1. Why should I save acres with the World Land Trust and what does it mean to save an acre?
By saving acres with the WLT you will be taking direct action to save tropical forests and other important wildlife areas, by funding the purchase of threatened habitats. The acres you buy are protected as nature reserves, owned and managed bylocal organisations.
Our FAQ page answers other commonly asked questions related to the "save an acre" concept and how the Trust operates, such as:
In these project areas in Misiones (Argentina), Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay you can save acres for £50 by earmarking your donation for the project of your choice. You can also support the project in most urgent need of funding at the time by donating to the Buy an Acre Fund.
In some of our project areas the price of land is much higher than £50 an acre, but you can still help WLT save them by donating to our Special Appeals. Because land prices vary enormously in these areas we cannot state a price per acre, but we can guarantee that when you support these appeals your donation will be used for land purchase and protection and nothing else. Currently we have urgent appeals in Malaysian Borneo, India and Kenya.
Other projects, including successfully completed projects
To support any of the Trust's older projects in
Belize, Costa Rica, Patagonia or the Philippines, or other projects we are currently not actively fundraising for, please donate
by post, over the telephone or by fax, or use our Quick Donation form, specifying the project you would like to earmark your donation for in the 'Comments' box. These donations will support ongoing conservation work such as tree planting, species re-introductions and wardens' salaries.
3. What are the 'WLT Action Fund' and 'Buy an Acre Fund'? How are they different?
At WLT we think it's very important to give donors the choice of which projects to support. For that reason you can earmark your donation to a specific project and this will guarantee land purchase in that area. On the other hand, if you are willing to let the Trust decide where your donation is most urgently needed you can donate to the WLT Action Fund and your donation will be used to buy land where it is most urgently needed among all the Trust's priority land purchase and protection projects, including our Special Appeals. If you are a WLT Partner, your regular donations will go into the WLT Action Fund.
Because land prices vary between our different project areas, we cannot specify on your Certificate how many acres you have saved on when you donate to the WLT Action Fund. If it is important to you to know how many acres your donation will save, you can donate to the Buy an Acre Fund instead. Donations to this fund buy and save vital habitats in the project areas where WLT's partners are still able to buy land for approximately £50 an acre. Currently these projects are in Misiones (Argentina), Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay.
4. How big is an acre?
An acre is 0.4 hectares or
4000 square metres, which is an area about the size of 200
parked cars. To convert acres into other area units, use our handy area
converter.
Even if you are not able to save half an acre or more, you can still support the Trust's work - any donations, no matter how small are welcome and much needed.
Making a contribution online
You can donate online using any of our donation options, but please note that for donations under £25 we are not able to send a Certificate.
6. How long does it take to receive the Certificate?
Certificates and Gift packs, where applicable, will be sent out within five working days - please allow adequate time for delivery if you have requested these as hard copies. (Please note that if you have chosen to receive an electronic PDF Certificate this will be prepared for you personally too, and will also be sent within five working days.)
Yes. The World Land Trust uses a secure
server to process all donations from the Internet. This
ensures that the sensitive information that you give is encrypted
so that it cannot be read by others.
Although our prices are in pounds sterling (£) we can
accept credit card donations from anywhere in the world. You
will be charged in your local currency - see our currency
converter page for more details.
If you pay UK income or capital gains tax, WLT can reclaim Gift Aid on all donations made from your taxable income, at no extra cost to you. (Excludes company donations and also fundraising collections, unless we have a Gift Aid declaration from each contributor.)
11. As the basic rate of tax has gone down to 20% from April 2008, how much Gift Aid will WLT now be able to claim on my donations ?
In the future WLT will be able to claim back 25p in Gift Aid for every £1 you donate rather than 28p as at present. But for the next three years this isn't going to affect the total amount we receive from the government. They are offering a three year transitional relief to charities - so until April 2011 we will still receive 28p for every £1 of your donation, just as if the tax rate hadn't changed.
13. I have left making a gift donation until the last minute! Can you send
the Gift Pack really quickly please?
This can usually be arranged - please call us to discuss delivery options.
We can also send you the Gift Certificate by email as an electronic PDF
document that you can print yourself, or email to the recipient.
Please let us know when you make your donation if you would like us to
do this.
Please note that the electronic Certificate is created by hand,
just like the printed Certificate, and not sent
automatically. You will
therefore still need to allow time for your donation to be processed
by WLT's admin team. (We aim to send out Certificates and Gift Packs within five working days, but are often able to do it within one working day.)
14. What are Verified by VISA and MasterCard SecureCode?
Verified by VISA (VBV™) and MasterCard SecureCode (MCSC™) are systems for ensuring higher standard of security for online card transactions, created by VISA and MasterCard respectively.
When you make an online donation to the World Land Trust using a VISA card or MasterCard, you will be taken to the secure site of your card issuer and asked to verify your card details by confirming a password. When your card has been verified the donation will be processed as normal.
The password you enter will not be accessible to or stored by the World Land Trust - it is submitted directly to your card issuer over a secure link.
If you are unable to verify your card for some reason, you may like to try again later, contact your card issuer or make your donation over the telephone.
World Land Trust is supported by many conservationists and others who
realise the importance of saving threatened lands, including Sir David
Attenborough, who is one of the Trust's Patrons. Read Sir David's and
other supporters' Messages of Support.
Make a donation
This page gives details of the different donation types and the projects
you can support.
Press information
WLT information, contacts and links for journalists.
Privacy policy statement
The WLT complies fully with the UK Data Protection Act 1998 and will
never disclose your personal details to organisations or people outside
the WLT and/or the WLT-US. Read the Trust's Privacy Policy statement
to learn more about the data we collect and how we use it.
+44 (0)1986 874422