At the very beginning of its life, the Bureau established two separate trust funds to finance specific work in or concerning Africa, and it used the existence of these trusts in making its own appeals for funds. The practice of setting up special funds and of working through them continued throughout the Bureau's existence. Some of these trusts were comparatively short-lived and all the papers within MSS. Afr. s. 1681 relate to trusts that had already been wound up at the time of the Bureau's closure. However, three trusts originated by the Bureau survived it. They are:

The papers of the Publications and Protectorates Trusts that arrived with those of the Bureau were sufficient in quantity and, in the case of the Publications Trust, of such crucial importance in understanding the Bureau's own work, that they have been catalogued. The papers of the Educational Trust received thus far are scant, and a brief description of the Trust is available. The story of the trusts originated by the Bureau is difficult to unravel. They are often referred to by more than one title; they shared premises, sometimes with one and then with another trust or trusts; they had trustees and frequently secretaries in common; and their objects were often in practice very similar. Contained within this section are papers of only some projected trusts that were not in the event established and of trusts that were not linked to any special territory or need. However, papers referring to some of the other trusts have survived in other sections of the collection. In addition, some charities not actually created by the Bureau were very closely associated with it. A title list of such trusts, special funds, and charities as have been identified follows and this includes names of those referred to in the papers that seem never to have had a formal existence. The trusts are arranged as far as possible in order of foundation or of the idea of their foundation:

Trusts, general papers, and projected trusts, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/320:

The papers falling within the Trusts Section start with a single general file followed by files on three projected trusts. The first of these, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/320, folder 2, a project for a Research and Education Centre, was raised in the Executive Committee in 1954 and lingered on in the minutes. It appears to foreshadow the Africa Educational Trust, established in 1958. The great interest of these papers lies in the fact that they mainly consist of a detailed application to a foundation, probably American, for grant support for the project and include a great deal of material on the whole spectrum of the Bureau's activities at the time, including specimen publications, copies of which have not survived elsewhere.

The second projected trust was the Africa Trust or Free Africa Trust, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/320, folder 3. This was proposed in 1967 as a counter to the South Africa Foundation; African countries were urged to set up jointly a Free Africa Foundation to project their own image in Europe and America. It was suggested that this should be organised in Britain by the Bureau through nominated trustees as a pilot scheme. However, support for the idea was not forthcoming.

The third project, a Special Appeal Fund for Africans in Distress/Education Fund, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/320, folder 4, must have come into being briefly, for it made a loan in 1971. It was a small revolving fund, built up by direct individual appeals by Guy Arnold. It seems to have had the same field of activity as the Africa Protectorates Trust, but was perhaps seen as able to act more quickly, enabling Guy Arnold to make immediate small loans to Africans arriving at the Bureau offices in distressed circumstances. It probably died away when Arnold left the Bureau.

African Development Trust, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/321-327:

The rest of the papers in the Trusts section concern the African Development Trust. In Mar 1952, Michael Scott wrote an article in the Observer about the work of the St Faith's Mission, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), which evoked a strong response from readers, who sent donations totalling £21,400. These were held by the Bureau in a 'St Faith's' deposit account and disbursed to Guy Clutton-Brock at St Faith's, pending the establishment of the African Development Trust in Jul 1952. Apart from direct and covenanted donations, the Trust was then funded by loans at low interest or interest-free, which were sometimes tied to a specific project or sometimes made for the work of the Trust at large. From these funds, the Trust made gifts or loans to many African projects in the fields of cooperatives for agricultural improvement, education, medicine, and welfare. At first the Trust was housed by the Bureau, moving in 1960 to 9 Hop Gardens, where it shared offices with the Africa Educational Trust and later with the Protectorates Trust also. It was at Hop Gardens that the Intermediate Technology Development Group Ltd. was set up, with the help of the Development Trust, in 1962. By 1967, the Educational Trust and Intermediate Technologies had outgrown the offices in Hop Gardens and went their separate ways, the Development Trust moving in with Intermediate Technology and the Protectorates Trust accompanying the Educational Trust. In 1937, it having been decided that Intermediate Technology had developed in such a way as to supersede the Development Trust, the Trust was wound up. Its remaining balances were made over to Intermediate Technology for the use of Ranche House College and the Trust's subscribers were invited to transfer their support to Intermediate Technology.

In addition to a Newsletter for its supporters, the Trust published two pamphlets which were distributed by the Africa Bureau. These were Partnership in Practice in Central Africa and Escape from Bondage, but no papers concerning either of them have survived. The seven boxes of papers listed here are believed to contain all the material that has been retained and present a picture of the Trust's life from its inception to its closure. The first box, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/321, contains a draft of the Trust Deed and the minutes and other papers of the organising bodies of the Trust. The original group of trustees was augmented by invitation and from this Council or Committee occasional sub-committees were formed. The papers of all these bodies have been arranged chronologically without regard to name, as in effect their activities cannot be considered separately. With regard to MSS. Afr. s. 1681/322, containing correspondence, it is worth noting that many people wrote to volunteer to work for the Trust, but it is hard to distinguish these offers from approaches by other individuals seeking employment through the Trust; for this reason, both types of letter have been included in folder 7. MSS. Afr. s. 1681/323 deals with the main projects helped by the Trust and MSS. Afr. s. 1681/324-326 deal with the administration, raising, and disbursement of funds. Finally, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/327 covers the closure of the Trust and contains some copies of its Newsletters.

Further information about the Development Trust may be gleaned from other Africa Bureau files, particularly the Executive Committee papers, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/1-3, and the Finance boxes, especially Appeals, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/52-54, and fundraising from foundations, MSS. Afr. s. 1681/56-57, since the Bureau frequently combined efforts to raise money for its related trusts with its own approaches.