It is audited by an external auditor company[1] and operates under the formal agreement with the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry to conserve and rehabilitate orangutans.

With more than 400 orangutans (per July 2021) in its care and employing more than 440 people at a 10 sites[2] BOS Foundation is the biggest non-human primate conservation non-governmental organization worldwide.

[13] Wanariset began as a tropical forest research station near Balikpapan in the Indonesian Province of East Kalimantan and, in 1991, started to be used as an orangutan rescue and rehabilitation centre.

Lone Drøscher Nielsen sought the advice of Smits about the possibility of creating a new project in Central Kalimantan to deal with the swelling numbers of orphaned orangutans.

In addition to quarantine cages, medical clinic, and nursery, the sanctuary has a large area of forest in which orangutans could learn the skills needed to live in the wild.

[22] The sanctuary not only saves the orphaned baby orangutans from captivity in human homes and from wildlife tourism, but has developed a process for their gradual re-introduction to the remaining Bornean rainforest.

[2] Samboja Lestari 1°2′44″S 116°59′15″E / 1.04556°S 116.98750°E / -1.04556; 116.98750 started as a reforestation project in 2001, but opened its doors as an orangutan rescue and rehabilitation centre in 2006, when the BOS Foundation moved their East Kalimantan operations from Wanariset.

[2] To accommodate the orangutan rehabilitation process, with the ultimate goal of release into natural rainforests, the centre includes quarantine cages, medical clinic, nursery, forest school area, and small man-made pre-release islands.

[27] Alongside the orangutan reintroduction work, the BOS Foundation has promoted forms of farming that do not involve burning and destroying forests, by switching to agriculture combining rattan, sugar palms and fruits and vegetables.

The BOS Foundation believes to achieve sustainable solutions the root social problems must be addressed by empowering local communities to take up livelihood options that are more rewarding than the extractive industries.

In September 2003, the provincial parliament in Central Kalimantan approved a new land use plan that designates 309,000 hectares (1,200 sq mi) in the Mawas area to be managed by the BOS Foundation for conservation.

[32] With international support and donations from companies like Weleda and Werner & Mertz, the Mawas project has grown to play an important role in the conservation of the Bornean orangutans and their habitat.

Mawas is also important for its biodiversity and its geological conditions, including a double peat dome, which make it a storage house of giga-tonnes of sequestered carbon.

The research activities there continue through today, but is now operated through a collaboration of the BOS Foundation with Universitas Nasional (UNAS) of Indonesia and Rutgers University of the United States.

Its purpose is to provide a year-round base for scientists tracking and observing the wild orangutan population and studying peatland ecology.

[34] The BOS Foundation is involved in patrolling and monitoring the area for illegal activities via water and land and supporting law enforcement by providing guidance and legal awareness programs to the community and government.

In 2013, Harrison Ford visited Nyaru Menteng for the filming of episode one of Years of Living Dangerously to show the devastating impacts of the global demand for palm oil and other agricultural products.

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