The 1001: A Nature Trust, the contributors to which are sometimes referred to as the 1001 Club, is a financial endowment that helps fund the World Wide Fund for Nature. It was established in 1970 by the then-head of the WWF, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, with help from Anton Rupert, a South African entrepreneur.
Foundation According to the WWF, in 1970, the then- and first president of WWF International, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, launched an initiative that was to provide WWF with a solid financial base. WWF set up a US$10 million fund, known as "The 1001: A Nature Trust". When WWF was seeking to raise the US$10 million Anton Rupert proposed to Prince Bernhard the idea of finding a thousand individuals to make contributions of $10,000 each. Together with Rupert Prince Bernhard developed the concept of the 1001 Club in 1970 to help WWF cover its overhead costs.
The establishment of the capital fund, the interest from which enabled the WWF to cover its administrative overheads and assure potential donors “that 100 per cent of the money donated to the International Secretariat for Nature Conservation would actually be spent on nature conservation projects”, was described as Rupert’s “greatest legacy” (Alexis Schwarzenbach).
Background The WWF was founded to provide financial resources, but unlike its initial successes, it initially had only limited success. WWF co-founder Peter Scott had assumed that he would be able to raise the necessary funds and had expected “the rich” to contribute a total of 25 million US dollars. However, it was not until 1968 that the total amount of donations received by the WWF reached one million British pounds. This sum was considered too small for the diverse tasks facing the WWF. The WWF had set itself the goal of being able to spend 2.3 million British pounds annually.
In 1968, Prince Bernhard wrote in the WWF Yearbook that new sources of funding would have to be tapped to achieve this goal. Although the WWF had already established contacts with “the rich” at that point, it did not receive the hoped-for sums from them. On the one hand, the WWF believed that it should strive for financial resources that were not tied to conditions, but on the other hand, it was much easier to obtain earmarked donations for specific projects than money to cover the administrative costs of an organisation.
The WWF had struggled to raise unrestricted funds for administration, and in 1964 banker and WWF Foundation Board member Samuel Schweizer had already proposed creating a capital fund; Max Nicholson had also floated an idea for an exclusive club for wealthy supporters.
Process In January 1970, Rupert chaired the new fundraising committee and, working with Rothmans executive Charles de Haes, operationalised the plan to solicit 1,000 donors with personalised invitations from Prince Bernhard. De Haes was given broad authority for two years (while still paid by Rupert) to implement the plan.
Rupert and de Haes presented the plan to Peter Scott and Fritz Vollmar at Slimbridge. Rothmans’ designers created the club logo – a globe and the numbers 1001 embossed in gold – which was accepted by Bernhard. Club 1001 pins were manufactured by Garrard.
In November 1970 the WWF Foundation Board approved the plan, which was fully implemented by the end of 1973. Lifetime membership was granted for the one-time gift, with names kept confidential and appearing only as lists of names and countries. Members were invited to receptions at Prince Bernhard’s palace, international and national meetings, and special trips to WWF projects – the first being an East African safari in 1974. De Haes also used referrals: each new member was asked for the addresses of other potential donors. By November 1973 the target of 1,000 donors had been reached, including 60 from Germany. By the 1990s the contribution per donor had been increased to US$25,000.
De Haes was commissioned to work alongside Prince Bernhard in order to establish a permanent endowment for WWF International and reach the operations's $10 million goal.
De Haes visited all WWF country sections during the founding phase of the Club of 1001 and carried out his assignment so successfully between 1971 and 1973 that in 1975 he was appointed co-director general of WWF International alongside Fritz Vollmar and then in 1977 or 1978 sole Director General, a position he held until 1993.
Goals and significance Until the end of the 1960s, the WWF had received a relatively modest amount of donations. It was not until the 1970s – the period in which Prince Bernhard founded The 1001: A Nature Trust – that a significant increase in donations was achieved. According to the WWF, since the establishment of “The 1001”, WWF International has been able to meet its basic administrative costs with the help of the foundation.
The majority of the WWF's administrative expenses were now covered by the interest income from this and other foundations. The establishment of a permanent endowment for WWF International was intended to enable the WWF's international headquarters to be financially independent of the national sections.
The WWF itself also states that the foundation aims to “engage influential members of society in the WWF's conservation activities, those who are in a position to bring about change in the world”.
The increased focus on fundraising led to rivalries among environmental organisations. After the establishment of the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), WWF circles perceived a threat to the WWF from rapidly growing competition for the wildlife fund market. The organisations increasingly began to target the general public for funding, especially in Europe and the USA, where prosperity was on the rise. The public was inundated with horror stories about nature and species conservation and the threats posed by humans. Images of the cruelty of poachers were widely circulated, creating a sense of urgent crisis. The strong message against hunting and resource consumption became an effective means of fundraising. From the 1970s onwards, donations from the general public began to outweigh contributions from elite organisation members. However, the messages directed at the general public did not always convey the more nuanced stance of the organisation's staff and its wealthy donors towards hunting and resource consumption. This sometimes led to conflicting strategies and abrupt U-turns by environmental organisations, such as the ban on the ivory trade in the 1980s.
The dignified image of WWF International, which was also reflected in the exclusive, upper-class membership of Club 1001, stood in stark contrast to the self-image of some national WWF organisations, such as those in Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland, which began to become ecologically active in the 1970s.
Composition Membership of the 1001 Club is confidential. WWF refuses to give information about the members of the club. In a series of articles in the British magazine Private Eye details of some of the members were anonymously published in 1980 and 1981. A copy of the membership list of the 1001 Club for 1987 in the possession of the historian Stephen Ellis confirmed many of the published allegations. Names of the members "that have slipped out over the years include Baron von Thyssen, Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli, and Henry Ford, as well as politicians such as Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, the former president of the International Olympic Committee Juan Samaranch, and beer baron Alfred Heineken".
The British journalist Kevin Dowling — who made a documentary on ivory poaching that had the support of WWF but who later fell out with the organisation over Operation Lock — discovered two lists, one for 1978 and one for 1987 which suggest that some cross-fertilisation between the various networks in which Prince Bernhard was involved took place and contributed to finding suitable candidates for the 1001 Club.
Although confidential, membership lists were printed annually and circulated among members; copies can be found in some personal archives (e.g. Peter Scott) or as scans online.
New donors can join only as seats open.
According to Alexis Schwarzenbach, members came from over 50 countries. In 1978 the top five were the USA (177), UK (157), the Netherlands (107), South Africa (65), and Switzerland (62).
Many of the 1001 Club members were from the banking sector, other business sectors, intelligence, and the military, or were heads of state. A number of the 1001 Club members were part of the South African business sector, which was the subject of international sanctions during apartheid. Therefore, particular linkages existed between parts of the global elite network and wildlife conservation through the presidency of Prince Bernhard of WWF International as well as explicit links of WWF International to South Africa in the field of environmental philanthropy. +Selection of members of ‘The 1001’ according to the confidential membership lists from 1978 and 1987 from the estate of Kevin Dowling.NamenoteOrigin or residenceAgha Hasan AbediPresident of the BCCI BankPakistanKarim Aga Khan IV. (Prince Aga Khan IV.)Billionaire and spiritual Muslim leader Pakistan, United Kingdom, ...Giovanni AgnelliCEO of Fiat ItalyBaron Astor of HeverPresident of The Times United Kingdom Stephen BechtelBechtel GroupUSABerthold BeitzKruppGermanyMartine Cartier-BressonFrance Charles de ChambrunLeading member of the Front National France Joseph Cullman IIICEO Philip MorrisUSASir Eric DrakeDirector General of British Petroleum United Kingdom Prinz Philip, Herzog von EdinburghFrom 1961 President of WWF-UK, 1981–1996 President of WWF InternationalUnited Kingdom Friedrich Karl FlickIndustrialist and billionaire Germany, AustriaHenry Ford IIUSAManuel Fraga IribarneMinister under Franco, founder of the right-wing Alianza Popular Spain C. Gerald GoldsmithUSAFerdinand H. M. GrapperhausDutch Minister of FinanceNetherlands Alfred HeinekenKnown as the “Beer King” Netherlands Lukas HoffmannHoffmann-La RocheSwitzerlandLord John KingBritish AirwaysUnited Kingdom Sheikh Salim Bin LadinElder brother of Osama bin LadenSaudi ArabiaJohn H. LoudonCEO of Shell, from 1976 to 1981 President of WWF InternationalNetherlands Daniel K. LudwigShipowner and billionaire USAJosé Martínez de HozOligarch, Minister of Economic Affairs during the military dictatorship of Jorge Rafael Videla ArgentinaRobert McNamaraUS Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam era USAKeshub MahindraMahindra GroupIndiaMobutu Sese SekoLong-time dictator of Zaire ZaireMærsk Mc-Kinney MøllerShipping magnate Denmark Prince Bernhard of Netherlands1962–1976 President of WWF International, remained deeply involved in WWF and its activities thereafterNetherlands Queen Juliana of NetherlandsWife of Prince Bernhard Netherlands Harry Frederick OppenheimerAnglo American Corporation South Africa David RockefellerChase Manhattan BankUSATibor RosenbaumBCI, Geneva Switzerland Baron Edmond von RothschildFrance Juan Antonio SamaranchIOC President Spain Peter von SiemensSiemensGermany Hans Heinrich Thyssen-BornemiszaSwitzerland Joachim ZahnDaimler-BenzGermany
Current members According to a recent report by the WWF (as of 2014), the anonymous members of The 1001: A Nature Trust are a “prestigious group of people” consisting of “philanthropists from over 50 countries”. According to the WWF, they include “owners and managers of large companies, entrepreneurs, scientists and artists” who, regardless of “their political, personal and business interests” – “all share the same passion for the environment – and, above all, the same need to support the world's leading conservation organisation”. In addition to individuals, “entire families” also come together in the club.
Criticisms