Trust funds, which are accounted for separately from the Bank's own resources, are financial and administrative arrangements with an external donor that leads to grant funding of high-priority development needs, such as technical assistance, advisory services, debt relief, postconflict transition, and cofinancing.

Over the past thirty years, trust funds have helped the Bank leverage its poverty reduction programs by funding key due diligence activities for development operations, promoting innovative approaches for projects, forging partnerships, and expanding the scope of development collaboration.Many industrial countries, a few of the larger developing countries, the private sector, and foundations make trust funds available to the Bank for specific agreed-on purposes. The Bank also provides some of its own grant resources to selected trust funds...more.

New Trust Funds

In response to emerging development challenges, the donor community agreed to establish several new major trust fund programs during fiscal 2007.

Multi Donor Trust Fund for Mainstreaming Disaster Reduction. DFID is to contribute about US$8 million, with other donors expected to join later, to the core financing for the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery. The Facility has three major objectives: (i) Facilitate implementation of Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA: 2005-2015) in the Bank's partner countries at high disaster risks; (ii) Strengthen country hazard risk management capacity and catalyze increased investment in hazard prevention and mitigation; (iii) Establish an appropriate mechanism for financing sustainable disaster recovery in low income countries. The fund aims to support 86 target countries in developing analytical and investment framework for prevention and mitigation.

Emergency Services Support Program Multi-donor Trust Fund – Palestine Authority. This is a multi donor, mainly recipient executed trust fund to provide emergency financial support to the Palestine Authority (PA). Firm commitments from five donors (Sweden, UK, Norway, Austria, and EU) totaling $28.7 million have been received, with additional expected pledges from other donors that could bring the total by year end to over $60m. The main purpose of this trust fund is to help PA meet operating costs for health services, education and social services. Since the advent of the Hamas led-government on March 29, 2006, the PA's revenues have dropped by roughly over 80 percent. This trust fund has been designed to assure that the delivery of basic services, such as education, heath and social welfare is cushioned against the shortfall in central Government and municipal revenues. This Trust Fund will finance the non-salary expenditures of the key social ministries based on the PA's recurrent expenditure program for these ministries. It may also later finance the non-salary recurrent costs of other PA entities.