They hide their high overhead (mostly in the form of outrageous salaries to the CEO and VP) and do not play well with other organizations. At this critical time, Africa needs strong partnerships not lone wolves.
Review from Guidestar
I think this organization looks great but the CEO makes $249,000 a year, according to Charity Navigator, and that's just too much for me. AWF, if you are reading this, ask your leader to lead by accepting a smaller salary.
This is a response to the comment about compensation to key employees, directors, etc. Looking at the 2013 Form 990, the key employees and officers received approximately 1.1 million, with total revenues for the year being 28.8 million. That's about 3.8%. I'm not sure where the estimate of 40 employees came from in that review. The officers and key employees are compensated well (by my standards), but I don't see this as a huge drain on the organization's resources.
Review from Guidestar
I received a solicitation from this group, the AWF, for the first time in April 2014. I have no doubt that this is a good organization whose funds go to the stated purpose, to save Africa's Threatened Elephants, which so many of us desperately care about and support. But, with this and other animal-related non-profits, I am always dismayed to see the amounts of money paid to a number of their key employees. In this case (per 2011-2012 Form 990), out of total revenues of almost $20 million, salaries and benefits for 40 employees amount to $7,330,000, or a little over 37% of revenues, at an average of over $183,000 per employee. Where I come from, these are better than excellent salaries considering the overwhelming majority of the non-profit's income has to be painstakingly (and expensively) raised dollar by dollar. It seems that so many non-profits whose purpose one would really like to support suffer from that same problem of being a haven for very highly paid people. I wish I was wrong. How do others feel about this?
Review from Guidestar
AWF leads the international conservation organizations which focus on the protection and prosperity of Africa and its people -- exclusively. I dream of visiting Africa some day and will continue to support AWF's efforts to preserve Africa's wildlife, landscape, resources and culture. Since 2001, AWF has been rated over 60 points by CN. I've supported them through the years and will continue to do so.