A Story of Friendship and Funding for Conservation South Luangwa: 15 Years and Counting

Longtime friends and supporters of Africa Hope Fund have likely heard of Conservation South Luangwa (CSL) several times before, but not everyone knows the story behind the partnership.

Africa Hope Fund’s CEO Carol Van Bruggen and her husband Steve Kuhn met Rachel McRobb, founder and executive director of CSL, about 15 years ago on one of their earliest trips to Zambia. On that trip, Carol saw a brochure about Rachel’s self-funded organization that was working to curtail poaching and rescue snared animals.

Carol made a special trip to meet Rachel and learn more, and that was the beginning of a special friendship and what has become a vital donor partnership for CSL and its programs.

For large nonprofits like CSL, administrative costs can be difficult to cover. While there are many generous donors, they often want to see their money go directly to helping protect wildlife or funding meaningful programs.

“A lot of people don’t understand the ‘boring stuff’ that goes into running an organization and running it well,” said Rachel.

That’s why CSL’s partnership with Africa Hope Fund has been so valuable over the last 10-plus years. Through its fundraising efforts, Africa Hope Fund has been able to provide unrestricted funding to CSL, which helps cover the costs of things like website hosting, accounting, and other day-to-day expenses that other donors may not want to cover.

“All the costs on the side often go unrecognized, but we appreciate them deeply,” Rachel said. “These things seem small, but when they add up, they’re expensive.”

Today CSL has about 120 full-time staff, dozens of vehicles and robust programs to support anti-poaching, human-wildlife conflict mitigation, and wildlife rescue. When Van Bruggen and McRobb first connected, there were less than half that number of staff and while all the programs were in place, they were on a much smaller scale. McRobb said the organization has grown steadily over the years but has seen a much more rapid pace of growth in the last three to four years.

“The impact that we had and the influence that we had [10 years ago] is much smaller than what it is now,” she said.

Africa Hope Fund is a registered 501(c)3 in the U.S., giving the organization the unique ability to collect donations on behalf of CSL, which is registered in Zambia. Each quarter, Africa Hope Fund sends these donations to CSL.

Rachel said the consistency of this funding is critical to CSL’s growth and ability to cover day-to-day costs.

“The more we can have long-term donor-partners, the more we can get done and the easier it is for us to get the work done that people and organizations like Africa Hope Fund want to support. Long-term continuity is really, really important,” she said.

Africa Hope Fund also hosts its Safari on the River fundraiser each year (it was virtual in 2021), which raises additional funds for CSL’s core initiatives. Recently, funds have been used for anti-poaching scout training and the purchase of a new Land Cruiser for CSL’s human-wildlife conflict team － the first vehicle dedicated to the department.

As a board member for CSL, Carol also provides professional counsel for Rachel and her team.

“The partnership with Africa Hope Fund gives us some sort of comfort and sense of security,” Rachel said, “and the friendship of Carol and Steve has really made them part of the backbone for CSL. They have and continue to be really staunch supporters.”

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