History of Tusk

Tusk USA is the American branch of Tusk Trust, a dynamic organisation, which has 21 years experience initiating and funding conservation and community development programmes right across Africa. Our support base is broad and varied and includes well-known philanthropists, celebrities, sports figures, musicians, artists, large corporations and schools.

In 2005, Prince William became the charity’s Royal Patron, and in 2011 helped to launch Tusk USA’s Patron Circle with his wife, HRH The Duchess of Cambridge, during their official visit to Los Angeles. The event was attended by Oscar-nominated actresses Catherine Keener and Reese Witherspoon, both of who are Tusk supporters.

The charity’s work to deliver direct sustainable conservation has been widely reported on television and in the media, and is continually sighted as one of the leading organisations operating in Africa.

Since its formation in 1990 by Charles Mayhew MBE and Sir Timothy Ackroyd Bt., Tusk has earned a reputation for being non-bureaucratic as well for maximising donor funds reaching the field (on average 80% of net funds). The charity has supported more than 100 projects and invested over $25 million over the past 21 years.

Tusk’s current portfolio of 56 projects spread across 18 African countries is designed not only to protect wildlife, particularly endangered species, but also to help alleviate poverty and encourage sustainable development and education amongst many poor rural communities who live alongside wildlife. Conservation of wildlife remains one of our key objectives, with substantial funding being applied towards the protection of many threatened species such as elephant, rhino, cheetah, chimpanzee, mountain and lowland gorillas, African wild dog, giant sable as well as marine species like turtles.

As the ever expanding human population and its demand for more land brings it into increasing and often disastrous conflict with wildlife, Tusk’s aim is to forge an inextricable link between the preservation of Africa’s natural heritage and the future of it’s land, culture and peoples and one that seeks to engage global support for a vision that will bring about an end to such conflict through education, job creation, and ultimately self-sufficiency..

Tusk has, with project field partners such as the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya, been at the forefront of establishing and promoting community driven conservation programmes. The charity’s holistic approach recognises that the long-term future for wildlife is dependant upon education and sustainable development. As such, a number of the charity’s initiatives incorporate work to improve environmental education, security, healthcare, and responsible tourism.

One such programme, managed by the Northern Rangelands Trust and supported by Tusk, has seen two million acres of community land come under a common conservation policy with initiatives that are directly and simultaneously benefiting 75,000 people as well as a significant wildlife population in northern Kenya.


Tusk strives to provide practical, logistical and financial support to a diverse range of projects. This has historically included the purchase of vehicles, aircraft, radio equipment, the direct cost of game rangers, as well as the construction of primary and secondary schools, clinics, water improvement schemes, roads, buildings, bridges and airstrips. The charity enjoys a reputation for being financially efficient, with an average of 80% of net funds being invested in the field.

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