For nearly 10 years, museum professionals and the village community in Mali have been working together to ensure the conservation, restoration, and dissemination of cultural heritage elements using a new museum concept called ‘cultural banks’. With excellent collaboration between professionals and Natives, several hundred cultural objects have been saved from pillage and illicit traffic. This article describes the cultural bank concept which comprises three components: a village museum, a micro-credit fund, and a village cultural centre. It also describes its internal structures and presents the Fombori cultural bank as an example. In addition, it highlights the various strengths and benefits of a cultural bank.