Totoro no Furusato Foundation

Totoro no Furusato (トトロのふるさと基金委員会, Hometown of Totoro Foundation), known simply as Totoro Fund is the legally incorporated foundation with the purpose of preserving the beautiful natural habitat and cultural assets of Sayama Hills and its surrounding areas in  Prefecture, otherwise known as Totoro no Mori.

In 2018, Akemi Miyazaki, wife of Hayao Miyazaki, released The Place Where Totoro Was Born. Akemi serves on the Board of Trustees for the foundation. A book commemorating the foundation's 30th anniversary Creating a Totoro Forest: Ayumi of Totoro's Hometown Fund 30 Years was released by Joint Publishing on October 29, 2020.

History
In 1980,, as part of its centennial anniversary, announced plans to set up a new campus at Sayama Hills in. This announcement caused major uproar among conservation groups. In 1981, two environmental protection groups, The Liaison Conference for Considering the Nature and Cultural Properties of Sayama Hills and the Making the Sayama Hills a Citizen's Forest were established to oppose the construction. By 1986, the two protection groups continued pressure against Waseda University's plans. In response to this, the Governor of Saitama Prefecture announced the formal conservation of Sayama Hills.

The two conservation groups jointly formed the Thickets Museum Concept in November, 1986 and submitted it to Saitama Prefecture, and on April 12, 1990, the Saitama Prefecture Wild Bird Society (currently the Saitama Prefecture Ecosystem Conservation Association) joined to form Totoro no Furusato Foundation.

The Totoro Hometown Fund Committee (commonly known as the Totoro Fund Committee) was established as the governing body, and has promoted the acquisition of forested areas for preservation. It was renamed to Totoro's Hometown Fund in 1997 to become a formal legal entity. In 1998, it became a foundation and was renamed Totoro's Hometown Foundation (commonly known as the Totoro Foundation). In 2011, it became a public interest incorporated foundation and returned its name to Totoro's Hometown Fund, and their operation continues to this day.

Since April 2006, it has been a designated management organization for the Sayama Hills Ikimono Fureai no Sato Center.