Finance and Investments

Summary of the Audited Financial Statements

Financial Support

The Crop Trust would like to thank all individuals and institutions that made financial contributions to our endowment and ongoing work in 2023, a total of USD 19.4 million.

The following donors provided funding above USD 25,000 during the year:

Bezos Earth Fund
European Commission, Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development
Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)
Germany, Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), through a project led by the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE)
Germany, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), through a project led by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
Groupe Limagrain, France
Norway, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad)
Templeton World Charity Foundation
United Kingdom, Darwin Initiative
United States of America, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Endowment Fund at a Glance

The Crop Diversity Endowment Fund is at the heart of the Crop Trust. It provides a sustainable, long-term funding mechanism for the critical work of protecting crop diversity in perpetuity. The Crop Trust invests donated monies in a diversified range of financial instruments to generate sufficient returns for this purpose. Each year, a portion of the fund (up to 4% of the average market value of the fund over the previous twelve quarters) is withdrawn and used to ensure that crop diversity held in key genebanks is well conserved and made available for use.

2023 was a successful year for the Endowment Fund, with its value rising from USD 277 million to USD 305 million. This gain is due to new contributions received from donors, as well as strong investment returns in the capital market. Investment gains, net of fees, amounted to USD 32 million, a return of 10.5% for the year.

A total of USD 5.9 million was received thanks to the support of our donors: USD 5.4 million from the Government of the United States of America, USD 460,000 from the Bezos Earth Fund and USD 55,000 from Limagrain.

As part of the new 2030 Strategic Plan, the Crop Trust is in the process of implementing its financing strategy, with early signs of success in mobilizing contributions for the endowment. New donors, such as the Bezos Earth Fund, contributed for the first time in 2023 and additional support was secured from existing partners, such as the Government of the United Kingdom. The Government of the United Kingdom made a new pledge of GBP 7 million. Announced at COP 28, the latest funding underlines the UK Government’s commitment to support future-proofing the global food system. The UK has been a steadfast supporter of the Endowment Fund, contributing more than USD 19 million since the Crop Trust’s creation in 2004, not including this latest pledge.

Concessional Loan

The EUR concessional loan from the German Development Bank, KfW, is held in a euro investment fund, and at the end of the year had a market value of USD 49.2 million. This fund also had a positive year, with a return of 7.9% for 2023.

Financial Results

In 2023, the Crop Trust continued to demonstrate strong financial stability, with total revenues amounting to USD 19 million, up from USD 17.6 million in the previous year. Total expenditure was USD 20.5 million, of which USD 16.6 million related to program activities. These activities provide both long-term and time-bound support aimed at preserving and using the world's most important collections of crop diversity. Additionally, USD 1.4 million was expended to increase global awareness of the importance of crop diversity, while broadening and deepening institutional partnerships. Administration-related expenditure amounted to USD 2.5 million, reflecting the necessary operational costs, crucial for supporting the effective implementation of our mission and programs, including management, governance, information technology and facilities.

Financial Audit

The financial statements of the Crop Trust for the year ended 31 December 2023 were prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards and audited by PriceWaterhouseCoopers GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft (PwC).

The full Financial Statements and Independent Auditor’s Report are available on the Crop Trust website.