secure digital processes to set up and transfer direct debit payments and new member details to Wildlife Trust membership teams. As members of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, we work to high standards of conduct and ethics. We aim to represent our Wildlife Trusts in a knowledgeable, friendly, passionate, and honest way, consistent with our goal of being the most respected and effective face-to-face fundraising organisation in our sector and beyond.

We were established in 2013 by local Wildlife Trusts to deliver in-house face-to-face membership fundraising, and in 2023 celebrated 10 years of supporting wildlife and the environment.

Since our formation, we’ve grown Wildlife Trust memberships by 195% and doubled membership revenue. In 2023/24, we celebrated a decade of impact, signed our 100,000th member, and passed £10 million raised from first-year memberships alone.

We pride ourselves on quality, not just quantity – setting records in productivity, average donation value, and membership retention. Every conversation is underpinned by trust, transparency, and care, in line with the Chartered Institute of Fundraising standards and UK charity law.

We aim to be the most respected and effective face-to-face fundraising organisation in our sector and beyond. We aspire to achieve this in an ethical way, working to high standards of conduct. We are members of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising.

Inspiring 100,000+ memberships
Friendly and professional approach
Raising £10,000,000+ in donations
Proud of our supportive, inclusive culture
Over 10 years' experience in membership fundraising
Developing innovative sign-up technology
Saving money and returning surplus revenue after investment to local Wildlife Trusts

What local Wildlife Trust CEOs say

SWWFL is Worcestershire Wildlife Trust's most important working partner. We really appreciate the professionalism and commitment that all SWWFL staff apply. This translates into consistently high levels of recruitment of new members, our largest and most important source of day to day income, volunteers and legacies which, in turn, underpin all of our work to conserve and promote wildlife and wild places.

“More people than ever are motivated to take action for nature and climate change – the shocking wildlife declines and catastrophic impacts of changing weather patterns are fuelling a collective fight for a better future. Through inspiring people every day, SWWFL continues to grow the Wildlife Trusts movement, where together we are having huge impact for nature and communities at a local scale. Thanks to SWWFL, Devon Wildlife Trust is able to do immeasurably more, be it through recovering special species such as pine martens, beavers and fritillary butterflies; expanding our nature reserves; or supporting nature-friendly farmers across the county”

"SWWFL recruiters captivate and inspire audiences… who value what we do but don’t yet know who to thank for it and how to support us to achieve even more."

About local Wildlife Trusts

The Wildlife Trusts are a grassroots movement of people from a wide range of backgrounds and all walks of life, who believe that we need nature and nature needs us. We have more than 900,000 members, over 39,000 volunteers, 3,600 staff and 600 trustees. There are 46 individual Wildlife Trusts, each of which is a place-based independent charity with its own legal identity, formed by groups of people getting together and working with others to make a positive difference to wildlife and future generations, starting where they live and work.

Every Wildlife Trust is part of The Wildlife Trusts federation and a corporate member of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, a registered charity in its own right founded in 1912 and one of the founding members of IUCN – the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Taken together this federation of 47 charities is known as The Wildlife Trusts.

For more than a century the Wildlife Trusts have been saving wildlife and wild places, increasing people’s awareness and understanding of the natural world, and deepening people’s relationship with it. Wherever you are, Wildlife Trust people, places and projects are never far away, improving life for wildlife and people together.

Bringing wildlife back

Around 88,000 different species of animals, plants and fungi are known to share the UK with us – its human population. A combination of climate, geology and land-use history makes the UK’s landscape a surprisingly diverse place, even if today its wildlife is a shadow of its former self and many natural habitats are under pressure.

Saving the UK’s wildlife and wild places and helping them to recover from past losses and damage has been a central aim of The Wildlife Trusts throughout our history. For more than a century, we have been saving, protecting and standing up for wildlife and wild places.

Many Wildlife Trusts were set up in order to take ownership of a particular piece of land so that its wildlife could be saved for future generation. For example: Norfolk Wildlife Trust was set up in 1926 in order to own Cley Marshes – a marsh on the north Norfolk coast that was used for shooting wild birds. Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust was formed in 1948 to take on management of Gibraltar Point. Wiltshire Wildlife Trust was set up in 1963 to take on Blackmoor Copse, one of the last places in the county that was home to the purple emperor butterfly. Today you can visit all these places, and many many more, and experience the wildlife and habitats that our founders worked so hard to save.

King Charles III Patron of The Wildlife Trusts since 1977

In July 1978, His Majesty announced his intention that proceeds from the Royal Premier of Watership Down would be donated to the Wildlife Trusts. This was the beginning of over 40 years of support for the Trusts.

In May 2024, His Majesty, The King announced his continued patronage of The Wildlife Trusts. King Charles III became patron of The Wildlife Trusts in 1977 when Prince of Wales. Since then, he has become well known as a visionary environmentalist and has dedicated more than 50 years to championing the UK’s response to the nature and climate crises.

His Majesty, The King’s Patronage

"Change will come by working together and making it easier to embrace decisions that will sustain our world, rather than carry on as though there are no limits—or as though our actions have no consequences."

—His Majesty King Charles III