Donor nations make financial contributions through multiple trust funds controlled by the World Bank as the GEF Trustee and maintained by a functionally independent Secretariat based at the World Bank.

The Trustee assists in mobilizing GEF resources every four years through a replenishment process, distributes cash to GEF Agencies, and provides financial reports on investments and resource utilisation. The Trustee submits periodic reports to the GEF Council that include a variety of fund-specific financial data.