# WWF-UK ANNUAL REPORT + FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2022-23
WWF’s Great Wild Walk, Epping Forest © Chris Ratcliffe / WWF-UK
## RAISING SUPPORT
Here’s a quick summary of our income and expenditure for the year ending 30 June 2023, along with equivalent figures for the previous year. You can find more detail in our Financial Statements on pages 58-84.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
INCOME 2022-23 2021-22
MEMBERSHIP AND DONATIONS £40.9M £43.9M
LEGACIES £17.4M £15.3M
CORPORATE DONATIONS AND INCOME £16.7M £16.9M
CHARITABLE TRUSTS £9.7M £8.6M
INCOME AID AGENCIES AND GOVERNMENT GRANTS £3.8M £1.8M
WWF NETWORK AND OTHER CHARITIES £2.3M £2.4M
INVESTMENT INCOME £1.1M £0.7M
LOTTERY PROMOTIONS £0.7M £0.3M
OTHER £1.4M £1.1M
TOTAL £94.0M £91.0M
EXPENDITURE 2022-23 2021-22
CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES £78.5M £69.1M
EXPENDITURE COST OF RAISING FUNDS £23.9M £22.8M
OTHER £0.0M £0.2M
TOTAL £102.4M £92.1M
2
2
2
2
0
0
2
0
2
0
2
2
2
2
-
-
1
2
1
2
3
-
3
-
2
2
2
2
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Amazon rainforest, Brazil © Shutterstock / Gustavo Frazao / WWF
**----- End of picture text -----**
## CONTENTS
6 OUR SUCCESSES
## TRUSTEES’ REPORT
10 A MESSAGE FROM OUR CHAIR 12 A MESSAGE FROM OUR CHIEF EXECUTIVE 14 OUR FOCUS
## STRATEGIC REPORT
16 OUR ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE 36 FINANCIAL REVIEW
40 PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES
43 GOVERNANCE
54 INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT
58 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
86 WWF-UK CORPORATE DIRECTORY
## OUR SUCCESSES 2022
PUTTING CLIMATE AND NATURE AT THE HEART OF AGRICULTURE
We launched and led a successful campaign to help put the climate and nature emergencies at the core of the new Agriculture (Wales) Bill. Through a survey of rural Wales, an open letter signed by more than 50 organisations, a petition and more, WWF Cymru’s Land of Our Future/Gwlad Ein Dyfodol campaign advocated for agroecology to be central to the bill – putting farmers, food producers and citizens at the heart of solutions. The final wording of the 2023 bill included WWF text recognising agriculture’s importance in meeting the UN’s new Global Biodiversity Framework targets.
## CELEBRATING A LEAP IN WILD TIGER NUMBERS
**----- Start of picture text -----**
© David Bebber / WWF-UK
**----- End of picture text -----**
Nepal’s wild tiger population has almost tripled since 2009. According to the results of a national survey we supported, numbers of these iconic big cats in Nepal have risen from estimates of 121 to 355. This heartening increase is thanks to strong support and action by local communities living near tigers, and many years of commitment and effort from the government, WWF and others. An assessment indicated global wild tiger numbers have also risen, from as few as 3,200 in 2009 to around 4,500. However, these gains are fragile and tigers remain the world’s most threatened big cat species.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
JULY
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
AUGUST
**----- End of picture text -----**
## CONVENING THE PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLY FOR NATURE
Together with the National Trust and the RSPB, we convened the UK’s first national Peopleʼs Assembly for Nature. We brought together more than 100 people from all walks of life who deliberated over thousands of ideas submitted by the public to help protect the natural world. The independent assembly members found common ground and developed a pioneering People’s Plan for Nature, which sets out the most important actions the UK’s governments, businesses, charities, farmers and communities must take to protect and restore nature and change how we value the environment. Their recommendations have strengthened our call for politicians and business leaders to act.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
SEPTEMBER
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
© Involve / Jemima Stubbs
**----- End of picture text -----**
4,500 A GLOBAL ASSESSMENT INDICATED WILD TIGER NUMBERS HAVE RISEN FROM AS FEW AS 3,200 IN 2009 TO AROUND 4,500
RAISING FUNDS FOR TOMORROW’S TIGERS For the finale of our Tomorrow’s Tigers art project, we held a selling exhibition of specially commissioned tiger-themed art rugs designed by 12 renowned artists including Peter Doig and Ai Weiwei. The project was devised and curated by Artwise Curators in partnership with WWF, Sotheby’s and Christopher Farr, and was inspired by ancient Tibetan prayer mats. Since 2019 the project has raised more than £1 million. All profits from the sale of the rugs are supporting vital conservation projects, helping us to secure a viable future for wild tigers. AGREEING A LANDMARK DEAL FOR NATURE
## HIGHLIGHTING A STARK OUTLOOK FOR NATURE
We published our _Living Planet Report_ , which highlighted a stark outlook for nature, with findings that average global wildlife population sizes have plummeted by a shocking 69% since 1970. By analysing trends in global biodiversity, our landmark report reveals a staggering rate of decline in the health of our planet. It provides a severe warning that the world’s rich biodiversity is in crisis, putting every species at risk – including us. We used the report to support our call on leaders at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity summit (COP15) to take decisive action and deliver science-based solutions to help reverse nature loss by 2030. OCTOBER NOVEMBER
Some 196 governments agreed a landmark deal to halt and reverse the loss of nature by the end of the decade. The agreement was reached at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity COP15 summit in Montreal. Our science and advocacy played a fundamental role in achieving the final outcome, which saw nations commit to a global deal for nature and people – the Global Biodiversity Framework – which is similar in ambition to the UN Paris climate agreement. It addresses the drivers of nature loss, and aims to conserve at least 30% of all land, sea and fresh water in ways that uphold the rights of Indigenous peoples.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
DECEMBER
**----- End of picture text -----**
6
7
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
## OUR SUCCESSES 2023
**----- Start of picture text -----**
WELCOMING OUR NEW
YOUTH AMBASSADORS
For the first time, we invited young
people to an open recruitment
to become WWF-UK Youth
Ambassadors, and were delighted to
welcome 12 volunteers, aged 13-17.
They come from every nation across
the UK, and from diverse backgrounds.
For the next three years, they’ll be
working alongside WWF staff to
create impactful projects, campaigns
and events to inspire other young
people. In addition, they’ll be working
with us to review our organisational
strategy, identify new partnerships and CELEBRATING OUR
SEARCHING FOR help ensure every young person can
play their part and use their voice in WILD ISLES
WALRUSES FROM SPACE helping bring our world back to life.
We celebrated the launch of Wild
We launched the second phase of our Isles , a landmark BBC One series
Walrus from Space citizen science presented by our ambassador
project at the Arctic Basecamp event Sir David Attenborough, made by
during the World Economic Forum in Silverback Films and co-produced by
Davos. More than 28,000 people from us and the RSPB. The series, which
at least 68 countries have engaged attracted more than 10 million viewers
with us so far in the search for Atlantic per episode, used scientific evidence
walruses in satellite imagery of the from us and the RSPB to explore
Arctic coastline. Scientists from WWF and celebrate the UK’s grasslands,
and the British Antarctic Survey woodlands, fresh water and seas. It
also went on an Arctic expedition in offered a message of hope as well
July to validate the accuracy of the as highlighting the crisis facing our
methodology. The project’s findings nature. Our accompanying Save Our
will help us understand trends in Wild Isles campaign, with the National
walrus population numbers to inform Trust and the RSPB, encouraged
conservation as their Arctic habitat everyone to play a part in protecting
rapidly changes. and restoring our precious isles.
JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH
© David Bebber / WWF-UK
**----- End of picture text -----**
For the first time, we invited young people to an open recruitment to become WWF-UK Youth Ambassadors, and were delighted to welcome 12 volunteers, aged 13-17. They come from every nation across the UK, and from diverse backgrounds. For the next three years, they’ll be working alongside WWF staff to create impactful projects, campaigns and events to inspire other young people. In addition, they’ll be working with us to review our organisational strategy, identify new partnerships and SEARCHING FOR help ensure every young person can play their part and use their voice in WALRUSES FROM SPACE helping bring our world back to life.
We celebrated the launch of _Wild Isles_ , a landmark BBC One series presented by our ambassador Sir David Attenborough, made by Silverback Films and co-produced by us and the RSPB. The series, which attracted more than 10 million viewers per episode, used scientific evidence from us and the RSPB to explore and celebrate the UK’s grasslands, woodlands, fresh water and seas. It offered a message of hope as well as highlighting the crisis facing our nature. Our accompanying Save Our Wild Isles campaign, with the National Trust and the RSPB, encouraged everyone to play a part in protecting and restoring our precious isles.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
© Andrew Parkinson / WWF-UK
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
© WWF-UK
**----- End of picture text -----**
## REIMAGINING UK LANDSCAPES OF THE FUTURE
We created an innovative exhibition in the run-up to Earth Day, showcasing AI-generated paintings in the style of classic British painters, imagining how they would have documented the future of our nation’s landscapes if they were here to witness them. Our activation appeared on the Piccadilly Lights digital ad space in London. A real-world gallery exhibition also ran for four days, complemented by a two-month online exhibition. They highlighted the plight of nature in our wild isles, and strengthened the public’s awareness of WWF’s work in the UK to help bring our world back to life.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
APRIL
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
>10 MILLION
**----- End of picture text -----**
WILD ISLES, CO-PRODUCED BY US AND THE RSPB, ATTRACTED MORE THAN 10 MILLION VIEWERS PER EPISODE
## RECORDING NEW SPECIES
## IN THE GREATER MEKONG
An incredible 380 new species have been newly recorded in the Greater Mekong region in south-east Asia, one of the globe’s biodiversity hotspots. The extraordinary findings include a colour-changing lizard, a thickthumbed bat, a poisonous snake named after a Chinese goddess, an orchid that looks like one of the Muppets, and a tree frog with skin that resembles thick moss. A new WWF report documents the work of hundreds of scientists from universities, conservation organisations and research institutes around the world who made the SEEDING HOPE remarkable findings in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam IN THE FORTH over a period of two years.
As part of Restoration Forth, WWF Scotland and our partners and volunteers from the local community planted 25,000 seeds to restore seagrass meadows in the Firth of Forth. New shoots were already growing and being used as a nursery ground by flatfish just three months later. Seagrass is an unsung hero of our oceans: it has huge potential to help tackle climate change and to improve water quality and enhance biodiversity. Our restoration project is also returning native oysters to this area. By next year, the project will have restored four hectares of seagrass and 30,000 native oysters.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
© Henrik Bringsoe
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
MAY
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
JUNE
**----- End of picture text -----**
8
9
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
## A MESSAGE FROM OUR CHAIR
Reflecting on the last year, there is much to be proud of. For instance, vital landmark international agreements were reached, including the UN’s Global Biodiversity Framework and Treaty of the High Seas, both with strong scientific input and advocacy from WWF-UK and across the WWF network. And in the UK, we shone a spotlight on nature and the threats it faces through the _Wild Isles_ TV series and an accompanying campaign.
The economic climate has been tough for everyone to navigate too. With the cost of living crisis and inflation leading to rising costs, at WWF we have needed to make careful, regular adjustments to ensure we steward ever more wisely the funds we receive from our incredibly generous supporters.
Despite these many challenges, it is heartening to be able to set out in these pages the successes achieved thanks to the commitment and expertise of colleagues at WWF, along with that of our many partners.
But at the same time it has been a year of challenge – marked by environmental, political and economic turmoil, compounded by the continuing war in Ukraine.
It was notably thanks to partnerships that we were able to achieve the impact we managed with the _Wild Isles_ TV series and to run a campaign to Save Our Wild Isles alongside it. We were proud to work with the BBC, and delighted to join forces with the RSPB and the National Trust to achieve more than any of us could have done alone. Through cooperation, and with the inspirational narration of WWF ambassador Sir David Attenborough, together we gained excellent reach and impressive engagement with the public through the series.
The UN’s secretary general labelled climate change “out of control” and global average temperatures repeatedly broke records, with wildfires devastating people and nature in many corners of our world, and an appalling drought continuing in east Africa.
We released our latest _Living Planet Report_ , which catalogues the effect the changing climate, habitat destruction and degradation and many other pressures are having on wildlife.
We aim to use that public engagement, including from the People’s Assembly for Nature, to strengthen our call for nature to be put at the heart of all government and business decision making.
Against this backdrop of a climate and nature crisis, it is clearly no time for our leaders to waver in their commitment to tackle the problems with the urgency required. Yet in the UK, we experienced ongoing political instability with three prime ministers during the year and questions about government commitment to the climate and nature agenda.
WE ARE ENSURING WE FIND THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAYS TO SPEND OUR SUPPORTERS’ DONATIONS TO URGENTLY PROTECT AND RESTORE OUR NATURAL WORLD FOR PEOPLE AND WILDLIFE
**----- Start of picture text -----**
© João Albuquerque / WWF-Brazil
**----- End of picture text -----**
Also, among the many other breakthroughs you can read about in this report, it has been encouraging to see progress through our work bringing together many big food retailers under our Retailers’ Commitment For Nature, and our success in pressing for changes in the Financial Services and Markets Bill to include climate and nature as key considerations for regulating the financial sector.
As we approach the end of the three-year period covered by our current strategy, we are discussing where we can make the greatest impact in the next three years, ensuring we find the most effective ways to spend our supporters’ donations and make the biggest positive difference to urgently protect and restore our natural world for people and wildlife. In a first for WWF-UK, we invited a ‘challenger’ group from outside WWF to help scrutinise and guide the development of our new strategy. I am grateful to them for the expertise and thoughts they shared, which have contributed to even stronger governance of this process.
Dave Lewis (front row, second from left) on a WWF fundraising challenge in Wales © Matt Horwood / WWF-UK
I am thankful too, to the board of trustees for the expertise, ongoing support and good governance they provide to the organisation. A small number of them joined me and members of our executive group as we visited two very different priority areas for WWF – Norfolk and Brazil. In both locations, we gained valuable first-hand insight into the challenges people and nature are facing and the work WWF is doing to address them. We were able to exchange important learnings with colleagues and partners.
And I thank my colleagues at WWF for their unstinting resolve throughout another challenging year – especially as we have needed to make painful decisions to achieve essential cost savings. Our staff are a dedicated group, with such ability and desire to rise to the many and increasing threats our fragile world faces. With their commitment, WWF remains well-placed to do everything possible in our urgent mission to bring our world back to life.
## **Dave Lewis**
11
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
10 TRUSTEES’ REPORT
## A MESSAGE FROM OUR CHIEF EXECUTIVE
As part of WWF’s delegation in Canada at the UN KunmingMontreal Biodiversity Conference, I was proud to see our science and advocacy helping convince negotiators from across the world that the urgent mission to reverse nature loss is still achievable. Our input on this point came at a critical moment when ambition and belief in setting nature back on course was draining from the proceedings. WWF played a fundamental role in achieving the positive final outcome, which saw nations commit to a global mission for nature – the Global Biodiversity Framework – which is similar in ambition to the UN climate agreement.
Our precious planet has given us countless warning signs this year that it is in grave danger of irreversibly passing dangerous thresholds. Wildfires, droughts and floods are increasing in severity and frequency as the world registers ever higher temperature records.
Meanwhile, as we outline in our latest _Living Planet Report_ , humanity continues to destroy forests and pollute rivers and oceans with devastating consequences for people and nature: average global wildlife populations have fallen by 69% since 1970.
We need to stop destroying our planet and start restoring it.
Closer to home, we were part of a strong campaign, #AttackOnNature, to remind the new UK government that promises on nature must be kept. Our influence helped to steer back on track the important Environmental Land Management schemes, which support the role of UK farmers in restoring nature, when the Truss government seemed ready to jettison them.
But instead, despite the huge potential from transitioning the UK’s economy to one that is net zero and supports the recovery of nature – for businesses as well as for household energy costs – we have seen a worrying delay and softening of commitments from the UK government and in some cases a reversal of polices to protect our environment.
This year we also witnessed the impact of our conservation work with some really encouraging news for iconic species and places across the world.
And, internationally, following the optimism of the UN climate summit in Glasgow, the gathering in Egypt last November was disappointing and saw very little agreed.
We supported work that has led to an increase of wild tigers in both India and Nepal. In Nepal, numbers have more than doubled since 2009 and in India they have risen by more than 600 since 2018.
As you would expect, despite these challenges, we have used every ounce of our influence and scientific knowhow to keep the existential threats from climate change and nature’s decline on the agenda, internationally and domestically. And we can still report important successes as a result.
I WAS PROUD TO SEE OUR SCIENCE AND ADVOCACY HELPING CONVINCE NEGOTIATORS FROM ACROSS THE WORLD THAT THE URGENT MISSION TO REVERSE NATURE LOSS IS STILL ACHIEVABLE
**----- Start of picture text -----**
© CCICED
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Tanya Steele visiting Wild
Ingleborough, Yorkshire
© Greg Armfield / WWF-UK
**----- End of picture text -----**
An undoubted highlight of our work this year was our involvement in the landmark BBC series _Wild Isles_ . The series, presented by WWF ambassador Sir David Attenborough and co-produced by us and the RSPB, attracted more than 10 million viewers per episode. It enabled us to inspire huge audiences about the incredible nature on our doorstep in the UK, and the need to protect and restore it – much as we did when the _Our Planet_ series took a global view in 2019.
And after decades of decline, the latest survey in China showed Yangtze finless porpoise numbers have risen by 23%, thanks in part to support from our partnership with HSBC and work with our colleagues in China. The improved status of these species also suggests other wildlife in these regions will be showing signs of recovery. These are small but welcome examples of what is possible.
I am also grateful for the ongoing work of our citizen scientists, 28,000 of whom helped us study trends in Atlantic walrus population numbers across the Arctic by searching for them in satellite imagery of the coastline.
The response to the series, and to the campaign and the Peopleʼs Assembly for Nature we launched alongside it with the National Trust and the RSPB, has shown how strongly people care about nature and how they are willing to act for it too.
On a visit to Malaysia, where forest loss was very evident, I was encouraged to see how farmers in Sabah, Borneo, are working collectively to gain sustainable palm oil accreditation and improve workers’ rights. There is growing recognition too of the importance of the nation’s wildlife, including orangutans, which we’re supporting through innovative counting of their nests in the tree canopy.
And that is so true of all our wonderful supporters and partners, whose generosity we appreciate ever more as we find ourselves in such economically challenging times. Together, you have enabled us to raise £94 million this year, with more than 220,000 new people joining our existing family of valued supporters. I am enormously grateful to each of you who have given us so much through your time, expertise, campaigning actions and your donations.
And in the UK, it was rewarding to see the return of seagrass where we have expanded our restoration programme – with new projects in England, Scotland and Wales. Seagrass has huge potential to help tackle climate change and to improve water quality, as well as being an important habitat for wildlife.
Thank you. Your amazing support inspires everything we do.
## **Tanya Steele**
13
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
12 TRUSTEES’ REPORT
## OUR FOCUS
Our precious world needs our help like never before.
## WE’RE WORKING URGENTLY TO BRING OUR WORLD BACK TO LIFE
Nature is in freefall – from our iconic species to fragile coral reefs and the biodiversity that makes up the fabric of life on Earth. WWF’s _Living Planet Report_ shows global wildlife population sizes have declined by 69% on average since 1970. This tragic loss shows no signs of slowing.
We’re seeing the effects on our own doorstep: the UK is in the bottom 10% of countries globally when it comes to the abundance of nature and a quarter of our mammals are now at risk of extinction.
People and nature across the world are also experiencing the devastating impacts of climate change, which will increase substantially with every fraction of a degree of additional warming. Humankind’s impact on the climate is causing more frequent extreme weather events: in 2022, 28 countries including the UK experienced their hottest year on record, and scientists predict there’s now a 66% chance we’ll pass the 1.5°C global warming threshold in the next five years.
We’re the first generation to know we are destroying our planet and the last one that can do anything about it. At WWF, we want to halt the destruction of the natural world and make sure nature’s vital signs are restored by 2030.
To ensure we hand future generations a stable, safe and thriving planet that can sustain all life on Earth, the science says we must address the climate crisis, transform the way we produce and consume food, and restore our rivers, seas and forests for the wildlife that live in them.
There are solutions and there is hope. We’re working to protect and restore nature and tackle the underlying causes driving the decline of precious species and habitats – especially the food system and climate change.
With immediate action, and by working together, we can stop the catastrophic loss of nature.
## WHY WWF?
We’re working tirelessly with communities, governments, scientists, supporters and business leaders to stop the destruction of nature, secure a safer climate and bring our world back to life.
We’ve been protecting nature’s wonders for more than 60 years and our focus now is not just to protect our natural world, but to _restore_ it.
We’re using scientific research, harnessing our global reach and influence, and – with the vital backing of our many supporters – working to make sure the natural world’s vital signs are recovering by 2030. We’ll do this in harmony with people and an unflinching respect for human rights.
Our strategy outlines the threat to our world and the links between food, climate and nature loss. We can only bring back nature if we fix the food system and halt climate change. That is why we focus on:
**• averting dangerous climate change**
- **creating a sustainable food system**
**• restoring threatened habitats and species.**
We can bring endangered wildlife back from the brink of extinction. We can press the UK governments to deliver the promises they’ve made for the climate. And we can convince politicians and businesses to take action to reform the way we produce and consume food and reverse the loss of nature.
We can do all this thanks to the incredible generosity and passion of our supporters.
## OUR VISION
Our vision is that by 2030 the natural world’s vital signs will be improving and we’ll have halted the loss of nature. Until 2024, we’re focusing on the goals outlined on the next pages to set us on the right track to meeting this vital target.
15
## OUR ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE
In this section we outline a selection of our achievements and performance against our objectives for the year ended 30 June 2023. This does not cover the full scope of our work. Visit our website to find out more about our work: **wwf.org.uk**
## GOAL EXPENDITURE
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2022-23
£6.3M
2021-22
£6.4M
2022-23
£5.6M
2021-22
£6.6M
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
RESTORING 2022-23
THREATENED £38.2M
HABITATS AND 2021-22
SPECIES £27.3M
2022-23
GROWING £18.3M
SUPPORT 2021-22
£18.8M
**----- End of picture text -----**
## AVERTING DANGEROUS CLIMATE CHANGE
We’re pushing UK governments and businesses for the strongest ambition and measures to decarbonise, to help tackle the climate emergency.
## 4-YEAR ACTION PLAN
OUR INFLUENCE IN NEGOTIATIONS AT COP27 LED TO A NEW FOUR-YEAR ACTION PLAN ON AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY THAT TAKES INTO CONSIDERATION MANY WWF ASKS
## 2022-23 TARGET
## 2022-23 TARGET
**We’ll influence the COP27 climate negotiations, working with WWF colleagues across the network to get sustainable food systems on the agenda.**
**We’ll continue to work with the farming sector and influence the vision and policies of the UK governments on land use and agriculture to ensure they are compatible with a 1.5°C and nature positive future.**
Limiting global warming to 1.5°C, adapting to climate impacts, and nourishing all people within planetary boundaries will be impossible unless the world urgently and profoundly transforms the way we produce and consume food. That’s why at WWF we’re calling on governments to place sustainable and healthy food systems at the core of ambitious climate action.
More than 70% of the UK’s land area is farmed in some way, and our agriculture sector is responsible for 11% of UK domestic emissions, so solutions that encourage a transition to net zero in the farming sector are crucial.
We know that nature-friendly farming is at the heart of the public’s vision for nature in the UK. Food and farming were key themes of the independent People’s Assembly for Nature we convened along with the National Trust and the RSPB. A third of the resulting plan’s calls to action relate to food and farming, including a demand on government to support farmers financially to transition to climate and nature-friendly practices.
This was a key demand we pressed for at the UN climate summit in November 2022 (COP27), which was hearteningly described as the first ‘food systems COP’.
We were instrumental in influencing the formal negotiations on agriculture and food at COP27, which led to a major win – a new four-year action plan on agriculture and food security that takes into consideration many WWF asks. For instance, it promotes a more holistic approach to addressing issues related to agriculture and food security, and provides recommendations for better integration of agriculture across the climate negotiations. This will enable us to keep advocating for food systems to be better anchored in global climate action.
Save Our Wild Isles, our joint campaign also with the National Trust and the RSPB, called on UK leaders to halt the destruction of nature and take urgent action for its recovery. The campaign provided a platform for the People’s Assembly for Nature and farmers alike to win support for a transformation in our food system. Together, we encouraged the public to send 20,000 emails to their MPs calling on them to back the People’s Plan and provide more support for nature-friendly farming.
To help achieve this outcome, we at WWF-UK worked closely with our colleagues across the WWF network and other civil society partners, especially from the African region, to push the urgent need to reform food systems higher up the agenda at COP27. Together, we demonstrated how a food systems approach to climate action can succeed.
This formed a clear public demonstration of support for the type of farming we at WWF are championing, which enabled us to make a strong case to the government for change.
WWF also engaged with and briefed government delegates from 30 countries in the run-up to and during COP27, to share our recommendations on how to strengthen climate action on food systems. We published a letter supporting a food systems approach to climate action. This gathered support from over 100 civil society organisations in less than 24 hours.
Outside these campaigns, we pressed the UK government to be ambitious about the farming sector transition in its updated Net Zero Strategy. Our analysis of the government’s original strategy, and of the government’s failure to honour its net-zero farming pledges, gained good media coverage, which helped us call out its lack of ambition on agriculture. Our pressure led it to produce more detail on reducing emissions from land use and agriculture, but while we’ve helped put farming and land use firmly on the UK’s net-zero agenda, the total emissions reductions are not ambitious enough and we don’t yet have the policy actions that are needed.
19
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
## 2022-23 TARGET
**We’ll influence transition plans in the finance sector, ensuring there are robust standards for climate and nature and a strong legal and regulatory framework.**
Currently, financial flows in the UK predominantly support businesses and industries contributing to a high-carbon economy, but what we urgently need is for them to support a low-carbon, nature-positive economy.
Following a campaign that we were centrally involved in, at the UN climate summit in 2021 (COP26) the UK chancellor announced the establishment of the Transition Plan Taskforce as part of the UK’s plans to become the world’s first net-zero financial centre, ensuring financial flows shift towards supporting a net-zero economy.
OUR 2023-24 PRIORITIES INCLUDE **We’ll continue to influence transition plans in the finance sector, ensuring there are robust standards for climate and nature and a strong legal and regulatory framework.**
**We’ll defend and extend plans to reach the UK’s climate targets.**
**We’ll influence the UN’s COP28 climate negotiations, working with colleagues across the WWF network to get tangible progress on sustainable food systems.**
This year, we have focused on influencing the recommendations of the UK government’s Transition Plan Taskforce, to help shape government guidance for companies and financial institutions on the transition plans they need to produce to show what they’re doing to tackle climate change.
We influenced the first draft of the taskforce’s transition plan guidance, and were successful in incorporating nature as well as the climate into the guidance for companies. We published an industry leading document, _Nature in Transition Plans: Why and How?_ , which laid out how transition plan guidance could go further in addressing climate and nature holistically. As a result, we were asked to chair the taskforce’s Nature Working Group, which has given us greater scope to shape its ambition – such as recommending that companies give explicit consideration to impacts on nature arising from their transition plan and set out how they will mitigate these risks. The outcome of these recommendations will be decided in autumn 2023.
We also successfully pressed for changes in legislation for financial regulators – the Financial Services and Markets Bill – so financial regulators must consider nature alongside climate when carrying out their supervisory and regulatory responsibilities. This means the law now recognises climate and nature are relevant considerations in the regulation of the financial sector.
## NATURE AND CLIMATE
WE WERE SUCCESSFUL IN INCORPORATING NATURE INTO UK GOVERNMENT GUIDANCE FOR COMPANIES’ CLIMATE TRANSITION PLANS
20 STRATEGIC REPORT
## CREATING A SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEM
We’re fighting to reform our food system, to halt nature loss and ensure the UK leads a global transformation to sustainable production and consumption of food.
## 1ST
WE PUBLISHED A FIRST REPORT ON RETAILERS’ YEARLY PROGRESS TOWARDS OUR AMBITION TO HALVE THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF UK SHOPPING BASKETS BY 2030. IT INCLUDES CLEAR BENCHMARKS FOR FUTURE PROGRESS
## 2022-23 TARGET
## 2022-23 TARGET
**We’ll work with financiers to influence the development of a standard for transition plans that incentivises achieving a net-zero, regenerative agriculture sector in the UK.**
**We’ll release a report on retailers’ progress against WWF’s Retailers’ Commitment for Nature and identifying key areas of action for 2023. We’ll continue to make progress on deforestation, climate and agriculture outcomes by convening businesses.**
The UK’s food and agriculture sectors account for more than a fifth of our domestic emissions and offer huge potential to reverse nature loss. That’s why at WWF we’re pressing for robust and credible plans for businesses and financial institutions in these sectors to transition to a future that is net zero and supports the recovery of nature.
Transforming the global food system is key to tackling both the climate crisis and catastrophic nature loss. The food we consume in the UK has a substantial environmental impact, both in the UK and overseas. That’s why at WWF we’re working with UK food retailers to help ensure they play their pivotal role in reducing those impacts.
We want the UK government to introduce a transition plan gold standard for the food and agriculture sector that draws on the best practices we’ve developed from working with agricultural financiers and food retailers. We’ve made good progress in this regard during the past year.
In November 2022, we published _What’s in Store for the Planet_ , a first report on retailers’ yearly progress towards our ‘WWF Basket’ ambition to halve the environmental impact of UK shopping baskets by 2030. The report is based on data we received from nine UK food retailers, which represent 80% of the UK market share, and includes some clear benchmarks for future progress and next step recommendations for UK retailers and the government.
We and Tesco were co-chairs of the UK government’s Transition Plan Food Sector Taskforce, which developed more detailed guidance on the food sector transition plans that will be required of companies under the government’s commitment on mandatory transition plan disclosure.
We continued to work closely with six leading UK retailers that have pledged to take action for nature and work with us towards our ambition of halving the impact of UK shopping baskets by 2030, through WWF’s Retailers’ Commitment for Nature. The signatories are Co-op, Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose and, since March, Lidl GB – the first internationally headquartered retailer to support the initiative.
We also developed a groundbreaking new partnership with NatWest, which is one of the main lenders to the agriculture sector in the UK, to support a sustainable transition for UK farmers. The partnership is developing ways to help finance and support farmers to transition to regenerative farming. This year we worked with large agriculture-sector businesses, policymakers and industry groups to start to build a shared vision for change. We convened diverse stakeholder groups to build alignment on a common agenda.
The group has committed to collaborate and focus on key areas of priority for change, which include climate, deforestation and conversion, and agriculture. A notable output is the new Climate Action element of the Retailers’ Commitment, which we developed in collaboration with the climate NGO WRAP. This comprises a new set of actions asking 50% of our signatories’ suppliers to support reductions in emissions associated with purchased goods (known as Scope 3 emissions), as well as supporting suppliers to decarbonise. The six retailers working with WWF and WRAP have also agreed to a revised set of leading actions that will support the delivery of WRAP’s Courtauld Water Roadmap.
By working alongside Tesco and financial institutions like NatWest, we’ve been able to demonstrate how private finance can drive a transition in the UK food and farming sector so it becomes net zero and supports the recovery of nature, when that is supported by a strong environmental land management and public subsidy regime.
23
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
## 2022-23 TARGET
**We’ll deliver our Land of Plenty pathway targets: a decarbonisation strategy for agriculture and land use, nitrogen budgets and take-up of Environmental Land Management schemes (with equivalent progress in Scotland and Wales).**
The way we farm and use land remains vital for achieving our goals of tackling climate change, restoring nature and meeting the needs of people, but current reductions in emissions from UK agriculture are not on track to meet climate targets.
So this year we built on our Land of Plenty work, through which we aim to help support farmers to take up more nature and climate-friendly ways of farming. In October, we led the response to threats from Liz Truss’s government to abandon the Environmental Land Management schemes. This was a critical intervention from WWF as the schemes are the main way farmers will be paid in England to deliver benefits for climate and nature. We mobilised more than 50 businesses, banks, farmers and NGOs to help show why the schemes should be boosted, not binned. And we won! The government announced more support, not less, for the schemes.
In addition, we continued our work to highlight the impacts of the overuse of nitrogen: around half the nitrogen used in the UK ends up in rivers or the atmosphere. Thanks to WWF and other organisations, the new Global Biodiversity Framework introduced a target to halve nutrient waste by 2030. In the UK, this will need strong action to reduce pollution from farming.
We also pushed for strong climate and nature components in both the Wales and Scotland Agriculture Bills. In Wales we were the key organisation pushing for amendments to strengthen the bill, and we led the support for change through email actions, a first of its kind opinion poll of rural Wales, and a joint open letter from more than 50 organisations. We were pleased the Welsh bill includes many of our asks; WWF Cymru was specifically invited to redraft the bill’s explanatory memorandum to link explicitly to the new Global Biodiversity Framework. In Scotland we ran an e-action campaign, engaged ministers and responded to consultations on the equivalent bill. We also developed case studies with nature-friendly farmers.
## >50
WE MOBILISED MORE THAN 50 BUSINESSES, BANKS, FARMERS AND NGOS TO HELP SHOW WHY ENVIRONMENTAL LAND MANAGEMENT SCHEMES SHOULD BE BOOSTED, NOT BINNED. AND WE WON!
## 2022-23 TARGET
**We’ll encourage one million UK citizens to take an active role as consumers in a shift towards more sustainable diets. We’ll also increase public awareness of the impact of food on global climate goals and Sustainable Development Goals, reaching 10 million UK citizens.**
The way we produce and consume food is driving climate change and nature loss, polluting waterways, depleting soils and undermining food and nutrition security. We need to shift our diets if we’re to meet our climate and nature targets.
The cost of living crisis is adding yet more pressure to people’s food choices. Enabling and encouraging shifts to healthy, affordable and sustainable diets has never been more important.
That’s why this year we ramped up our work on Eat4Change – a campaign through which we’ve offered tips and encouraged people to take up challenges to cut down on food waste, grow their own food, or reduce their meat and dairy consumption. These food challenges featured on our MyFootprint app and social channels.
Eat4Change’s sustainable food tips guide, _Bring Change to the Table_ , featured in media outlets like _Country Living_ magazine and _The Know_ . Our message succeeded particularly on social media, with informative Instagram and TikTok content with food tips, influencer collaborations with celebrity chefs such as Gizzi Erskine and Nisha Katona, and as part of an action people could take for Earth Hour.
As a result of a wealth of actions, including strong uptake of the food challenges on WWF’s MyFootprint app, we encouraged 1.1 million people to make a shift towards more sustainable diets. We also achieved a substantial increase in public awareness, exceeding our targets, with 11.2 million people becoming informed about the connections between food, nature and climate – and the importance of fixing the food system.
Regenerative farmer Angus Walton receives a lick from an Aberdeen Angus cow at Peelham Farm, Berwickshire, Scotland. One of the principles of regenerative agriculture is for farmers to integrate livestock on their land – the cattle spend all their time outside in the paddocks. They never go inside. They eat pasture on a rotational cycle, which in turn encourages new plant growth, which stimulates the plants to pump more carbon into the soil.
## OUR 2023-24 PRIORITIES INCLUDE
**We’ll continue to hold the UK retail sector to account against WWF’s Retailers’ Commitment for Nature. We’ll drive progress on deforestation, climate and agriculture outcomes by continuing to convene businesses.**
**We’ll promote decarbonisation strategies and nitrogen budgets for agriculture and land use, to ensure the climate and nature impacts of land use in England, Scotland and Wales become a political priority.**
24 STRATEGIC REPORT
## RESTORING THREATENED HABITATS AND SPECIES
We’re working to halt the loss of habitats and restore natural life-support systems for people and species in some of the world’s most special places.
## 2022-23 TARGET
**In Brazil, we’ll focus on stopping legislation that harms the Amazon and implementing a tool to help tackle illegality in gold mining supply chains, while supporting the rights and territorial protection of Indigenous people and local communities. In Colombia and Peru, we’ll facilitate regenerative farming and restoration in deforestation hotspots.**
We know if we lose the Amazon, we lose the fight against climate change. So, for WWF it’s an absolute priority to help protect this vital region and support its Indigenous peoples and local communities.
This year we produced a scientific briefing – _Risking the Amazon_ – which showed how close the Amazon is to irreversible tipping points. It helped us make a powerful case at the UN climate summit, COP27, for immediate action to avert the tipping points.
Despite a more environmentally concerned government in Brazil since January, and a 34% reduction in deforestation during the following six months, damaging packages of proposed legislation including weakening of Indigenous land rights still persist and deforestation rates remain unsustainably high. This year we’ve worked closely with our colleagues in Brazil and funded their advocacy efforts and campaigns to counter these legislative threats. A key breakthrough for us was Brazil’s re-establishment of the National Environment Council, which is critical for ensuring environment and nature are considered in national policies and budgets.
WWF, the University of São Paulo and the NGO Igarape developed a transparency and traceability platform to identify where there is the risk of illegal gold entering the supply chain. The president of Brazil’s Central Bank recommended government agencies should adopt the platform. Another critical step towards reducing illegality in the supply chain was Brazil’s Supreme Court’s ruling to suspend the ‘presumption of legality and good faith’ in the gold trade; we provided evidence for this.
In Peru, we continued our two-year UK government funded partnership to promote restorative cattle ranching methods in a deforestation hotspot in Madre de Dios. We trained 349 farmers in natural soil restoration methods. It’s reducing the need for agrochemicals and, critically, will curb the loss of additional forest as soil quality in the pastures is maintained for longer. We’re also planting native trees that support soil and water conservation, sequester carbon and reconnect patches of forest. Neighbouring farmers who have seen the transformation in pasture quality are now using the same techniques – a vital step towards scaling up this work.
## 2022-23 TARGET
**We’ll develop an integrated vision for land and seascapes in Pembrokeshire and Norfolk, created with the local communities, that responds to the triple challenge of feeding a growing population, tackling climate change and restoring nature.**
In the UK, our vision is that by 2030, UK land, rivers and seas – and the way they are being used – will be transformed to ensure nature is recovering, and that they’ll be producing food sustainably and helping to meet net-zero targets. We’ll do this with the participation of local people, in ways that benefit them.
In the past year we developed a framework (a ‘wholescape’ approach) that will enable us to test how best to achieve this in practice, building on our current work on land, rivers and the sea.
The barriers to achieving our vision are complex and interrelated, so our framework allows us to assess trade-offs as well as win-wins. We’ve consulted many key partners as well as colleagues across WWF to ensure the wholescape concept has landed well and aligns with the thinking of other UK-based organisations, notably the British Ecological Society.
We began pilot projects in Norfolk, Pembrokeshire and the Firth of Forth: we launched studies in these locations to provide quantitative and qualitative data and engaged with the many stakeholders to build on existing initiatives and help bring them together.
This year we scaled up our seagrass restoration programme, with new projects in north Wales, Hampshire and the Firth of Forth. Seedlings are already developing well from initial seed planting.
On land, our programme focuses on key food-producing areas in Norfolk, Leicestershire and the Wye and Usk region, in recognition that 70% of land in the UK is used for agriculture and that this is a major driver of nature decline. This work has been supported by our partners Aviva, Tesco and the Reckitt brands Air Wick and Finish. During the year we successfully restored or protected more than 84 hectares of wildflower habitat across numerous sites in these regions. And through the Wild Ingleborough project we launched last year in Yorkshire we planted sphagnum moss and a further 2,350 trees, increasing the area under restoration by a further 60 hectares – thanks in part to more than 4,000 volunteering hours.
We also provided the means for deprived communities to access nature, and shared and supported learning in schools.
In Colombia, our work on nature-friendly beef production led to an exchange of learning between the main beef buyer in Colombia, Grupo Exito, and our Tesco partnership, including sharing ways supermarkets can improve their environmental performance and supply chain management.
27
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
## 2022-23 TARGET
**In southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, we’ll work with local partners, communities and regional decision makers to facilitate effective governance, cooperation and land-management, the mitigation of human-wildlife conflict, and nature-based livelihoods.**
This was the fourth year of our ambitious, large-scale programme to maintain a healthy, connected landscape for wildlife, people and their livelihoods across southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. It’s an important area for wildlife including elephants and lions that share the landscape outside formal protected areas with local communities. We’re working with partners and local communities to strengthen the governance and management of natural resources critical for wildlife and people to coexist and thrive.
This year, we’ve facilitated effective governance and supported improved cooperation and land management at a local level. We supported the Narok County government in Kenya to develop and ratify a land-use plan that provides a blueprint for the local government to guide responsible and sustainable development across 18,000 sq km – almost the entire Mau-Mara landscape. With the full participation of Community Forest Associations and the chief conservator of forests in Kenya, we supported the development of plans that provide a framework for communities to manage and protect 29,200 hectares of forests in the upper catchments of the Mara river. And we helped expand the area of rangelands under improved management by 33,500 hectares by supporting community-run conservancies around Tsavo National Park.
The threat of wildlife causing injury or death to livestock and local people, or destroying crops, makes human-wildlife conflict an ongoing challenge across this landscape. This year, thanks to UK Aid Match from the UK government, we funded work to construct 20 more enclosures and 179 living walls to keep livestock safe from predators, along with more than 700 solar flashing ‘lion lights’ to deter predators. The living walls, developed by African People & Wildlife, will benefit more than 2,500 people and protect 29,700 livestock animals. Searches by human-wildlife coexistence officers we support in Tanzania prevented the potential predation of almost US$650,000 worth of livestock.
We’ve also supported various nature-based livelihood enterprises in local communities. For example, we provided seeds and facilitated climate-smart training for 441 farmers to establish 57 hectares of sunflowers on existing farmland. Sunflowers are a good, drought-resistant crop choice for farmers in Tanzania, and have lower incidences of crop damage by large herbivores such as elephants.
## 2022-23 TARGET
**We’ll continue to work with governments and local communities to support the recovery of wild tiger populations. We’ll ensure governments make meaningful commitments for tiger conservation over the next 12 years, and strengthen international efforts to reduce illegal wildlife trade.**
The lunar year of the tiger, which ended in January 2023, marked a pivotal phase in the ambition to restore wild tiger populations.
During the previous year of the tiger in 2010, their numbers were at an all-time low of as few as 3,200. Twelve years on, in 2022, a global assessment by the IUCN Red List – which we inputted into – indicated numbers had risen to around 4,500. While the picture varies hugely between tiger range countries, this denotes a rare and hard-fought conservation success story, with evidence growing that the global decline in these critically endangered big cats has finally been reversed.
There have been notable increases in Bhutan, India and Nepal. The results of national surveys we supported in Nepal and India were announced during the year. Nepal’s wild tiger population has more than doubled since 2009 – from estimates of 121 to 355. In India, the population has risen by more than 600 since 2018, to 3,682. These heartening successes are thanks to strong support and action by local communities living near tigers, and many years of commitment and effort from the respective governments, from us and from other organisations.
The gains are fragile and tigers remain the world’s most threatened big cat species. Those that survive are restricted to around 5% of their former range, where they face continued poaching driven by demand for, and illegal trade in, tiger parts and their derivatives, as well as the loss of important prey species.
But the 2022 year of the tiger inspired renewed commitment and we were central to a vision, developed together with other organisations, to secure a viable future for the tiger. This agreed the conservation efforts for the next 12 years, including restoration of tiger habitat in both current and former tiger range countries.
Throughout the year we worked with partners to advocate for nations to strengthen the renewals of their commitments for the next 12 years. We also worked with tiger conservation partners to develop the Tackling Tiger Trafficking Framework. This pulls together resources and information to provide tiger range and other countries with guidance to implement a comprehensive and effective approach to addressing tiger trafficking.
## OUR 2023-24 PRIORITIES INCLUDE
**We’ll contribute to the WWF network’s focus on the Amazon by raising international attention to the urgent need to tackle deforestation and the impact of commodities on the Amazon biome and the Indigenous peoples who depend on it.**
**We’ll support work to encourage retailers and the private sector in China to improve their sourcing of sustainable palm oil. And we’ll support them to increase the transparency of information about the deforestation and conversion-free status of produce in their supply chains.**
**We’ll aim to significantly reduce habitat and wildlife loss in key wildlife corridors within the transboundary landscape between southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, for the benefit of people and nature.**
28 STRATEGIC REPORT
## GROWING SUPPORT
We’re urging as many people as possible to support our critical work and creating more opportunities for our supporters to be involved in what we do; inspiring them to act with us and have an impact on our mission.
## WILD ISLES, CO-PRODUCED BY US AND THE RSPB, WAS THE MOST-WATCHED FACTUAL TV SERIES ON THE BBC IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS
## 5 YEARS
## 2022-23 TARGET
## 2022-23 TARGET
**We’ll raise our visibility and relevance among our supporters and the public, notably through a landmark BBC series,** _**Wild Isles**_ **, as well as launching integrated engagement moments to showcase our organisation as a leading voice on nature and climate change.**
**We’ll aim to raise more than £97 million in income to support our work and create more opportunities for people to take action, to increase our active supporter base to 1.8 million.**
With the continued generosity of our supporters during a very challenging economic climate, this year our income increased to £94 million – 3.3% more than last year. We secured more public sector partnerships grants, generating £3.8 million. And we are incredibly grateful to our generous supporters who leave us a gift in their will: such donations increased by £2 million this year. However, we didn’t reach our ambitious target of £97 million, largely because of the cost of living crisis.
_Wild Isles_ , a landmark five-part UK nature series presented by WWF ambassador Sir David Attenborough, made by Silverback Films and co-produced by us and the RSPB, aired on BBC One in March. It was the most-watched factual TV series on the BBC in the last five years and celebrated the UK’s grasslands, woodlands, fresh water and seas – offering a message of hope as well as highlighting the crisis facing our nature.
Despite an increase in our income and more than 220,000 new people supporting us, our total two-year active supporter base has reduced to 1.34 million. But numbers of new people supporting us through our adoption and membership products during the Christmas period remained strong, at 58,000.
We commissioned a complementary documentary – _Saving Our Wild Isles_ – which shared stories of remarkable people in the UK who are working to bring nature back to life. We also produced films for business audiences, showing how by putting nature at the heart of their decision-making they can become part of the solution. This resulted in more than 200 screenings to key businesses.
Together, we engaged more than three million people through the Save Our Wild Isles campaign, which has resulted in 120,000 actions so far. The campaign was bolstered by the launch of the People’s Plan for Nature – the result of the UK’s first ever national People's Assembly for Nature. Thousands of people inputted into the plan, together with 103 assembly members from all walks of life. The assembly deliberated over four weekends to find common ground on the actions needed to save nature. Some 40,000 people backed the plan; more than 20,000 wrote to their MPs calling on them to support the recommendations. This work was possible thanks to financial support from Esmée Fairbairn and the Samworth Foundation.
Together with the RSPB and the National Trust, we launched Save Our Wild Isles, a first of its kind campaign to inspire public action for nature and create pressure on business leaders and politicians to act. This achieved extensive media coverage and included a parliamentary event where we were able to secure cross-party support for nature action.
We also launched a brand campaign – Bringing Our World Back To Life – which aimed to increase public understanding that we work to restore the natural world. A key element was our TV ad, ‘Race back to life’, which reached more than 27 million people across the UK. It had a very positive effect on our Christmas fundraising: during the weeks when the ad was airing on TV, we achieved an average increase of 112% in membership, adoption and donations. Its appearance on ITV primetime in particular drove a strong uplift. The brand campaign also boosted prompted awareness of WWF by 4% compared to the same period in the previous year, and led to more people recognising WWF’s work to address climate change and deforestation, and to restore nature.
We also held a ‘Wild Weekender’, which inspired 26,000 people (85% of whom were new to WWF) to join events including a web livestream with advice and demonstrations from experts including WWF scientists on how to create thriving habitats for their local nature.
And thanks to our partnership with Aviva, we and the RSPB launched the Saving Our Wild Isles Community Fund, making £1 million available to support community groups and people from all backgrounds and abilities to connect with nature and help restore it.
We launched Great Wild Walks, a new fundraising initiative for friends and families to take action for the places they love by walking a five or 10-mile route. Our inaugural two events were in Delamere and Epping forests.
31
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
## 2022-23 TARGET
## **We’ll develop our existing strategic partnerships and launch a major new one, focusing on our work in the UK, as well as other mid-size partnerships.**
Our corporate partnerships help us extend the reach, scale and impact of our work. We challenge and work with global businesses to achieve a world that is carbon neutral and supports the recovery of nature.
This year, our partnership with Aviva strongly supported our success in influencing the UK government and the finance sector on their net-zero transition plans through the publication of several position papers.
With Sky, we ran a Force for Nature campaign to raise awareness of the vital role UK nature plays in the fight against climate change. The campaign and its messages prompted more than 100,000 people to sign up to hear more about our work.
## OUR 2023-24 PRIORITIES INCLUDE
**We’ll aim to raise more than £94 million in income to support our work and create more opportunities for people to take action, to increase our active supporter base to 1.5 million.**
**We’ll maintain our brand prominence and trust among our supporters and the public, notably through our brand proposition of Bringing Our World Back to Life, as well as launching a mass engagement campaign to showcase our organisation as a leading voice on nature and climate change.**
**We’ll continue to develop our existing strategic partnerships to support the delivery of our mission. We’ll also develop new partnerships and renew two major strategic partnerships.**
Our Climate Solutions partnership with HSBC and the World Resources Institute continued to help support the transition to a net-zero global economy that protects and restores nature. Work this year included mobilising businesses on green energy in Asia and supporting 229 smallholders in Malaysia to achieve sustainable palm oil certification.
In the last full year of our partnership with Tesco, we continued to drive action and thought leadership to support the changes needed to halve the environmental footprint of the average UK shopping basket. This included addressing food loss at UK farms and supporting innovations in the supply chain. We won partnership of the year at the Reuters Responsible Business Awards and were recognised as the most admired partnership in the corporate-NGO partnerships barometer.
And we continued to deliver our global partnership with Reckitt, supporting vital freshwater ecosystems in India and Brazil, and inspiring millions of consumers to act for our planet through our brand partnerships with Finish and Air Wick.
Major new partnerships we launched this year included work with John Lewis Partnership focusing on nature restoration in two key sourcing regions of the UK and India. Our new partnership with Vodafone is focusing on using technology to help overcome sustainability and conservation challenges. And our collaboration with NatWest will demonstrate ways private finance can accelerate a sustainable transition of the UK’s food and agricultural system. We also renewed our relationship with Scottish Power to champion low-carbon energy solutions and call for ambitious climate action from the UK government.
Two of the many amazing participants in WWF's Great Wild Walks celebrate completing the challenge © Chris Ratcliffe / WWF-UK
32 STRATEGIC REPORT
## OUR PEOPLE
Our people remain critically important to our mission – and the development of an inclusive, safe, empowering environment is key, so colleagues can engage and innovate to deliver maximum impact for our world.
This year we launched a new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy, as well as menopause and workplace adjustment policies. We also set up a new Disability Network and continued to refresh and update our working environment and practices, in full consultation with our staff representative body, our Forum Council.
Our new hybrid working model brings flexibility for colleagues and strengthens our proposition as a capable organisation that can attract and retain diverse and highly skilled staff.
The health and wellbeing of all our colleagues remains a priority. We offered a year-round wellbeing programme, and we have a comprehensive employee assistance programme and a network of mental health first aiders.
WWF-Malaysia field biologists Imran Hamri (left) and Afif Wafiy (right) install a camera trap to monitor tigers in Royal Belum State Park, Malaysia © Emmanuel Rondeau / WWF-US
35
## FINANCIAL REVIEW
## INCOME
Total income for the year for the Group (comprising WWF-UK and WWF-UK (World Wide Fund For Nature) Trading Ltd) increased by £3.0m (3%) from £91.0m in the previous year to £94.0m.
## MEMBERSHIP AND DONATIONS FROM INDIVIDUALS
## OPERATING STATEMENT
|OPERATING STATEMENT||
|---|---|
||**Year ended**
**30 June 2023**
Year ended
30 June 2022|
||**£m**
£m|
|Incoming resources excluding gifts in kind
Gifts in kind
**Incoming resources**|**93.3**
90.9
**0.7**
0.1|
||**94.0**
**91.0**|
|||
|**Costs of raising funds and reorganisation costs**||
|Cost of raising funds
Reorganisation costs|**23.9**
22.8
**-**
0.2|
||**23.9**
**23.0**|
|||
|**Net income available for charitable purposes**|**70.1**
**68.0**|
|||
|**Expenditure on charitable activities**||
|Averting dangerous climate change
Creating a sustainable food system
Restoring threatened habitats and species
Growing support
Strengthening our priority WWF partner ofces
Building capacity in the network
WWF network priority support projects
Loss on forward foreign currency contracts not hedged
Gifts in kind attributable to charitable activities
Net expenditure before losses on investments
Net loss on investment assets
**Net expenditure**
Fair value movements on cash fow hedges
**Net decrease in reserves**|**6.3**
6.4
**5.6**
6.6
**38.2**
27.3
**18.3**
18.8
**-**
1.4
**6.2**
6.1
**3.9**
2.5
**-**
-
**-**
**-**|
||**78.5**
**69.1**|
||**(8.4)**
(1.1)
**(0.3)**
(1.1)|
||**(8.7)**
**(2.2)**
**(0.4)**
0.1|
||**(9.1)**
**(2.1)**|
Income from individuals reduced by £3.0m from £43.9m to £40.9m. This was partly attributable to lower supporter acquisition as a result of lower spend and a change in giving behaviour due to the cost of living crisis and the conflict in Ukraine. We also switched off our fundraising and marketing channels for 10 days following the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
## CORPORATE DONATIONS AND INCOME
Income from our corporate partnerships reduced by £0.2m from £16.9m to £16.7m. New partnerships signed with John Lewis and Vodafone, coupled with faster spend on Reckitt and AB InBev, and growth of the Scottish Power partnership, largely offset the initial donation received last year with the launch of Aviva. Corporate donations and income also includes our continuing partnerships with HSBC and Tesco.
## AID AGENCIES AND GOVERNMENT GRANTS
Income from aid agencies and government grants is detailed in Note 4 to the accounts. The increase of £2.0m includes new funding from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for WWF’s Land for Life project aiming to help people and wildlife coexist and thrive in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, and the expansion of the water resource management programme in Pakistan. In addition, we received further FCDO funding (previously from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) for accelerated climate transition programmes in Mexico, Colombia and Peru and new funding across a number of regions from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) under the UK Darwin Initiative and Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge fund.
## LOTTERY PROMOTIONS
Income from lottery promotions increased by £0.4m to £0.7m and represents funds raised via WWF-UK’s own weekly lottery.
## CHARITABLE TRUSTS
Income from charitable trusts increased by £1.1m to £9.7m. This was largely attributable to first time donations received from the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and the Michael Uren Foundation.
## EXPENDITURE
The cost of raising funds increased by £1.1m to £23.9m. This was mainly due to costs associated with the replacement of our supporter database, increased fulfilment costs and an increase to support costs (see Note 7). This was partly offset by a reduction in supporter acquisition costs (aligned to income) across the more traditional print and television channels. Included within the cost of raising funds is the cost of our fundraising teams, supporter acquisition and retention costs, supporter communications, supporter services and behavioural insights, fundraising compliance, and our events programme.
There was an increase of £9.4m (14%) in our charitable activity expenditure, from £69.1m to £78.5m. This was mainly attributable to increased expenditure on the following programmes, all of which are listed in Note 5 to the accounts:
- An increase of £0.4m in our work in east Africa, most notably in the region of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania including work funded by FCDO and Defra.
- An increase of £1.4m in our work in the Amazon, with new funding from FCDO across Brazil, Colombia and Peru.
- An increase of £2.6m in our energy transition work in China to achieve the mainstreaming target of China Climate Communications for Carbon Neutrality, which includes work jointly funded by the Sequoia Climate Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation.
37
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
36 STRATEGIC REPORT
- An increase of £1.1m in the HSBC Asia Sustainable Palm Oil Programme, supporting sustainable production and consumption of palm oil all along the supply chain, with the aim of halting deforestation from supply chains to protect and restore forest landscapes in Asia – benefiting people and nature.
Fixed assets (including investments) decreased by £0.9m and net current assets by £8.2m as a result of the net expenditure for the year detailed above.
## INVESTMENTS
- An increase of £0.5m in UK land and seascapes, expanding our restoration programme with new projects in England, Scotland and Wales.
- An increase of £0.4m in the water resource management programme in Pakistan, funded by the FCDO.
- An increase of £0.3m in partnership with Tesco to launch an accelerator programme to fast track vital food system innovation.
## BALANCE SHEET AND RESERVES
The net expenditure for the year of £8.7m, with a £0.4m loss in cash flow hedges, resulted in a reduction in total reserves from £66.7m to £57.6m.
The decrease in total reserves consisted of a decrease of £6.4m in unrestricted funds (to £26.7m), a decrease of £2.6m in restricted funds (to £25.5m) and a decrease of £0.1m in the value of endowments (to £5.4m).
The reduction in unrestricted funds comprised decreases in general reserves of £2.5m (see below) from £16.8m to £14.3m, £3.5m in designated reserves (including unrestricted funds held as fixed assets) from £16.0m to £12.5m, and £0.4m in the hedge reserve from £0.3m to negative £0.1m.
WWF-UK’s investment policy is to maintain the real value of our investments and to maximise income by way of a diversified portfolio consistent with the trustees’ legal powers and duties. This is underpinned by our socially responsible investment policy, which promotes the principles of sustainable development and improvements to the environment and is designed to ensure there is no exposure to investments that may be inconsistent with our mission and objectives. A large range of potential investments are excluded on this basis, including any investments in the fossil fuel industry, the extractives industry or the aviation sector, while also taking into account positive, socially responsible, environmental and governance investment criteria. All equity investments are screened to ensure the portfolio complies with our investment policy.
## GOING CONCERN
The financial forecasts for the next three years project that the organisation has sufficient cash and cash investments and reserves to continue to operate. The financial projections have been prepared on the basis of a number of scenarios so the organisation is prepared for different levels of potential impact with regards to the economic environment risks. Robust monitoring processes are in place to ensure the organisation is able to react quickly to any downturn in income and the free reserves of the organisation are held in cash and liquid investments in order that these may be liquidated quickly in the event that they are required. Accordingly, the trustees are of the opinion that it is appropriate for the financial statements to be prepared on a going concern basis.
The decrease in designated reserves is detailed in Note 21 to the accounts below. The decrease of £2.5m in general reserves can be summarised as follows:
## **Reserves**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
£m
**----- End of picture text -----**
|General reserves at 1 July 2022
Net expenditure in unrestricted funds
Decrease in designated reserve for fxed assets
Decrease in designated reserve for the Living Planet Centre
Decrease in programmes designated reserve
Decrease in designated reserve for Wild Isles
Increase in designated reserve for investments
General reserves at 30 June 2023|16.8
(6.0)
0.7
0.4
2.2
0.3
(0.1)|
|---|---|
||14.3|
WWF-UK’s reserves policy requires that general reserves are reviewed on at least an annual basis to ensure they are at an appropriate level and sufficient to protect programmatic expenditure in the short term from any sudden drop in income.
Applying the assumptions set out in the policy, we have reviewed the requirement for general reserves and decided to retain a range of between £12m and £16m (approximately 10 to 13 weeks of budgeted unrestricted funds expenditure).
The free reserves level at the end of the year was around the midpoint of the target range for free reserves. This was higher than had been initially planned for the year, as a result of actions taken to protect reserves levels due to increased economic volatility. This will give us scope in the coming year to invest in business transformation projects.
39
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
38 STRATEGIC REPORT
## PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES
The trustees are responsible for ensuring WWF-UK has a sound system of internal control to safeguard its assets and funds, and for ensuring its assets and funds are used only in furtherance of WWF-UK’s objectives. The system of internal control is intended to manage appropriately rather than eliminate risks and to give reasonable rather than absolute assurance.
The trustees exercise their responsibilities through their board meetings and the meetings of the committees of the board described on page 44. The system of internal control includes:
• Our FY22-FY24 strategy was approved by trustees and came into effect on 1 July 2021. The strategy covers the overall aims and objectives of the organisation and is used as a basis for annual planning, monthly progress reviews by the Executive Group and quarterly progress reviews by trustees.
• An operating model that ensures clear governance and decision-making at the right levels and emphasises the importance of programme and project management excellence. Key to the effectiveness of the operating model are the Goal Boards which ensure that projects are focused on our strategic goals and that decisions are made in line with the strategy. Goal Boards review project reports every month, through which they monitor delivery and financial performance, and manage risks and issues.
• The Strategic Delivery Group and the Restricted Funds Group. These forums sit above the Goal Boards and Goal Boards can escalate risks and issues to them. Among other responsibilities, these groups ensure there is adequate assessment and escalation of risk and focus on delivery of the strategy.
• Annual performance targets and delivery plans, with actual performance and finances monitored monthly against those plans.
• A risk management framework. Project level risks are managed by project managers. Strategic risks are managed by Goal Boards. The most serious strategic risks are captured on the organisational risk register. Risks are monitored monthly by Goal Boards, escalated as needed and formally reviewed on a quarterly basis by the Executive Group and the Audit Committee. At each quarterly review meeting, there is scrutiny of the top risks and of the controls in place, and further actions are identified where necessary. The top risks reported to the Executive Group and Audit Committee are summarised (right).
• An internal audit programme with findings, progress reviews and management actions, regularly reported to the Executive Group and the Audit Committee. Reporting includes internal audits of WWF programme offices carried out by WWF International and WWF-US.
• A scheme of delegation from the trustees to the chief executive and thereon to managers clearly defines the scope of authority delegated by the trustees and which matters are reserved to the board.
• Procedures to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of expenditure on conservation programmes and the achievement of outputs and outcomes.
• An environmental management system to ensure we monitor and manage our own impact on the environment. The system is audited by an independent assessor. We are committed to transparency by publishing annually our performance against the targets we set ourselves.
**Risk Mitigation Cyber** • All laptops have antivirus software and are managed centrally to deploy security updates. Critical cyber attack could take down our • Limited number of systems exposed to the internet, all filtered through systems, resulting in firewall access control lists. loss of sensitive data, • Admin accounts are protected with complex passwords, multi-factor GDPR breaches and/ authentication, and privileged identity management. or substantial business disruption, potential fines • Mandatory information security, cyber security and GDPR training for and reputational damage. all staff with periodic security reminders and announcements. • Data protection manager in post. GDPR policies and procedures in place. • Daily data back-ups and site recovery. **Delivery** • Providing funding to build capability in other WWF offices. There are many global • Liaising closely with other WWF offices to monitor local circumstances. risks that can hinder • Supporting WWF offices to strengthen staff safety policies and develop delivery of programmatic frameworks to support environmental defenders. work we are funding overseas (Covid, natural • Strong coalition-building approach with civil society and Indigenous disaster, civil unrest, peoples’ organisations. conflict, political • P lanning for different political scenarios. opposition). **Finance** • Robust high income and high growth income generation strategy portfolio approach. Not being able to meet income targets or • Emphasis on supporter engagement to build long-term loyalty. increasing costs, affecting • Regular monitoring of supporter attrition and recruitment targets. our ability to achieve our strategic objectives. • Monthly reporting on income and expenditure and quarterly review of projected out-turns for the year. • Integrated budgeting and planning processes. • Regular long-term financial planning to ensure the organisation’s longerterm plans are financially sustainable. • Regular review of the general reserves target range to ensure it is set at an appropriate level in light of the assessed risk to the various income streams. **People** • Diversifying recruitment; new sourcing pools and creative resourcing. The ability to attract, • A hybrid working arrangement that enables greater flexibility in working develop and retain practices and locations. talented, diverse people • Significant investment in leadership development, centred on values-based and to support their standards, to maximise employee engagement and performance. health and wellbeing, so that we maintain the • A focus on learning for all employees; building emotional intelligence, capability and capacity capability and confidence. to deliver impact for our • A comprehensive wellbeing strategy with holistic support provision, ambitious strategy. employee assistance and occupational health support.
41
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
40 STRATEGIC REPORT
## **Reputation**
Critical and sudden impact on reputation and brand leading to a significant and sharp reduction in fundraising and audience engagement.
## **Safeguarding**
- Incidents could affect individuals, communities we work with and colleagues in WWF and partner organisations.
## **Strategy**
There are many global risks that are difficult for WWF-UK to mitigate, including unpredictable political contexts in countries where we fund priority work, and insufficient global political ambition to address the biodiversity and climate crises.
- Established global values with localised behaviour frameworks.
- Adherence to WWF global network standards.
- Global whistleblowing and escalation framework, and local complaints policy.
- Due diligence processes in respect of our partners and suppliers.
- Continued progress in the review and improvement of the various operational and programmatic standards that are in place for the WWF network.
- Approval processes for external communications to ensure they are consistent with our brand and strategy.
- A robust Environmental and Social Safeguarding Framework across the WWF network, including a safeguards screening tool, a tiered mechanism for communities to raise complaints and grievances, and a global response protocol for escalating serious complaints. Mandatory training has been rolled out to all WWF staff and trustees. A global safeguards unit is responsible for implementing and maintaining the safeguards framework.
- A WWF network Conservation Quality Committee (CQC), with representation from WWF-UK, reviews and signs off on high-risk projects and landscape safeguards plans.
- WWF-UK has a Safeguarding Committee formed of a safeguarding director and two designated safeguarding leads, who are responsible for oversight of WWF-UK’s safeguarding framework, which includes safeguarding policies and processes for children and vulnerable adults. This committee is responsible to a member of the WWF Executive Group. There are two trustees with safeguarding experience on the board and a Lead Safeguarding Trustee has been appointed. For the conservation projects WWF-UK supports, safeguarding assessments are undertaken to ensure the views of local people are reflected in project planning, implementation and monitoring.
- Regular communication with our key partners in the network to keep a watching brief on risks and issues, leveraging our network to develop mitigations and advocacy actions.
- Regular review of WWF-UK portfolio versus strategic intent.
- Stakeholder mapping and relationship building with governments and influential organisations in key sectors.
## GOVERNANCE
## STRUCTURE
WWF-UK is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (Registration No. 1081247) and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (Registration No. SC039593). It is also a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (Registration No. 04016725). It was founded in 1961 and was formerly known as the World Wildlife Fund. Its objects and powers are set out in its Memorandum and Articles of Association. The objects of the charity remain as follows:
The promotion of conservation of the natural environment and the sustainable use of natural resources and ecological processes, to include without limitation, fauna and flora, water, soils and other natural resources.
The promotion of education in nature conservation, the natural environment and the sustainable use of natural resources.
The promotion and support of scientific and educational studies, research projects and publication of scientific and educational works.
WWF-UK’s commercial activities are undertaken by its wholly-owned trading subsidiary, WWF-UK (World Wide Fund for Nature) Trading Limited. All taxable profits are donated under Gift Aid to WWF-UK. WWF-UK (World Wide Fund for Nature) Trading Limited was incorporated as a company in 1966 to conduct trading activities in support of WWF-UK’s charitable objectives. The company is registered in England and Wales (Registration No. 00892812). The principal activities are the licensing of the WWF logo, lottery activity, retail activities and corporate sponsorships. Details of transactions between WWF-UK and its subsidiary are included in Notes 20 and 28 to the accounts.
## WWF NETWORK
WWF-UK is part of the WWF global environment network which is coordinated by WWF-World Wide Fund for Nature, a Swiss foundation, based in Gland, Switzerland. Tanya Steele is a member of the WWF Network Executive Team. Stephen Hay is a member of the Audit Committee of WWFWorld Wide Fund for Nature. Within the network we influence and support policy and programme priorities, working with our WWF colleagues worldwide to achieve our objectives. A large portion of our programmatic activity takes place overseas through local WWF offices and other partners we provide funding to. We adhere to the WWF network’s core standards and global values. In the UK, we run programmes alone or in partnership with funders and other complementary organisations. In addition, we undertake campaigning and advocacy activity to further our objectives. Details of transactions with related parties are included in Note 28 to the accounts.
43
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
42 TRUSTEES’ REPORT
## TRUSTEES
The board of trustees is the governing body for WWF-UK.
It comprises up to 15 unpaid trustees, as listed on page 86 (who are also the directors and members of WWF-UK for the purposes of company law). The board is responsible for setting policy, agreeing strategy, oversight of risk management and controls, monitoring performance and approving major commitments based on advice from senior management, and the appointment of the chief executive.
Day-to-day operations are delegated by the board to the chief executive, who leads the Executive Group.
The Articles of Association of WWF-UK provide that trustees may be appointed for two periods of up to three years at a time extendable up to a maximum of nine years, although in practice trustees usually serve for a maximum of six years. The chair of the WWF-UK board is appointed for a six-year term of office.
Each of the trustees is required to disclose actual or potential conflicts of interest to the chair and company secretary for inclusion on the trustee register of interests. None of the trustees receive any remuneration for their work as a trustee but may be reimbursed for reasonable expenses incurred in the course of their duties. The board adheres to the Charity Governance Code and conducts regular external assessments of its effectiveness.
The board has four principal committees: the Impact Goals Committee; the Finance and Business Committee; the Audit Committee; and the Nominations and Remuneration Committee. Membership of all these committees is detailed on page 86 of this report. The committees meet regularly and report back to the board on key topics discussed and any decisions taken.
The Impact Goals Committee advises the board of trustees on the current effectiveness and future strategic direction of WWF-UK’s global conservation programmes and advocacy and campaigns activities.
The Finance and Business Committee is responsible for providing advice and recommendations to the board on the financial management and strategic direction of the organisation, the monitoring of progress against targets and the oversight of the financial management and performance of the organisation. The committee has a sub-committee, the Investment (and Pensions) sub-committee, to assist its work principally around the organisation’s investments and pension provision.
The Audit Committee is responsible for exploring the significant risks to the organisation and evaluating the steps taken to minimise those risks including internal controls, risk management and compliance reporting (including safeguarding). It considers and evaluates the work of the internal and external auditors.
The Nominations and Remuneration Committee is responsible for undertaking the recruitment and selection process for trustees and for recommending new trustees to the board for approval and the remuneration of, and succession planning for, senior executives of WWF-UK.
A detailed skills and diversity audit of the board was conducted in August 2020 and updated in December 2021. This regular exercise informs the recruitment of new trustees to the board. Trustee positions are widely and openly advertised and searches carried out among a range of networks in order to attract a diverse range of candidates. A full equality impact report for new trustee recruitment is presented to the Nominations and Remuneration Committee. Four new trustees were appointed in October 2022: Professor Jos Barlow, Dr Rhian-Mari Thomas, Dr Jessica Omukuti and David Barnes (Treasurer). New trustees are provided with a mentor from the existing board to assist them in the transition to their new role. Each new trustee attends a series of induction sessions, where they learn about the organisation and the role and responsibilities of a trustee and meet the chief executive and members of the Executive Group. New trustees also receive an induction pack including Charity Commission guidance on The Essential Trustee; WWF-UK’s governing documents; and the most recent annual report and financial statements.
## STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES’ RESPONSIBILITIES
The trustees (who are also directors of WWF-UK for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees’ annual report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards).
Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under company law the trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and the group and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company and group for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- observe the methods and principles in the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP);
- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- state whether applicable UK accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business.
The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charitable company’s transactions, disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) and the provisions of the charity’s constitution.
They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and the group and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
## In so far as the trustees are aware:
- there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditor is unaware; and
- the trustees have taken all reasonable steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information.
The trustees are also responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
Members of the charity guarantee to contribute an amount not exceeding £10 to the assets of the charity in the event of winding up. The total number of such guarantees at 30 June 2023 was 14. The trustees are members of the charity but this entitles them only to voting rights. The trustees have no beneficial interest in the charity.
45
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
44 TRUSTEES’ REPORT
## S172(1) STATEMENT
The trustees are required to outline how they have met the requirements of s172(1) of the Companies Act 2006 in acting to promote the success of the charity to achieve its charitable purposes. This includes having regard to the likely long-term consequences of its decisions, interests of its stakeholders, employees, the impact of its operations on the wider community and the environment and the desirability of the charity maintaining a reputation for high standards of business conduct.
WWF-UK recognises it cannot achieve its mission on its own. Collaboration and working in partnership with its stakeholders are essential to tackle the triple challenges of meeting the dietary and other needs of up to 10 billion people, keeping global temperature rise below 1.5°C and reversing biodiversity loss. We consider all our actions against these long-term strategic goals as well as our more immediate three-year strategy.
Our supporters, including members of the public, donors, philanthropists and corporate partners, enable us to raise the funds we need to deliver our critical work. We also work closely with our suppliers to ensure that as an organisation we live up to the environmental principles we promote. We would not be able to achieve our mission without our dedicated staff. We set out below how WWF-UK engages with its different stakeholders, listens to their views and takes into account their interests in order to better achieve its charitable objectives.
## EMPLOYEES
At WWF-UK, we know the delivery of our mission relies on the work of our talented and motivated people. Our talent management approach includes the setting of clear leadership standards that reflect our core values, regular performance and development reviews (PDRs) and a suite of learning and development options. All this is designed to underpin our approach to work allocation, performance and development, ensuring that all our people have clear objectives against which they are measured. Work is scheduled in line with our strategic goals and desired outcomes, and our ways of working are aligned with our values and designed to create an inclusive culture. Individuals and line managers work together to ensure that career aspirations and development needs are identified and addressed.
The trustees and Executive Group encourage widespread consultation and exchange of information at all levels of the organisation. We have an active and influential Employee Forum which ensures our compliance with the requirements of the Information and Consultation (I&C) Regulations 2004.
In addition, the Executive Group leads weekly all-staff ‘Get Together’ sessions to inform staff about our work, share initiatives and planned changes, and celebrate and give recognition. We hold quarterly Town Hall meetings to allow staff to raise questions with the Executive Group. Our leaders and people managers meet regularly to share knowledge and best practice, to problem solve and discuss topical issues. We are committed to measuring employee engagement – we run regular surveys – and building and delivering on action plans to respond to employee feedback. We consult with colleagues on strategic and transformational change through focus groups and surveys.
We value diversity and appreciate difference and understand the benefits of an inclusive approach in which all colleagues can learn, contribute and challenge safely within the UK and across the world as part of our global network. Our inclusion agenda is informed and shaped by our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) champions and active network groups. Our new DE&I strategy commits to progress and delivery across 11 action areas that have been identified to create maximum impact.
## SUPPLIERS
WWF-UK’s procurement team works closely with key suppliers to ensure that supplies meet objectives and achieve good value for money while also fulfilling environmental and ethical sourcing practices.
WWF-UK continues to adhere to the ISO 20400 standard for sustainable procurement and continues to use a sustainable procurement questionnaire for sourcing our high value contracts, to assess the sustainability credentials and solutions proposed by the suppliers we engage.
The questionnaire is additional to an eco-questionnaire that is used to assess the products we purchase; it evaluates the supplier organisation as a whole, not just the delivery of goods or services for WWF-UK, and thus offers a holistic and responsible approach to procurement. The procurement team continues its efforts to reduce the cost of supply, develop the diversity and quality of our supply solutions and eliminate products and services from our supply chain that may be environmentally detrimental.
## CORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS AND PHILANTHROPIC DONORS
Building strong relationships and frequent communication is key to the success of our corporate partnerships. We conduct robust due diligence on new partners to ensure they meet our key criteria for partnership, including being committed to, or having, a Science Based Target validated at 1.5°C pathway by the Science Based Target initiative before entering into partnership. We also monitor risks to our existing partnerships. We create formal governance and decision-making structures and schedule regular meetings to allow for ongoing review of progress, feedback on partnership performance, and to provide a forum for discussing current and emerging issues.
We regularly conduct partnership reviews, often through third-party independent support, to stand back and assess the progress of our partnerships, identify challenges and opportunities, and ensure our partnerships are delivering the impact we need and expect. Private events/opportunities are also held for philanthropic donors to speak to or meet with key WWF-UK staff, to ask questions and discuss WWF’s work. Information is published in the IATI registry on the grants we receive from public sector donors.
## SUPPORTERS
Supporters are at the heart of our work and we regularly ask them for feedback on our work and the services we provide, to continually improve what we do. Supporter-facing teams continuously collect feedback, complaints, criticisms and compliments from supporters, and pass this feedback on to colleagues to improve our services and our fundraising campaigns.
Surveys and workshops are frequently conducted with our supporters to understand their motivations, and enable them to give feedback on services we provide and help us develop new ideas. We seek feedback on our campaign communications to make sure they are compelling and relevant for our supporters. We also regularly test new ideas and receive feedback from supporters on our fundraising products, so we can keep growing and optimising our portfolio in a way that inspires our supporters.
To ensure our supporters are empowered, use their talents and are supported, the movement building team has developed principles and ways of working that ensure each campaign we deliver provides space for new and existing supporters to engage in the most appropriate way.
## SCHOOLS AND YOUNG PEOPLE
Young people are growing up in an increasingly volatile and uncertain world, one impacted heavily by biodiversity loss, unsustainable food production and climate change. WWF has a key role to play in educating, supporting and inspiring young people to take action and use their voice to help bring our world back to life. Our work with and for young people is supported by our Youth Ambassadors, a group of diverse young people from across all nations of the UK. These young people come together to review our strategy, develop projects, campaigns and events that create real world impact, for people and planet. As part of _Wild Isles_ , our Youth Ambassadors collaborated with young people from the RSPB and the National Trust to create the Young Voices for Nature project, which supported hundreds of young people across the UK to develop their storytelling skills and use stories as a tool for change.
WWF works closely with partners in WWF network offices and environmental and education organisations to deliver programmes informed by evidence. Sustainable Futures is our free careers programme for schools and colleges across the UK that helps build public demand for action on climate change. The programme helps young people build sustainability knowledge, skills and experiences to thrive in an economy that is net zero and supports the recovery of nature, whatever their career choice. Guided by a youth advisory group, this year we worked with over 800 educators and hundreds of business volunteers to support young people to choose rewarding career pathways.
47
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
46 TRUSTEES’ REPORT
We have developed many new curriculum-linked primary and secondary school resources to accompany our Save Our Wild Isles campaign. These include classroom resources exploring the four habitats featured in the BBC TV series and hosting live webinars to thousands of school students featuring WWF experts and members of our education team. We also launched our ‘Schools for Nature’ campaign, galvanising support from across the environmental sector to encourage schools to take action for nature and celebrate their achievements within their communities. Over 2,000 schools took part and received a signed certificate from Sir David Attenborough.
## RECIPIENTS OF OUR FUNDING
WWF-UK is in regular communication with colleagues across our WWF network partner offices, coordinated through regional teams in Conservation Programmes. We enter into Partnership Agreements with key WWF offices, where we hold ourselves to account against a set of mutually agreed partnership principles which include trust, equity, shared goals, risks and accountability.
## LOCAL COMMUNITIES IMPACTED BY OUR CONSERVATION WORK
A strong framework for community involvement and safeguarding in our conservation work is in place across the whole WWF network. This includes a safeguards screening tool to identify risks and promote community engagement, a tiered mechanism for communities to raise complaints and grievances, and a global response protocol for escalating serious complaints. This is coupled with staff training, capacity building and strengthened guidance, including guidance on working with Indigenous peoples.
In order to embed this framework into the day-to-day approaches of all WWF offices, we have developed a thorough training course that challenges teams to give more time to planning and implementing projects and programmes explicitly in partnership with local communities. A WWF-UK safeguards expert has supported further training on how the formal safeguards process can be used to enable local communities to be involved in planning, implementation and monitoring.
As a result of our work on safeguards in general we see a greater focus on community consultation as part of planning, so their input is informing programme design and implementation. For example, in Nepal, as the government of Nepal has no established policies or procedures for Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC), WWF partnered with the National Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities (NFDIN) to develop government guidelines on FPIC and is working on an FPIC roll-out in province-level project sites, raising awareness, and sensitising partners on the FPIC government guidelines. Recognising that improving our practice takes time, WWF-UK continues to set aside additional funds for direct support to other WWF offices on working with local communities and Indigenous peoples.
## OTHER NGOS WWF-UK WORKS WITH
WWF-UK has worked in close partnership with both the RSPB and the National Trust to develop and deliver Save Our Wild Isles, a broad public engagement campaign for the restoration of UK nature around the BBC TV series _Wild Isles_ , broadcast in March. Having invested in the series, as co-producers, alongside the RSPB, the Open University and the BBC, we used both the profile and the content of the series to reach wide audiences and mobilise them to take action for nature.
Incorporating added support from the National Trust, we collaborated on public engagement, communications, mobilisation, private sector advocacy and political influencing, with shared funds, governance and stakeholder management.
The Save Our Wild Isles programme included the creation of a People’s Assembly for Nature, and its publication of a People’s Plan for Nature, in March, to coincide with the series. Although commissioned jointly by the three charities, the Assembly is an independent body, with its own supervisory committee, including representatives from other environmental groups. Among its outcomes, the People’s Plan inspired related citizens’ engagement models around food and diet, led by the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission. To amplify Save Our Wild Isles, WWF partnered with Art Fund to deliver the Wild Escape, a participatory project to create the largest ever artwork created by children.
WWF-UK is a leading member of various coalitions that work closely together on policy, advocacy and campaigning in and beyond the UK.
The Climate Coalition and its equivalents in the other nations of the UK bring together hundreds of organisations of all sizes to campaign on engaging ever more people to raise their voices on climate action.
The Wildlife and Countryside LINK and its sister LINK organisations in the other nations of the UK bring together hundreds of organisations to work collectively for the protection of nature.
The Bond network connects 400 UK-based organisations with a worldwide presence, working on international development, including the interconnections between protecting the environment and supporting sustainable development.
Beyond the UK, the WWF network also works as a core part of the Climate Action Network (CAN) – a worldwide network of over 1,300 NGOs in more than 130 countries. In the UK, WWF is part of CAN-UK, the UK node of CAN.
This year, WWF-UK continued to be an active member of the Warm This Winter coalition – bringing together anti-poverty and environmental organisations to jointly campaign for practical solutions that tackle the cost of living crisis in an environmentally sustainable way.
In all these cases, WWF is a leading voice in forming, shaping, resourcing and delivering policy, advocacy and campaigning, in collaboration with many others, to make us more than the sum of our parts. All these coalitions work hard to evaluate and learn from our work, and ensure we continue to develop and grow and become more effective on these critical issues.
## ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
In carrying out our mission to safeguard the natural world by building a future in which people and nature thrive together, we seek to minimise the environmental impact of our activities. As an environmental charity, it’s vital to us that we reduce these impacts to a minimum. To achieve this, we have an Environmental Management System in place, and maintain certification to ISO 14001 – an internationally recognised and independently audited environmental standard that is awarded only after rigorous appraisal. Our certification recognises a commitment to environmental excellence and involves a process of continuous monitoring and targeted improvement.
Our largest impacts relate to business travel, working from home, producing our communications and fundraising materials, and electricity consumption in our offices.
To manage our travel, we have a Sustainable Travel Policy and a carbon budgeting and tracking process for air travel. Our Paper, Timber and Print Purchasing Policy stipulates criteria for sustainable paper and timber products and for the printing process. We closely monitor all paper and timber products purchased by WWF-UK. We monitor our electricity use in all office locations, and compare the energy used at the Living Planet Centre to the Better Building Partnership good practice benchmark for offices. Other environmental impacts we target, monitor and work to improve include procurement, single-use plastics, water, waste and recycling.
We have a set of detailed environmental goals which include a science-based target consistent with a 1.5°C level of global warming, to reduce our carbon emissions from all activities by 46.2% by 2030, using the year ended 30 June 2019 as a baseline. We have also put in place processes to ensure no avoidable single-use plastic is used in our products, operations and supply chain.
You can find our full annual sustainability report, environmental policy and environmental goals on our website.
49
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
48 TRUSTEES’ REPORT
## STREAMLINED ENERGY AND CARBON REPORTING
The following data has been externally verified by EnviroSense Consulting Ltd.
Our _Sustainability Report_ for July 2022 to June 2023 will be available in December 2023. WWF-UK does not have Scope 1 emissions.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Current performance Past performance
FY23 (2022-23) FY22 (2021-22)
Energy consumption used to England – 570,649 England – 572,564
calculate emissions – electricity Scotland – 11,475 Scotland – 8,635
(kWh)
Wales – 6,406 Wales – 5,401
Emissions from combustion of England – 118.2 England – 121.6
purchased electricity (Scope 2) Scotland – 0 Scotland – 0
(tonnes CO2e)
Wales – 1.3 Wales – 1.1
Total gross Scope 2 emissions 119 123
(tonnes CO2e)
Intensity ratio for the above 0.25 0.30
gross emissions (Scope 2)
Intensity ratio: tonnes CO2e per
full-time equivalent staff
Emissions from reimbursed 5.6 2.3
business travel in rental cars
or employee-owned vehicles
(Scope 3) (tonnes CO2e)
Emissions from other business 250.5 56.7
travel including air, rail and road
(Scope 3) (tonnes CO2e)
Methodology: GHG Reporting Protocol – Corporate Standard
Electricity emissions reduction • Review of monthly Building Management System
actions taken in FY22 and meter readings, enabling areas of high use to be
identified and settings altered in all three offices.
• All new technology and appliances reviewed for energy
performance to ensure usage remains low.
• Upgrade of printer estate across our offices, to low-
energy models, and removal of one printer.
**----- End of picture text -----**
## CHARITY GOVERNANCE CODE
WWF-UK continues to adhere to the Charity Governance Code.
In line with the Charity Governance Code, we conduct an external review of the board every three years. Our last review was in 2021 and the next one will take place in 2024. Governance is also reviewed on an annual basis as part of the end of year assurance process.
## GRANT-MAKING POLICY
At WWF-UK we make grants in line with our charitable and strategic objectives, to partners in the WWF network and other conservation organisations. We assess partners and programmes for their ability to deliver outcomes and uphold our social and environmental values. Many grants are made to long-running conservation programmes, the outcomes of which are reviewed at regular periods. All grants are subject to specific agreements with partners which define the policies, standards and practices they are required to adhere to, including social policies and safeguards.
All our WWF network offices have sub-grantees who co-implement parts of many projects and programmes. During the last year, WWF-UK has continued its work on due diligence. This work includes documenting and tracking alignment to WWF’s policies, standards and practices across WWF offices and sub-grantees. In this way we seek to ensure that the whole funding chain is adhering to WWF good practices.
## PUBLIC BENEFIT
WWF-UK promotes education in nature conservation, the natural environment and the sustainable use of natural resources and ecological processes. Our beneficiaries are the general public.
We conserve natural resources and ecosystems because we know the health and biodiversity of our environment is inextricably linked to people’s wellbeing, both in the short and long term. We campaign to limit climate change to protect people from the impacts which the warming of our planet is already bringing, such as extreme weather events, rising sea levels and adverse effects on food production. We promote and support scientific and educational studies, research and projects and publication of scientific and educational works in order to raise public awareness of environmental issues and enhance the effectiveness of our work.
In continuing to review our charitable objectives and as part of planning our future programme of work, the trustees of WWF-UK have taken account of the Charity Commission’s published guidance on the Public Benefit requirement under the Charities Act 2011 and have considered how our planned programme of work will contribute consistently to the charity’s aims and objectives for the benefit of the general public.
## FUNDRAISING STANDARDS AND APPROACH
We continue to be members of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising (CIOF) and the Fundraising Regulator, and champion and adhere to the excellent standards set out by the Code of Fundraising in all areas of our fundraising. We are committed to the Fundraising Regulator’s Fundraising Promise, and continually strive to ensure our fundraising is open, honest, legal and respectful.
In order to raise funds and awareness of our work cost-effectively and allow supporters to get involved in ways that suit them, we rely on a variety of different activities, including: private site and door-todoor fundraising, telephone campaigns, letters and emails, television, digital and press advertising; from legacies, events and community fundraising; and from philanthropists, trusts, foundations, public sector bodies and corporate partners.
We work with professional fundraising agency partners, along with our in-house fundraising teams, to speak to potential and existing supporters, both face to face and over the telephone. Emphasis has been placed on growing our face-to-face fundraising and ensuring the best experience for members of the public. As a result of these conversations, many are inspired to start a regular committed gift, generating significant income to support our conservation work. We require any professional fundraising agencies working on our behalf to adhere to our fundraising standards and this is enshrined in our contracts with them.
We also work with a number of strategic corporate partners who support our work through financial and non-financial donations, as well as employee and customer fundraising. Our material strategic corporate partnerships are subject to due diligence in line with our Gift Acceptance, Refusal and Return Policy and reviewed by the Restricted Funds Group and appropriate Goal Boards to ensure effective oversight.
51
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
50 TRUSTEES’ REPORT
## **Monitoring of fundraising activities and protecting people in vulnerable circumstances**
We have processes in place, endorsed by our board of trustees, which govern our fundraising activities. In addition, we have comprehensive compliance and quality control frameworks that we use to monitor adherence to the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), the behaviour of agencies, their staff and our in-house teams and fundraisers, and the conversations they have on our behalf, with both supporters and members of the public. This includes thorough due diligence and audit, regular training sessions, shadowing and mystery shopping, site visits, call listening, quality control calls and monitoring of outcomes, thorough complaints investigations, and remedial actions. Our aim is to ensure our supporters feel informed, appreciated and inspired by all interaction we have with them.
We are committed to ensuring we treat the public with sensitivity and respect at all times, taking special care to protect people who may find themselves in vulnerable circumstances. Our fundraiser training, regularly delivered to external agencies as well as in-house fundraisers and supporter-facing teams contains a section designed to ensure they are aware of the signs of potential vulnerability, and how to respond appropriately.
This approach is in line with the requirements of the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016, the CIOF’s Treating Donors Fairly Guidance, and the Direct Marketing Association’s Guidelines for Dealing with Vulnerable Consumers. This year we have also reviewed and updated our Vulnerable Supporters Policy and supporting practices.
## **Complaints**
In 2023, we consolidated and further embedded our complaints policy and process within the organisation. For the financial year ending 30 June 2023, we received 125 complaints (2022: 56) from members of the public about our fundraising activities.
We have chosen to report those where: we were approached by someone to raise a concern about our fundraising activities; there has been a potential breach or a lapse in standards in relation to our fundraising; an investigation has been instigated; or where we have received an expression of dissatisfaction relating to our use of specific fundraising methods. We have nothing to report in respect of failures and/or breaches, which we have taken to include complaints or breaches referred to, and upheld by, either the Information Commissioner’s Office or the Fundraising Regulator.
## REMUNERATION PHILOSOPHY, PRINCIPLES AND POLICY
The Nominations and Remuneration Committee of our board of trustees determines the chief executive’s salary and reviews this each year, with an approach that aligns with the principles set for the organisation’s pay policy. This committee also approves annual recommendations made by the chief executive on any changes to the executive directors’ salaries and benefits. The chief executive attends the committee, but is not present when their own remuneration is being discussed.
Reward and recognition at WWF-UK reflects the impact we all have on our objectives and our culture in a way that nurtures talent, is sustainable, and considers all aspects of what it means to work for the organisation. Our principles are about being fair, purpose driven, taking a holistic approach and being forward looking. Our reward policy is designed to be inclusive and transparent and to enable the attraction and retention of talent in our organisation.
Full pay equality impact assessments are conducted before each appointment, and specific attention is given to gender and ethnicity pay, so we can continue to reduce our pay gaps. Our organisation is accredited by the Living Wage Foundation, and we are committed to never paying our employees less than the real living wage.
The organisation typically reviews pay annually, and the approved budget for any pay increases for executives aligns with that for the whole organisation. The annual pay award is informed by the cost of living, market pay movements and affordability.
We continue to develop our reward and recognition programmes to enable greater engagement and motivation of colleagues, to reflect the impact of our work and to enhance our value proposition.
## GENDER AND ETHNICITY PAY GAPS
Some 71% of WWF-UK staff are female. WWF-UK first published gender pay gap data as at April 2017 and reported a mean gender pay gap of 18.2% (median 16.8%). The latest published mean gender pay gap, for April 2022, was 8.0% (median 10.7%). Our median gender pay gap continues to reduce and in our latest data, for April 2023, we will be reporting a mean gender pay gap of 9.0% (median 9.8%).
A total of 11% of WWF-UK staff identify as people of colour. WWF-UK formally reported on its ethnicity pay gaps for the first time in April 2023, on a voluntary basis. We continue to improve the collection and quality of our diversity data and are tracking and monitoring pay across the various race groupings, considering intersectional data too. Our mean ethnicity pay gap for April 2022 was 8.3% and the median was 2.9%. For April 2023, we will report a mean ethnicity pay gap of 8.9% and a median of 10.0%.
Understanding the drivers for and reducing the scale of all pay gaps are key metrics for our organisational performance and we are committed to organise, select, recruit, reward and develop all staff on equitable and inclusive terms, taking positive action as needed to achieve equity. The 2023 data will be reported in March 2024, together with a full analysis and action plan.
## INTERNAL AUDIT STATEMENT
Our internal audit team has assessed that the adequacy and effectiveness of the organisation’s framework of governance, risk management and internal controls for the financial year ending 30 June 2023 provides reasonable assurance to support achievement of the organisation’s objectives.
The trustees’ report and strategic report were approved by the board of trustees on 19 October 2023 and were signed on their behalf by:
**Dave Lewis**
Chair of the board of trustees
Our senior executive team is remunerated in line with all staff in the organisation and receives the same benefits package. All posts within the organisation are evaluated using Mercer’s job evaluation framework and pay is typically set within a pay range around the median of the marketplace for similar roles in comparable organisations, which include large UK charitable organisations of similar size and complexity to WWF-UK.
Individuals are recruited through a competitive process and appointed within the appropriate pay range for the post, depending on skills and competencies and evidence of behaviours being aligned with our core values.
53
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
52 TRUSTEES’ REPORT
## INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS AND TRUSTEES OF WWF-UK
## OPINION
We have audited the financial statements of WWF-UK (‘the charitable company’) and its subsidiaries (‘the group’) for the year ended 30 June 2023 which comprise the Group Statement of Financial Activities, the Group and Company balance sheets, the Group Statement of Cash Flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion the financial statements:
• give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and the charitable company’s affairs as at 30 June 2023 and of the group’s income and expenditure, for the year then ended;
- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
• have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and Regulations 6 and 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (amended).
## BASIS FOR OPINION
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the group in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
## CONCLUSIONS RELATING TO GOING CONCERN
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company’s or the group’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least 12 months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
## OTHER INFORMATION
The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.
Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
## OPINIONS ON OTHER MATTERS PRESCRIBED BY THE COMPANIES ACT 2006
In our opinion based on the work undertaken in the course of our audit:
• the information given in the trustees’ report, which includes the directors’ report and the strategic report prepared for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
- the strategic report and the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
## MATTERS ON WHICH WE ARE REQUIRED TO REPORT BY EXCEPTION
In light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and charitable company and their environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the strategic report or the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report.
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
- adequate and proper accounting records have not been kept; or
- the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
- certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
- we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
## RESPONSIBILITIES OF TRUSTEES
As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 45, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
54
55
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
## AUDITOR’S RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE AUDIT OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
We have been appointed as auditor under section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and under the Companies Act 2006 and report in accordance with the Acts and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Details of the extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations are set out below.
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.
## EXTENT TO WHICH THE AUDIT WAS CONSIDERED CAPABLE OF DETECTING IRREGULARITIES, INCLUDING FRAUD
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We identified and assessed the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements from irregularities, whether due to fraud or error, and discussed these between our audit team members. We then designed and performed audit procedures responsive to those risks, including obtaining audit evidence sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks within which the charitable company and group operates, focusing on those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The laws and regulations we considered in this context were the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act 2011 and The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, together with the Charities SORP (FRS 102). We assessed the required compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our audit procedures on the related financial statement items.
Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. For example, the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations (irregularities) is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely the inherently limited procedures required by auditing standards would identify it. In addition, as with any audit, there remained a higher risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing noncompliance and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations.
## USE OF OUR REPORT
This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006, and to the charitable company’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Regulation 10 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body and the charitable company’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
## **Nicola May**
Senior Statutory Auditor For and on behalf of Crowe U.K. LLP Statutory Auditor London 11 January 2024
In addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations that do not have a direct effect on the financial statements but compliance with which might be fundamental to the charitable company’s and the group’s ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty. We also considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the charitable company and the group for fraud. The laws and regulations we considered in this context for the UK operations were General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), anti-fraud, bribery and corruption legislation, taxation legislation and employment legislation.
Auditing standards limit the required audit procedures to identify non-compliance with these laws and regulations to enquiry of the Trustees and other management and inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.
We identified the greatest risk of material impact on the financial statements from irregularities, including fraud, to be within the timing of recognition of income, end use of funds including funds granted to partner organisations and the override of controls by management. Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included enquiries of management, internal audit, and the Audit Committee about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, sample testing on the posting of journals, analytical review and sample testing of income, sample testing and review of grants made to partner organisations, reviewing accounting estimates for biases, reviewing regulatory correspondence with the Charity Commission, and reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.
56
57
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
## CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES
(incorporating income and expenditure account) for the year ended 30 June 2023
||Unrestricted
funds
Restricted and
endowment
funds
**Total**
**2023**
Total
2022|
|---|---|
|Notes|£’000
£’000
**£’000**
£’000|
|**Income and endowments from:**||
|**Donations and legacies**||
|Membership and donations from individuals
Corporate donations
Charitable trusts
Legacies
Gifts in kind
25|27,658
13,285
**40,943**
43,872
1,527
8,406
**9,933**
11,123
3,310
6,375
**9,685**
8,640
15,952
1,428
**17,380**
15,352
717
-
**717**
167|
||49,164
29,494
**78,658**
79,154|
|**Charitable activities**||
|Aid agencies and government grants
4
Corporate income
Income from non-governmental organisations|-
3,833
**3,833**
1,795
-
486
**486**
271
177
2,101
**2,278**
2,385|
||177
6,420
**6,597**
4,451|
|**Other trading activities**||
|Corporate income
Lottery promotions
Other trading income|613
5,629
**6,242**
5,461
682
-
**682**
348
606
87
**693**
954|
||1,901
5,716
**7,617**
6,763|
|**Investment income**
3|1,003
161
**1,164**
669|
|**Total income**
**Expenditure on:**|**52,245**
**41,791**
**94,036**
91,037|
|||
|**Raising funds**||
|Costs of raising voluntary income
Investment management fees
**Total expenditure on raising funds**
6
Reorganisation costs
6
**Total expenditure on raising funds**
**and reorganisation costs**
6
**Net income available for charitable activities**|18,163
5,502
**23,665**
22,618
186
47
**233**
222|
||**18,349**
**5,549**
**23,898**
22,840
27
7
**34**
157|
||**18,376**
**5,556**
**23,932**
22,997|
||**33,869**
**36,235**
**70,104**
68,040|
Consolidated statement of financial activities for the year ended 30 June 2023 continued
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Restricted and
Unrestricted endowment Total Total
funds funds 2023 2022
Notes £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Total expenditure on raising funds and reorganisation 6 18,376 5,556 23,932 22,997
costs brought forward
Charitable activities
**----- End of picture text -----**
|Charitable activities
5,6
Gifts in kind
25
**Total expenditure on charitable activities**
**Total expenditure**
**Net expenditure before losses on investments**
Net loss on investments
**Net expenditure**
Fair value movements on cash fow hedges
**Net movement in funds**
Total funds brought forward
21
**Total funds carried forward**
21|39,572
38,910
**78,482**
69,133
-
-
-
10|
|---|---|
||**39,572**
**38,910**
**78,482**
69,143|
|||
||**57,948**
**44,466**
**102,414**
92,140|
||**(5,703)**
**(2,675)**
**(8,378)**
(1,103)
(274)
(72)
**(346)**
(1,103)|
||**(5,977)**
**(2,747)**
**(8,724)**
(2,206)
(405)
-
**(405)**
83|
||**(6,382)**
**(2,747)**
**(9,129)**
(2,123)
33,080
33,643
**66,723**
68,846|
||**26,698**
**30,896**
**57,594**
66,723|
There are no recognised gains or losses in the current or preceding financial year other than as shown in the statement of financial activities.
All activities derive from continuing operations.
58
59
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
## CONSOLIDATED AND CHARITY BALANCE SHEET AS AT 30 JUNE 2023
||**_Group_**
**2023**
_Group_
2022
**_Charity_**
**2023**
_Charity_
2022|
|---|---|
|Notes|**£’000**
£’000
**£’000**
£’000|
|**Fixed assets**
Intangible assets
11
Tangible assets
12
Investments
13
**Total fxed assets**|**157**
675
**157**
675
**12,556**
13,372
**12,556**
13,372
**26,940**
26,486
**26,940**
26,486|
||**39,653**
40,533
**39,653**
40,533|
|||
|**Current assets**||
|Stocks
14
Debtors
15
Investments
16
Cash at bank and in hand
**Total current assets**|**1,171**
1,080
**729**
714
**5,074**
5,291
**6,314**
6,318
**232**
3,345
**232**
3,345
**22,221**
27,606
**18,568**
24,703|
||**28,698**
37,322
**25,843**
35,080|
|||
|**Current liabilities**||
|Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
17|**(10,757)**
(11,132)
**(7,908)**
(8,896)|
|||
|**Net current assets**|**17,941**
26,190
**17,935**
26,184|
|**Net assets**||
||**57,594**
66,723
**57,588**
66,717|
|||
|**The funds of the charity:**||
|**Unrestricted funds:**
General reserves
21
Hedge reserve
21
Designated reserves
21
Total unrestricted funds
**Endowment funds**
21
**Restricted funds**
21
**Total funds**|**14,300**
16,827
**14,294**
16,821
**(100)**
305
**(100)**
305
**12,498**
15,948
**12,498**
15,948|
||**26,698**
33,080
**26,692**
33,074
**5,449**
5,568
**5,449**
5,568
**25,447**
28,075
**25,447**
28,075|
||**57,594**
66,723
**57,588**
66,717|
The net movement in funds for the financial year dealt with in the financial statements of the parent charity was negative £9,129,000 (2022: negative £2,123,000).
## CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2023
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2023 2022
£’000 £’000
Cash flows from operating activities:
Net cash (used by)/provided by operating activities (8,532) 1,259
Cash flows from investing activities:
Dividends and interest from investments 1,164 669
Proceeds from the sale of property, plant and equipment 17 -
Purchase of property, plant and equipment (347) (149)
Proceeds from the sale of investments 3,615 5,428
Purchase of investments (4,525) (6,542)
Decrease in cash held for fixed asset investments 110 489
Decrease/(increase) in cash held for current asset investments 3,113 (9)
Net cash provided by/(used in) investing activities 3,147 (114)
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period (5,385) 1,145
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the reporting period 27,606 26,461
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting period 22,221 27,606
Reconciliation of net expenditure to the net cash flow from operating activities
Net expenditure for the reporting period (as per the statement of financial activities) (8,724) (2,206)
Depreciation charges 1,411 1,621
Loss on investments 346 1,103
Dividends and interest from investments (1,164) (669)
Gain on the disposal of fixed assets (17) -
(Increase) in stocks (91) (286)
(Increase)/Decrease in debtors (80) 1,157
(Decrease)/Increase in creditors (213) 539
Net cash (used by)/provided by operating activities (8,532) 1,259
Analysis of cash and cash equivalents
Cash in hand 22,221 27,606
Total cash and cash equivalents 22,221 27,606
**----- End of picture text -----**
The financial statements were approved by the trustees on 19 October 2023 and signed on their behalf by:
## **Dave Lewis**
Chair of the board of trustees
60
61
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
## NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS
## **Fund accounting**
## **• Unrestricted funds**
These funds can be used at trustees’ discretion in furtherance of the charity’s objectives.
## **• Designated funds**
Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside for particular purposes by the trustees. The aim and use for each designated fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.
## 1. CHARITY INFORMATION
WWF-UK is a registered charity (No. 1081247 and SC039593) which is incorporated and domiciled in the UK. The address of the registered office is The Living Planet Centre, Rufford House, Brewery Road, Woking, Surrey GU21 4LL.
## 2. ACCOUNTING POLICIES
## **Basis of preparation**
The accounts have been prepared under the historical cost convention, with the exception of listed investments and forward currency contracts which are included on a market value basis. The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 2006, Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (‘the SORP’), FRS 102: The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (‘FRS 102’), the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 and the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and applicable United Kingdom accounting standards.
The particular accounting policies adopted by the trustees are described below.
WWF-UK constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102 and detailed on page 51.
## **Going concern**
As explained in the Trustees’ Report, as per financial and cash flow projections, WWF-UK has sufficient cash and cash investments and reserves to continue to operate in all foreseeable circumstances. Accordingly, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources and are of the view that there are no material uncertainties about the charity’s ability to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. The accounts have therefore been prepared on the basis that the charity is a going concern.
## **• Restricted funds**
These funds have been raised by WWF-UK for particular restricted purposes and include funds with specific project-related restrictions imposed by the donors as well as funds where the donor has specified a broad restriction, but not the specific projects to be funded. WWF-UK acts as a custodian of these funds and consequently they are not available for general use.
## **• Endowment funds**
These funds are held permanently by the trustees on behalf of WWF-UK and provide income that can be used for any of the charity’s purposes.
## **Income**
Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement, receipt is probable, and the amount can be reliably measured. Where income is received in advance of providing goods or services, it is deferred until the charity becomes entitled to the income.
Membership income and other donations from individuals and income from lotteries are recognised when received.
Legacies: residuary legacy income is recognised when received or, if earlier, when estate accounts are agreed. Pecuniary legacy income is recognised when notified.
Lottery income: WWF-UK operates a separate weekly lottery. Income received in respect of these lotteries is recognised when the draws are made. Income received in advance for future lottery draws is deferred until the draw takes place.
Other income, including grant income, is recognised on an accruals basis when the charity becomes entitled to the resource.
Income from investments is included gross of tax and fees.
## **Basis of consolidation**
The statement of financial activities (SOFA) and balance sheet consolidate the financial statements of the charity and its subsidiary undertaking. The results of the subsidiary are consolidated on a line by line basis.
No separate SOFA has been presented for the charity alone, as permitted by Section 408 of the Companies Act 2006. The charity has taken advantage of the exemptions in FRS 102 from the requirements to present a charity only Cash Flow Statement and certain disclosures about the charity’s financial instruments.
Gifts in kind are included at current market value where their value is ascertainable and material, with an adjustment based on the estimated worth to the charity.
## **Expenditure**
All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to a particular heading, they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of the resource.
The analysis of charitable activities in Note 6 reflects the priority activities set out in the strategy.
Costs of raising funds are primarily those incurred in seeking voluntary contributions and other income.
In line with WWF-UK’s strategic objectives, grants are made to partners in the WWF network and to other conservation organisations. These grants are performance-related, with mid-term reviews. Although future years funding is indicated, the binding commitment is for annual funding only. The full commitment of the grant is stated in Note 26.
Governance costs relate to compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements and have been included as support costs together with management and finance costs, HR costs, IT costs and premises and facilities costs.
62
63
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
## **Foreign currencies**
Transactions in foreign currencies are recorded either at the rate of exchange on the date of the transaction or, in the case of expenditure at the rate at which corresponding foreign currency income was recorded. Foreign currency balances have been translated at the rates of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date.
## **Financial instruments**
WWF-UK has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at the present value of future cash flows (amortised cost). Financial assets held at amortised cost comprise current asset investments, cash at bank and in hand, and the group’s debtors, excluding prepayments. Financial liabilities held at amortised cost comprise the group’s creditors excluding deferred income. No discounting has been applied to these financial instruments on the basis that the periods over which amounts will be settled are such that any discounting would be immaterial.
Investments, including bonds and cash held as part of the investment portfolio, are held at fair value at the balance sheet date, with gains and losses being recognised within income and expenditure.
Investments in subsidiary undertakings are held at cost less impairment.
WWF-UK enters into forward foreign currency contracts that do not qualify as basic financial instruments. These are held at fair value at the balance sheet date. Where hedging relationships are documented, they are accounted for using hedge accounting. Where the hedging relationship cannot be clearly documented, changes in fair value are recorded against the planned expenditure for the purchased currency.
## **Hedge accounting**
WWF-UK enters into forward foreign currency contracts to hedge currency exposure on certain future expenditure. These are designated as hedging instruments in cash flow hedges. At the inception of the hedge relationship, the entity documents the economic relationship between the hedging instrument and the hedged item, along with its risk management objectives and clear identification of the risk in the item that is being hedged by the hedging instrument. Furthermore, at the inception of the hedge, the Group determines and documents causes for hedge ineffectiveness. Note 19 sets out details of the fair values of the derivative instruments used for hedging purposes.
The effective portion of changes in the fair value of derivatives that are designated and qualify as cash flow hedges is recognised in fair value movements on cash flow hedges. The gain or loss relating to the ineffective portion is recognised immediately in profit or loss. Amounts previously recognised in fair value movements on cash flow hedges and accumulated in equity are reclassified to profit or loss in the periods in which the hedged item affects profit or loss or when the hedging relationship ends.
Hedge accounting is discontinued when the Group revokes the hedging relationship, the hedging instrument expires or is sold, terminated or exercised, or no longer qualifies for hedge accounting. Any gain or loss accumulated in equity at that time is reclassified to profit or loss when the hedged item is recognised in profit or loss. When a forecast transaction is no longer expected to occur, any gain or loss that was recognised in fair value movement on cash flow hedges is reclassified immediately to profit or loss.
## **Intangible assets**
Intangible fixed assets are stated at cost, net of amortisation and any provision for impairment.
Amortisation is calculated to write off the cost of intangible fixed assets by equal annual instalments over their expected useful lives as follows:
All intangible assets are reviewed for any indication of impairment and, where impairment is indicated, the value of the asset is reduced to reflect the estimated recoverable value.
Intangible fixed assets costing £3,000 or more, and where it is probable they will create future economic benefit, are capitalised.
## **Tangible fixed assets and depreciation**
Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost, net of depreciation and any provision for impairment.
Depreciation is calculated to write off the cost of tangible fixed assets by equal annual instalments over their expected useful lives as follows:
Freehold buildings
15 to 60 years over the expected remaining life of the asset on a straight-line basis
Office furniture 8 years on a straight-line basis Equipment 3 to 5 years on a straight-line basis Leasehold improvement 3 to 10 years over the remaining life of the lease on a straight-line basis
All tangible fixed assets costing £3,000 or more are capitalised.
## **Investments**
Investments are stated at market value.
The statement of financial activities includes the net gains or losses arising from revaluations and disposals of investment assets during the year.
## **Stock**
Stock is valued at the lower of cost and net realisable value.
## **Debtors**
Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.
## **Current asset investments**
Current asset investments are bank balances held on deposit and are not available for immediate access. They have a maturity of one year or less.
## **Creditors**
Creditors are recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.
## **Provisions**
Provisions are recognised when the charity has a present legal or constructive obligation as a result of past events, it is probable that an outflow of resources will be required to settle the obligation, and the amount can be estimated reliably. Provisions are measured at the present value of the expenditure expected to be required to settle the obligation.
## **Operating leases**
Rental costs under operating leases are charged to the statement of financial activities in equal amounts over the periods of the leases, even if the payments are not made on such a basis. Benefits received and receivable as an incentive to sign an operating lease are, similarly, spread on a straightline basis over the lease term.
Contacts database system 7 years on a straight-line basis Other software 5 years on a straight-line basis Other intangible asset 3 years on a reducing balance basis
Amortisation is not charged on assets in the course of construction until they are complete and in use.
64
65
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
## **Pensions**
WWF-UK administers a group personal pension plan through Aviva which is also a defined contribution scheme. Payments made by the charity on behalf of individual employees are charged to the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities as incurred.
## **Significant areas of estimation and judgement**
The preparation of the financial statements requires judgements, estimations and assumptions to be made that affect the reported values of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses. The nature of estimation and judgement means that actual outcomes could differ from expectation. Significant areas of estimation and judgement include:
||**2023**
2022|
|---|---|
||**£’000**
£’000|
|||
|**United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)**||
|Sustainable blue economy fnance principles
Small scale funding agreement
**Total aid agencies and government grants**|-
37
-
30|
||**3,833**
**1,795**|
*does not include institutional funding coming via a third party or WWF network office.
- Accrued legacy income is estimated based on the best information available at the balance sheet date.
- Gifts in kind are recorded at market value and are adjusted to take into account the value to the charity.
- Intangible assets are stated net of any impairment provision.
## 3. INVESTMENT INCOME
|3. INVESTMENT INCOME||
|---|---|
||**2023**
2022|
||**£’000**
£’000|
|Dividends and fxed interest
Bank interest|**819**
643
**345**
26|
||**1,164**
669|
## 4. AID AGENCIES AND GOVERNMENT GRANTS*
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2023 2022
£’000 £’000
Major grants from aid agencies and governments include funds from:
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)
Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions 1,011 291
Water Resource Accountability in Pakistan 862 448
Land for Life – Securing livelihoods and empowering vulnerable Maasai communities while recovering wildlife in critical corridors in Kenya and Tanzania 565 -
Strengthened multilateral engagement and collaboration with China’s timber and palm oil supply chains to 451 638
reduce deforestation and forest degradation in Gabon, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea
CDC water risk filter 90 85
Pakistan early warning forest fire detection system 10 -
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
Community-led fisheries management in the Mara Wetlands, Tanzania 212 -
Reducing IWT through community-led conservation in a transboundary landscape 196 111
Closing the evidence gap on the role of community rangers 101 -
Sound Of Safety: testing pingers for river dolphins and fishers 91 28
Collaborative approaches to manage human-wildlife conflict in Ruvuma transboundary landscape 68 -
Strengthening communities’ livelihood and stewardship to conserve otters in Karnal 42 -
Breaking the illegal wildlife trade chain in Bagmati Province, Nepal 37 -
Reviving Trans-Himalayan Rangelands: a community-led vision for people and nature 36 -
Women and IWT: understanding gender dynamics in Pakistan’s wildlife trafficking 12 -
Tackling IWT in Muslim communities in Sumatra - 40
NatureScot
Restoration Forth 49 67
British Council
Expanding horizons for climate action in cities - 10
Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)
Latin American landscape restoration work - 10
**----- End of picture text -----**
## 5. GRANT AND PROJECT COSTS
Individual conservation projects and grants are grouped as programmes that reflect our key conservation priorities. Grants are made to other offices in the WWF network as well as other partners in the UK and internationally. This information is normally the basis of reporting to donors, including government agencies. All our grants are performance-related, with mid-term reviews.
|||
|---|---|
||**2023**
**2022**|
|**Organisation/Programme**|**£’000**
**£’000**|
|||
|**WWF International**||
|WWF network support|5,319
5,354|
|**WWF Network**||
|East Africa savannahs
Amazon programme
Energy transition
Asia sustainable palm oil programme
UK land and seascapes including marine
Tiger landscapes
Reckitt partnership restoring wildfower habitats globally
China policy (Green is Gold)
Organisational development
HSBC energy, innovation and learning
Nepal partnership
Wildlife trafcking and demand
Water Resource Accountability in Pakistan
Ganges and Indus programme
Tesco partnership on landscape and food
Aviva partnership – Canada Nature and Climate Fund
Greater Virunga
Asian high mountain landscapes
Myanmar programme|4,861
4,433
4,772
3,351
2,871
317
2,308
1,245
2,171
1,686
2,024
2,273
1,539
1,426
1,342
1,313
1,138
1,250
1,136
941
1,074
1,048
940
938
849
441
614
370
582
279
500
400
483
395
401
442
388
425|
|**Other projects aggregated**|4,567
4,867|
|**Total grant funding on programmes and projects**
Other project activity undertaken directly (Note 6)
**Total grants and projects expenditure (Note 6)**
Support costs (Notes 6,7)
**Total expenditure on grants and projects**||
||**39,879**
**33,194**
**31,309**
**31,160**|
||**71,188**
**64,354**
**7,294**
**4,789**|
||**78,482**
**69,143**|
66
67
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
## 6. RESOURCES EXPENDED
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Activities Grant
undertaken funding of Support Total Total
directly activities costs 2023 2022
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
**----- End of picture text -----**
||£’000
£’000
£’000
**£’000**
£’000|
|---|---|
|Averting dangerous climate change
Creating a sustainable food system
Restoring threatened habitats and species
Growing support
Strengthening our priority WWF partner ofces
Building capacity in the network
WWF network priority support projects
Gifts in kind attributable to charitable activities
**Total expenditure on charitable activities**
Expenditure on raising funds
Reorganisation costs
**Total expenditure**|3,430
2,266
583
**6,279**
6,354
4,061
1,017
520
**5,598**
6,600
7,044
27,582
3,548
**38,174**
27,288
16,251
359
1,702
**18,312**
18,776
-
-
-
**-**
1,542
279
5,318
574
**6,171**
6,098
244
3,337
367
**3,948**
2,475
-
-
-
-
10|
||**31,309**
**39,879**
**7,294**
**78,482**
69,143
21,747
-
2,151
**23,898**
22,840
34
-
-
**34**
157|
||**53,090**
**39,879**
**9,445**
**102,414**
92,140|
## **Basis for the support cost allocation**
Support costs are allocated on a pro-rata basis according to the total cost of activities undertaken directly and grant funding of activities.
## 8. STAFF COSTS
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2023 2022
£’000 £’000
**----- End of picture text -----**
||**£’000**
£’000|
|---|---|
|Wages and salaries
Social Security costs
Pension costs|**22,113**
19,009
**2,389**
2,012
**2,102**
1,823|
||**26,604**
22,844|
The above costs exclude nine staff (2022: 10 staff) who were hosted by WWF-UK on behalf of WWF International, WWF-US, WWF-Netherlands, WWF-Brazil, WWF European Programme Office, WWF-Sweden, WWF-Singapore and WWF-Vietnam. Total cost £514,000 (2022: £540,000).
Included within staff costs above is £9,000 (2022: £110,000) relating to redundancy and termination costs. At the end of the year nil (2022: nil) was still to be paid.
There were ex-gratia payments of £3,000 made during the year (2022: nil).
In addition, the cost of temporary staff in the year was £387,000 (2022: £529,000), of which nil (2022: £44,310) was for staff hosted by WWF-UK on behalf of WWF-Malaysia.
Pension costs are allocated to activities on the same basis as those staff costs to which they relate.
The average number of employees during the year was 502 (2022: 438).
The average number of employees calculated on a full-time equivalent basis was:
## 7. SUPPORT COSTS
||Governance
Management
& Finance
HR
IT
Premises
& Facilities
**Total**
**2023**
Total
2022|
|---|---|
||£’000
£’000
£’000
£’000
£’000
**£’000**
£’000|
|Charitable activities
Expenditure on raising funds
**Total support costs**|1,094
1,619
1,488
1,265
1,828
**7,294**
4,789
322
478
439
373
539
**2,151**
1,557|
||**1,416**
**2,097**
**1,927**
**1,638**
**2,367**
**9,445**
6,346|
The increase in support costs in the year is mainly owing to the fact there were foreign currency holding losses in the year of £0.7m, compared with currency holding gains of £1.3m in the prior year. In addition, there was an increase in support staff costs of £0.7m.
Governance costs included £181,000 (2022: £24,000) gifts in kind related to pro bono legal services provided.
||**2023**
**2022**|
|---|---|
||**Number**
Number|
|Charitable activities
Generating funds
Support and governance|**275**
251
**113**
100
**77**
68|
||**465**
419|
The number of employees whose emoluments exceeded £60,000 in the year was:
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2023 2022
Number Number
**----- End of picture text -----**
||**Number**
Number|
|---|---|
|£60,001 to £70,000
£70,001 to £80,000
£80,001 to £90,000
£90,001 to £100,000
£100,001 to £110,000
£110,001 to £120,000
£120,001 to £130,000
£130,001 to £140,000
£140,001 to £150,000
£150,001 to £160,000|**30**
21
**18**
17
**11**
7
**2**
-
**-**
1
**1**
4
**4**
1
**-**
-
**-**
1
**1**
-|
||**67**
52|
## Pension contributions for the 67 highest paid employees (52 in 2022) amounted to £510,000 (2022: £423,000).
The key management personnel of the charity are the members of the Executive Group in place during the year as referred to on page 87. The total employee benefits of the Executive Group were £1,115,967 (2022: £1,084,383).
The chief executive, Tanya Steele, received a gross salary during the year of £151,964 (2022: £144,533) and an employer’s contribution to the pension scheme equivalent to 10% of the gross salary, as part of the organisation’s standard pension programme.
68
69
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
## 9. TRUSTEES’ REMUNERATION AND EXPENSES
No trustee received any remuneration from WWF-UK during the year (2022: nil). During the year £16,067 was reimbursed or paid on behalf of 10 trustees for travel, accommodation and subsistence costs incurred in attending meetings and for overseas travel to WWF projects (2022: £22 for one trustee).
During the year the charity paid £10,003 (2022: £5,176) in respect of trustees’ indemnity insurance on behalf of the trustees. No other costs were borne on behalf of any trustee.
## 10. NET INCOMING RESOURCES FROM OPERATIONS
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2023 2022
£’000 £’000
Net incoming resources from operations for the year are stated after charging:
Auditors’ remuneration:
Fees payable to the charity’s auditors for the audit of the charity’s annual accounts 35 35
Fees payable to the charity’s auditors for the audit of projects 14 2
Fees payable to the charity’s auditors for the audit of the charity’s subsidiaries 29 24
Fees payable to the charity’s auditors for consultancy services - 6
Total auditors’ remuneration 78 67
Depreciation of tangible fixed assets 893 854
Operating lease rentals:
Plant and machinery 8 10
Other 256 248
Total operating lease rental 264 258
Unrealised (loss)/gain on foreign exchange translation (726) 1,315
**----- End of picture text -----**
## 11. INTANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS
||**Other intangible**
**asset**
**Contacts**
**database**
**system**
**Other**
**software**
**Total**|
|---|---|
||**£’000**
**£’000**
**£’000**
**£’000**|
|**GROUP AND CHARITY**||
|**Cost or valuation**||
|At 30 June 2022
Disposals in the year
**At 30 June 2023**|1,946
1,206
478
3,630
-
-
(44)
(44)|
||**1,946**
**1,206**
**434**
**3,586**|
|||
|**Amortisation**||
|At 30 June 2022
Charge for the year
Disposals in the year
**At 30 June 2023**|1,411
1,206
338
2,955
438
-
80
518
-
-
(44)
(44)|
||**1,849**
**1,206**
**374**
**3,429**|
|||
|**Net book value**||
|**At 30 June 2023**
At 30 June 2022|**97**
**-**
**60**
**157**|
||535
-
140
675|
## 12. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Living Planet Leasehold Office furniture
Centre improvements and equipment Total
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
GROUP AND CHARITY
Cost or valuation
At 30 June 2022 19,419 132 1,833 21,384
Additions in the year 24 - 53 77
Disposals in the year - - (324) (324)
At 30 June 2023 19,443 132 1,562 21,137
Depreciation
At 30 June 2022 6,552 131 1,329 8,012
Charge for the year 698 1 194 893
Disposals in the year - - (324) (324)
At 30 June 2023 7,250 132 1,199 8,581
Net book value
At 30 June 2023 12,193 - 363 12,556
At 30 June 2022 12,867 1 504 13,372
**----- End of picture text -----**
## 13. INVESTMENTS
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2023 2022
GROUP AND CHARITY £’000 £’000
Investment – movement
Market value at 1 July 2022 26,020 26,009
Additions at cost 4,525 6,542
Disposals at market value (3,615) (5,428)
Net loss on revaluation (346) (1,103)
Market value at 30 June 2023 26,584 26,020
Cash balances 356 466
Total market value at 30 June 2023 26,940 26,486
Historic cost at 30 June 2023 23,950 23,145
Portfolio distribution
UK fixed interest 6,240 5,112
UK equities 6,111 7,214
Overseas equities 11,137 9,688
Overseas fixed interest 1,482 1,687
Property funds 1,614 2,319
Cash funds 356 466
Total investment portfolio 26,940 26,486
Restriction analysis
Endowment funds 5,449 5,568
Unrestricted funds 21,491 20,918
Total 26,940 26,486
**----- End of picture text -----**
The other intangible asset concerns the film _David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet_ , which was released in September 2020.
70
71
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
## 14. STOCK
Stock consists of finished goods for resale held by the charity.
## 15. DEBTORS
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Group Group Charity Charity
2023 2022 2023 2022
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
**----- End of picture text -----**
||**£’000**
£’000
**£’000**
£’000|
|---|---|
|Amounts due within one year:
Trade debtors
Amounts due from WWF-UK
(World Wide Fund For Nature) Trading Limited
Other debtors
Forward foreign currency contracts
Prepayments
Accrued income
**Total debtors**|**1,981**
2,184
**1,377**
918
**-**
-
**2,366**
2,416
**1,075**
1,389
**779**
1,370
**8**
305
**8**
305
**1,059**
708
**983**
701
**951**
705
**801**
608|
||**5,074**
5,291
**6,314**
6,318|
## 16. CURRENT ASSET INVESTMENTS
||**_Group_**
**2023**
_Group_
2022
**_Charity_**
**2023**
_Charity_
2022|
|---|---|
||**£’000**
£’000
**£’000**
£’000|
|Amounts due within one year:
**Bank balances held on deposit**||
||**232**
3,345
**232**
3,345|
## 17. CREDITORS
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Group Group Charity Charity
2023 2022 2023 2022
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
**----- End of picture text -----**
## 18. FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS
The charity has certain financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at amortised cost. Certain other financial instruments are held at fair value, with gains and losses being recognised within the SOFA.
The charity has the following financial instruments:
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Group Group Charity Charity
2023 2022 2023 2022
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Financial assets measured at amortised cost:
Current asset investments 232 3,345 232 3,345
Cash at bank and in hand 22,221 27,606 18,568 24,703
Amounts owed by group undertakings - - 2,366 2,416
Other receivables 4,007 4,278 2,957 2,896
26,460 35,229 24,123 33,360
Financial liabilities measured at amortised cost:
Accruals 3,089 4,596 2,954 4,455
Other creditors 2,552 3,319 2,359 3,259
5,641 7,915 5,313 7,714
Financial assets measured at fair value
Fixed asset investments 26,940 26,486 26,940 26,486
Forward foreign currency contracts 8 305 8 305
26,948 26,791 26,948 26,791
Financial liabilities measured at fair value
Forward foreign currency contracts 108 - 108 -
108 - 108 -
**----- End of picture text -----**
||**£’000**
£’000
**£’000**
£’000|
|---|---|
|Amounts falling due within one year:
Trade creditors
PAYE & National Insurance
Other creditors
Forward foreign currency contracts
Accruals
Deferred income (see note 17(a) below)
**Total creditors**|**1,732**
2,376
**1,559**
2,325
**667**
598
**667**
598
**153**
345
**133**
336
**108**
-
**108**
-
**3,089**
4,596
**2,954**
4,455
**5,008**
3,217
**2,487**
1,182|
||**10,757**
11,132
**7,908**
8,896|
## 17(A) GROUP DEFERRED INCOME
||1 July
2022
Income received in
current year
Released in
current year
**30 June**
**2023**|
|---|---|
||£’000
£’000
£’000
**£’000**|
|Corporate sponsorship
Corporate donations
Other
**Deferred income**|3,163
5,015
(4,124)
**4,054**
-
479
-
**479**
54
1,137
(716)
**475**|
||3,217
6,631
(4,840)
**5,008**|
Deferred income relates to amounts received prior to entitlement.
72
73
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
## 19. CASH FLOW HEDGES – FORWARD FOREIGN CURRENCY CONTRACTS
The following table details the forward foreign currency contracts outstanding as at the year end:
## **Non-hedged – forward foreign currency contracts**
There were no non-hedged – forward foreign currency contracts outstanding at the year end (2022: nil).
## **Cash flow hedges – forward foreign currency contracts**
||**Notional value**
**Average contractual**
**exchange rate**
**Fair value**
**2023**
2022
**2023**
2022
**2023**
2022|
|---|---|
||**£’000**
£’000
**Rate**
Rate
**£’000**
£’000|
|**Due within 1 year**
Buy CHF, Sell GBP
**FV movement on cash fow hedges**|**5,552**
4,550
**1.0987**
1.2307
**(100)**
305|
||**2023**
2022
**£’000**
£’000
**(100)**
305
**(305)**
(222)
**(405)**
83|
|||
|Amounts reclassifed to hedge reserve
Amounts reclassifed from hedge reserve||
WWF-UK has entered into forward foreign exchange contracts to hedge the exchange rate risk arising from commitments to make WWF network support payments expected to occur and to affect profit or loss within the next financial year.
Forward foreign currency contracts are valued using quoted forward exchange rates and yield curves derived from quoted interest rates matching maturities of the contracts. Hedge ineffectiveness recognised in the year was £11,000 (2022: £21,000).
## 20. SUBSIDIARY COMPANY
WWF-UK has one active subsidiary company. The ordinary shares in the active subsidiary company, WWF-UK (World Wide Fund For Nature) Trading Limited (previously known as WWF-UK Trading Limited), are wholly owned by WWF-UK. The company is registered in England and Wales (Registration No. 00892812). The registered office is The Living Planet Centre, Rufford House, Brewery Road, Woking, Surrey GU21 4LL.
The main activities of the company during the year were receiving royalties licensing income from the use of the WWF logo, sponsorship income and miscellaneous trading activities.
The aggregate assets of the subsidiary company were £5,221,394 (2022: £4,657,210) and the aggregate liabilities were £5,215,106 (2022: £4,650,922), resulting in shareholders’ funds of £6,288 (2022: £6,288).
The taxable profits earned by the company are donated to WWF-UK and in the current year amounted to £2,460,297 (2022: £2,404,695).
A summary of the subsidiary company’s trading results is shown below:
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Profit and loss account 2023 2022
£’000 £’000
Catalogue and retail sales 665 950
Corporate sponsorship and licensing 6,278 5,474
Turnover 6,943 6,424
Cost of sales (1,040) (1,657)
Gross profit 5,903 4,767
Administrative expenses (3,564) (2,368)
Operating profit 2,339 2,399
Interest receivable 121 6
2,460 2,405
Gift Aid donation to WWF-UK (2,460) (2,405)
Retained profit for the year - -
Profit & loss account brought forward 6 6
Retained profit carried forward 6 6
**----- End of picture text -----**
74
75
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
## 21. GROUP STATEMENT OF FUNDS
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Transfers Net
At 1 July between gains/ At 30 June
2022 Income Expenditure funds (losses) 2023
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Endowment funds
Kleinwort Endowment Fund 3,172 - (27) - (41) 3,104
Willingdon Memorial Fund 2,396 - (20) - (31) 2,345
Total endowment funds 5,568 - (47) - (72) 5,449
Restricted funds
**----- End of picture text -----**
|**Project restricted funds**|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|HSBC Asia Palm Oil|**1,679**|1,229|(2,501)|-|-|**407**|
|HSBC Global Partnership|**2,651**|2,688|(2,292)|-|-|**3,047**|
|Reckitt core partnership|**392**|1,528|(1,507)|-|-|**413**|
|Reckitt Botanica|**206**|2,069|(1,998)|-|-|**277**|
|Reckitt Finish|**123**|409|(247)|-|-|**285**|
|John Lewis UK Landscapes|**-**|1,893|(45)|-|-|**1,848**|
|Tesco sustainable food|**-**|1,856|(1,856)|-|-|**-**|
|Aviva sustainable fnance|**5,136**|1,427|(2,595)|-|-|**3,968**|
|Quadrature climate foundation|**47**|1,400|(889)|-|-|**558**|
|Sequoia Climate Foundation|**880**|1,219|(1,604)|-|-|**495**|
|CIFF China Climate Communications|**-**|964|(839)|-|-|**125**|
|FCDO Pakistan WRAP|**(1)**|862|(861)|-|-|**-**|
|BEIS UK PACT*|**41**|789|(845)|-|-|**(15)**|
|FCDO Land for Life*|**(7)**|565|(566)|-|-|**(8)**|
|DFID forest governance, markets and climate*|**9**|451|(474)|-|-|**(14)**|
|Esmée Fairbairn UK Rewilding|**-**|365|-|-|-|**365**|
|AB InBev clean water|**-**|350|(350)|-|-|**-**|
|Patrick Degorce coral reef|**186**|327|(154)|-|-|**359**|
|Clean Cooling Collaborative – China*|**-**|291|(430)|-|-|**(139)**|
|Trillion Trees|**566**|210|(350)|-|-|**426**|
|Moondance Foundation Seagrass|**469**|127|(303)|-|-|**293**|
|Sodexo carbon performance
and sustainable meals|**198**|86|(149)|-|-|**135**|
|Sky Ocean Rescue|**2,155**|64|(609)|-|-|**1,610**|
|Art for your world|**496**|1|(422)|-|-|**75**|
|Garfeld Western Seagrass|**701**|-|(293)|-|-|**408**|
|Other project restricted, GAA and DFID|**2,902**|5,171|(4,867)|-|-|**3,206**|
||**At 1 July**
**2022**
Income
Expenditure
Transfers
between
funds
Net
gains/
(losses)
**At 30 June**
**2023**|
|---|---|
|**Broadly restricted funds**||
|Tigers*
Elephants
Snow leopards
Arctic
Amur leopards
Penguins
Primates (orangutans)
Mountain gorillas
Turtles
Pandas*
Endangered species
Jaguars
Rhinos
Sabah
East Africa
Guardians appeal
Other broadly restricted funds
Hosting costs (including staf costs)*
Total project and broadly restricted funds|**585**
2,317
(4,465)
-
-
**(1,563)**
**(431)**
1,843
(842)
-
-
**570**
**136**
1,681
(1,647)
-
-
**170**
**46**
1,191
(1,142)
-
-
**95**
**211**
833
(417)
-
-
**627**
**(210)**
797
(336)
-
-
**251**
**420**
794
(1,162)
-
-
**52**
**(39)**
734
(459)
-
-
**236**
**(41)**
629
(161)
-
-
**427**
**(129)**
625
(740)
-
-
**(244)**
**1,087**
624
(1,550)
-
-
**161**
**53**
600
(592)
-
-
**61**
**194**
562
(597)
-
-
**159**
**192**
171
(15)
-
-
**348**
**453**
42
(80)
-
-
**415**
**162**
1
(154)
-
-
**9**
**1,890**
1,424
(2,197)
-
-
**1,117**
**(27)**
582
(564)
-
-
**(9)**|
||**23,381**
41,791
(44,166)
-
-
**21,006**|
|||
|**Living Planet Centre**||
|Living Planet Centre Ruford
Living Planet Centre other
**Total Living Planet Centre funds**
**Total restricted funds**|**3,285**
-
(174)
-
-
**3,111**
**1,409**
-
(79)
-
-
**1,330**|
||**4,694**
-
(253)
-
-
**4,441**|
||**28,075**
41,791
(44,419)
-
-
**25,447**|
|||
|**Unrestricted funds**||
|**Designated reserves:**
Living Planet Centre reserve
Fixed asset reserve
Capital expenditure reserve
Programmes reserve
Wild Isles
Investment reserve
**Designated reserves**
**Hedge reserve**
**General reserve**
**Total unrestricted funds**
**Total funds**|**8,173**
-
(444)
24
-
**7,753**
**1,180**
-
(696)
36
-
**520**
**933**
-
-
-
-
**933**
**2,244**
3,000
(5,176)
-
-
**68**
**280**
-
(280)
-
-
**-**
**3,138**
-
-
86
-
**3,224**|
||**15,948**
3,000
(6,596)
146
-
**12,498**
**305**
-
-
-
(405)
**(100)**
**16,827**
49,245
(51,352)
(146)
(274)
**14,300**|
||**33,080**
52,245
(57,948)
-
(679)
**26,698**|
||**66,723**
94,036
(102,414)
-
(751)
**57,594**|
*There are negative balances on the restricted funds for BEIS UK PACT (£15,000), FCDO Land for Life (£8,000), DFID forest governance, markets and climate (£14,000), Clean Cooling Collaborative – China (£139,000), Tigers (£1,563,000), Pandas (£244,000) and hosting costs (£9,000). This is due to the fact that future income is anticipated which will exceed the amount of the deficit balance.
76
77
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
## PERMANENT ENDOWMENTS
The Kleinwort Endowment Fund was established in 1970. Income is available for the general purposes of WWF-UK. The fund is represented by fixed asset investments.
The Willingdon Memorial Fund was received by way of a legacy in 1991 and 1994. Income is available for the general purposes of WWF-UK. The fund is represented by fixed asset investments.
## RESTRICTED FUNDS
Restricted funds are grants and donations given for specific purposes. They may be project-specific or more broadly restricted to a theme or country.
1. Other project, GAA and FCDO restricted donations are where the donor has specified the project to be funded and neither income nor expenditure exceeds £300,000.
2. Other broadly restricted donations are where the donor has specified the restriction, but not the project to be funded, and neither income nor expenditure exceeds £300,000.
3. Donations restricted to the Living Planet Centre were used for the construction of the headquarters.
## 22. ANALYSIS OF GROUP ASSETS AND LIABILITIES BETWEEN FUNDS
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment Total Total
funds funds funds 2022 2022
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Intangible fixed assets 157 - - 157 675
**----- End of picture text -----**
|Intangible fxed assets|157
-
-
**157**
675|
|---|---|
|Tangible fxed assets – Living Planet Centre
Tangible fxed assets – Other
Investments
**Total fxed assets**
Current assets
Current liabilities
**Net assets**|7,753
4,440
-
**12,193**
12,867
363
-
-
**363**
505
21,491
-
5,449
**26,940**
26,486|
||29,764
4,440
5,449
**39,653**
40,533
7,691
21,007
-
**28,698**
37,322
(10,757)
-
-
**(10,757)**
(11,132)|
||**26,698**
**25,447**
**5,449**
**57,594**
66,723|
## 23. OPERATING LEASE COMMITMENTS
At the end of the year, WWF-UK was committed to making future minimum operating lease payments which fall due as follows:
## DESIGNATED RESERVES
- The designated reserve in respect of the Living Planet Centre represents the unrestricted element of the net book value of the property. The transfer of £24,000 relates to additional VAT on prior years’ capital expenditure.
- The fixed asset reserve represents resources invested in fixed assets other than the Living Planet Centre and which, as a result, are not available for other purposes. The transfer of £36,000 relates to capital investments net of disposals made during the year.
- The capital expenditure reserve represents resources allocated to cover future expenditure on major repairs and replacements for the Living Planet Centre building. This amount has been calculated on the basis of an independent professional assessment of likely future costs and is reviewed at regular intervals.
- The programmes reserve includes funds received from the players of People’s Postcode Lottery (PPL) which had not been spent by the year end and which, while not restricted funds, the organisation has determined should be designated for specific programmes including East Africa Savannahs, the Amazon, Climate and our Education and Youth work. It is planned that the carried forward amount will be fully spent during FY24.
• The Wild Isles reserve represents funds designated for a television series venture with the BBC and the RSPB released in 2023. WWF-UK has underwritten the costs associated with a share of the activity. The reduction in the reserve represents expenditure incurred on the project, which has now been fully used.
- The investment reserve is to provide for foreseeable volatility in the value of the unrestricted fixed asset investments. This equates to 15% of the value of the portfolio excluding the endowments.
## HEDGE RESERVE
The hedge reserve represents foreign currency forward currency contracts that are hedged against committed expenditure.
## CHARITY STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES
The total income of the charity in 2023 was £90.8m (2022: £87.3m) and total expenditure was £99.3m (2022: £88.4m).
||**2023**
**Land and**
**buildings**
**2023**
**Plant and**
**machinery**
2022
Land and
buildings
2022
Plant and
machinery|
|---|---|
||**£’000**
**£’000**
£’000
£’000|
|Payments due:
within one year
within two to fve years
Total|**213**
**9**
318
-
**132**
**19**
345
-|
||**345**
**28**
663
-|
## 24. LEGACY NOTIFICATIONS
By the end of the financial year, WWF-UK had been advised of a number of legacies which indicated the charity as a beneficiary. These have not been included in the statement of financial activities as the charity’s final entitlement has not yet been established by the executors. The initial indicated values for these legacies are estimated to be £16.1 million (2022: £15.6 million).
## 25. GIFTS IN KIND
WWF-UK received gifts in kind during the year relating to the goods and services detailed below:
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2023 2022
£’000 £’000
**----- End of picture text -----**
||**£’000**
£’000|
|---|---|
|**Campaigning costs**:
Donation of internet search terms and social media advertising
Advertising
**Charitable activity costs:**
Consultancy
**Support costs:**
Pro-bono legal services
IT consultancy
**Total gifts in kind received**|**368**
133
**156**
-
**-**
10
**181**
24
**12**
-|
||**717**
167|
78
79
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
## 26. OUTSTANDING GRANT AWARDS
WWF-UK aims to continue to provide funding to a number of programmes and projects subject to the delivery of obligations contained in the grant awards. The amount of grants outstanding at the end of the year that did not meet the definition of an accounting accrual is detailed below. Payment of the grants is contingent on the outcome of reviews of the programmes and therefore the liability has not been recognised at the year end. The commitments will be funded through general funds or restricted funding from individual and institutional donors. The funding of these commitments falls due as detailed below.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2023 2022
£’000 £’000
Due within:
**----- End of picture text -----**
|1 year
2 years
3 years
4 years
5 years|**33,742**
28,836
**8,469**
21,662
**2,344**
4,680
**182**
1,182
**15**
-|
|---|---|
||**44,752**
56,360|
## 27. CONTINGENT LIABILITIES
In accordance with normal business practice, WWF-UK has provided indemnities to the executors of certain estates. These indemnities provide legal recourse to the recovery of any overpayments up to the total value of receipts by WWF. The maximum possible liability arising from indemnities outstanding at the balance sheet date was £1,803,918 (2022: £1,537,973) with the maximum indemnity period being 12 years.
## 28. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
|**3rd party organisation**|**WWF-UK ofcer**|**Position in 3rd party**
**organisation**|**Transaction type**|**2023**
**£’000**|2022
£’000|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|WWF International|Dave Lewis, chair of WWF-UK|Ex-trustee|Income|**465**|474|
||Stephen Hay, trustee of WWF-UK|Audit committee member|Grant expenditure|**7,402**|6,881|
||||Other expenditure|**108**|264|
||||Debtor outstanding|**57**|56|
||||Creditor outstanding|**27**|15|
|University of Oxford|Professor Eleanor Milner-|Professor|Grant expenditure|**-**|55|
||Gulland, trustee of WWF-UK|||||
||Dr Jessica Omukuti, trustee of|Professor|Other expenditure|**5**|15|
||WWF-UK|||||
||||Creditor outstanding|**-**|3|
|Quadrature Climate|Baroness Bryony Katherine|Ex co-director|Income|**-**|1,400|
|Foundation|Worthington, trustee of WWF-UK|||||
|Aviva|Dr Steve Waygood, trustee|Chief responsible|Income|**589**|5,704|
||of WWF-UK|investment officer||||
||||Debtor outstanding|**259**|-|
|The Climate Movement|Katie White, executive director|Director|Other expenditure|**80**|65|
||of advocacy and campaigns|||||
||Kate Norgrove, executive director|Director|Creditor outstanding|**25**|-|
||of advocacy and campaigns|||||
|Global Canopy|Justin Mundy, trustee of WWF-UK|Director|Other expenditure|**5**|-|
||||Creditor outstanding|**5**|-|
|WaterAid International|Andrew Green, trustee of WWF-UK|Director|Income|**6**|10|
|Lancaster University|Professor Jos Barlow, trustee|Professor|Grant expenditure|**-**|15|
||of WWF-UK|||||
|The Labour Party|Katie White, executive director|Applying to be Labour|Other expenditure|**-**|14|
||of advocacy and campaigns|Party candidate||||
|Synchronicity Earth|Professor Eleanor Milner-Gulland,|Adviser|Grant expenditure|**-**|7|
||trustee of WWF-UK|||||
Trustees and other related parties, including key management personnel, made donations to WWF-UK during the year totalling £91,086 (2022: £37,141).
The following transactions between WWF-UK and its subsidiary WWF-UK (World Wide Fund For Nature) Trading Limited took place during the year.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2023 2022
£’000 £’000
**----- End of picture text -----**
|**Intercompany balances**|||
|---|---|---|
|Amounts due from WWF-UK (World Wide Fund for Nature) Trading Limited|**2,366**|2,416|
|**Transactions with WWF-UK (World Wide Fund for Nature) Trading Limited**|||
|WWF-UK income received by the subsidiary|**89**|25|
|Subsidiary income received by WWF-UK|**2,278**|2,009|
|Payments made by WWF-UK on behalf of subsidiary|**1,808**|1,565|
|WWF-UK expenditure recharged to subsidiary|**3,184**|2,429|
|Subsidiary VAT paid by WWF-UK|**744**|694|
|Gift Aid donation from subsidiary to WWF-UK|**2,460**|2,405|
|Loan from subsidiary to WWF-UK|**3,000**|1,500|
|Loan interest charged by subsidiary to WWF-UK|**121**|6|
|WWF-UK repayment of loan from subsidiary|**3,121**|1,506|
## 29. TAXATION
WWF-UK is a registered charity and as such is potentially exempt from taxation of its income and gains to the extent that they fall within the exemptions available to charities under the Taxes Act and are applied to its charitable objectives. WWFUK (World Wide Fund For Nature) Trading Limited is subject to Corporation Tax but it remits by Gift Aid any taxable profit to WWF-UK.
## 30. COMMITMENTS
At the year end, WWF-UK had no capital commitments.
## 31. GUARANTEE
WWF-UK is a company limited by guarantee and each trustee has agreed to contribute up to £10 towards the assets of the company in the event of it being wound up.
80
81
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
## 32. PRIOR YEAR CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES
||Unrestricted
funds
Restricted and
endowment
funds
**Total**
**2022**|
|---|---|
|Notes|£’000
£’000
**£’000**|
|**Income and endowments from:**||
|**Donations and legacies**||
|Membership and donations from individuals
Corporate donations
Charitable trusts
Legacies
Gifts in kind
25|28,113
15,759
**43,872**
1,495
9,628
**11,123**
4,216
4,424
**8,640**
13,539
1,813
**15,352**
167
-
**167**|
||47,530
31,624
**79,154**|
|**Charitable activities**||
|Aid agencies and government grants
4
Corporate income
Income from non-governmental organisations|-
1,795
**1,795**
-
271
**271**
250
2,135
**2,385**|
||250
4,201
**4,451**|
|**Other trading activities**||
|Corporate income
Lottery promotions
Other trading income|613
4,848
**5,461**
348
-
**348**
859
95
**954**|
||1,820
4,943
**6,763**|
|**Investment income**
3|667
2
**669**|
|**Total income**
**Expenditure on:**|**50,267**
**40,770**
**91,037**|
|||
|**Raising funds**||
|Costs of raising voluntary income
Investment management fees
**Total expenditure on raising funds**
6
**Reorganisation costs**
6
**Total expenditure on raising funds and reorganisation costs**
6
**Net income available for charitable activities**|16,813
5,805
**22,618**
175
47
**222**|
||**16,988**
**5,852**
**22,840**
**157**
**-**
**157**|
||**17,145**
**5,852**
**22,997**|
||**33,122**
**34,918**
**68,040**|
|||
|**Charitable activities**||
|Charitable activities
5,6
Gifts in kind
25
**Total expenditure on charitable activities**
**Total expenditure**
**Net (expenditure)/income before losses on investments**
Net loss on investments
**Net (expenditure)/income**
Fair value movements on cash fow hedges
**Net movement in funds**
Total funds brought forward
33
**Total funds carried forward**
33|39,437
29,696
**69,133**
10
-
**10**|
||**39,447**
**29,696**
**69,143**|
|||
||**56,592**
**35,548**
**92,140**|
||**(6,325)**
**5,222**
**(1,103)**
(869)
(234)
**(1,103)**|
||**(7,194)**
**4,988**
**(2,206)**
83
-
**83**|
||**(7,111)**
**4,988**
**(2,123)**
40,191
28,655
**68,846**|
||**33,080**
**33,643**
**66,723**|
## 33. PRIOR YEAR GROUP STATEMENT OF FUNDS
||**At 1 July**
**2021**
Income
Expenditure
Transfers
between
funds
Net gains/
(losses)
**At 30 June**
**2022**|
|---|---|
||**£’000**
£’000
£’000
£’000
£’000
**£’000**|
|**Endowment funds**
Kleinwort Endowment Fund
Willingdon Memorial Fund
**Total endowment funds**|**3,333**
-
(27)
-
(133)
**3,173**
**2,516**
-
(20)
-
(101)
**2,395**|
||**5,849**
-
(47)
-
(234)
**5,568**|
|||
|**Restricted funds**||
|**Project restricted funds**
HSBC Asia Palm Oil
HSBC Global Partnership
Quadrature climate foundation
Garfeld Western Seagrass
Reckitt Botanica
Reckitt core partnership
Aviva sustainable fnance
Sky Ocean Rescue
DFID forest governance, markets and climate
Tesco sustainable food
Sodexo carbon performance
and sustainable meals
Patrick Degorce coral reef
AB InBev clean water
Trillion Trees
Moondance Foundation Seagrass
EET Sustainable futures
Art for your world
Sequoia Climate Foundation
FCDO Pakistan WRAP*
Other project restricted, GAA and DFID|**2,032**
1,095
(1,448)
-
-
**1,679**
**2,206**
2,261
(1,816)
-
-
**2,651**
**325**
1,400
(1,678)
-
-
**47**
**896**
-
(195)
-
-
**701**
**315**
1,615
(1,724)
-
-
**206**
**320**
1,187
(1,115)
-
-
**392**
**515**
5,203
(582)
-
-
**5,136**
**3,474**
117
(1,436)
-
-
**2,155**
**38**
638
(667)
-
-
**9**
**-**
1,609
(1,609)
-
-
**-**
**99**
255
(156)
-
-
**198**
**152**
490
(456)
-
-
**186**
**-**
424
(424)
-
-
**-**
**570**
604
(608)
-
-
**566**
**158**
385
(74)
-
-
**469**
**-**
320
(293)
-
-
**27**
**(7)**
788
(285)
-
-
**496**
**-**
1,156
(276)
-
-
**880**
**-**
448
(449)
-
-
**(1)**
**2,693**
3,850
(3,511)
-
-
**3,032**|
|**Broadly restricted funds**||
|Amazon emergency appeal
Arctic
Climate change
Tigers
Snow leopards
Elephants*
Amur leopards
Primates (orangutans)
Jaguars
Rhinos
Penguins*
Pandas*
Mountain gorillas*
Turtles*
East Africa|**465**
98
(464)
-
-
**99**
**(32)**
902
(824)
-
-
**46**
**123**
452
(564)
-
-
**11**
**259**
2,670
(2,344)
-
-
**585**
**24**
1,695
(1,583)
-
-
**136**
**187**
1,936
(2,554)
-
-
**(431)**
**108**
888
(785)
-
-
**211**
**192**
952
(724)
-
-
**420**
**2**
625
(574)
-
-
**53**
**77**
598
(481)
-
-
**194**
**12**
673
(895)
-
-
**(210)**
**63**
643
(835)
-
-
**(129)**
**(18)**
519
(540)
-
-
**(39)**
**46**
424
(511)
-
-
**(41)**
**212**
240
1
-
-
**453**|
82
83
WWF-UK Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022-23
||**At 1 July**
**2021**
Income
Expenditure
Transfers
between
funds
Net gains/
(losses)
**At 30 June**
**2022**|
|---|---|
||**£’000**
£’000
£’000
£’000
£’000
**£’000**|
|||
|**Broadly restricted funds**||
|Endangered species
Guardians appeal
Other broadly restricted funds
Hosting costs (including staf costs)*
**Total project and broadly restricted funds**|**810**
923
(646)
-
-
**1,087**
**464**
161
(463)
-
-
**162**
**1,080**
1,940
(1,048)
-
-
**1,972**
**(1)**
586
(612)
-
-
**(27)**|
||**17,859**
40,770
(35,248)
-
-
**23,381**|
|||
|**Living Planet Centre**||
|Living Planet Centre Ruford
Living Planet Centre other
**Total Living Planet Centre funds**
**Total restricted funds**|**3,459**
-
(174)
-
-
**3,285**
**1,488**
-
(79)
-
-
**1,409**|
||**4,947**
-
(253)
-
-
**4,694**|
|||
||**22,806**
40,770
(35,501)
-
-
**28,075**|
|||
|**Unrestricted funds**||
|**Designated reserves:**
Living Planet Centre reserve
Fixed asset reserve
Capital expenditure reserve
Programmes reserve
Wild Isles
Investment reserve
**Designated reserves**
**Hedge reserve**
**General reserve**
**Total unrestricted funds**
**Total funds**|**8,596**
-
(443)
20
-
**8,173**
**1,717**
-
(925)
388
-
**1,180**
**933**
-
-
-
-
**933**
**2,253**
4,015
(2,719)
(1,305)
-
**2,244**
**490**
-
(210)
-
-
**280**
**3,167**
-
-
(29)
-
**3,138**|
||**17,156**
4,015
(4,297)
(926)
-
**15,948**
**222**
-
-
-
83
**305**
**22,813**
46,252
(52,295)
926
(869)
**16,827**|
||**40,191**
50,267
(56,592)
-
(786)
**33,080**|
||**68,846**
91,037
(92,140)
-
(1,020)
**66,723**|
## ADOPTING A HIGH SEAS TREATY
A landmark UN high seas treaty was agreed and adopted this year, following decades of advocacy and scientific input from us. It’s a new, legally binding international agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in areas further than 200 nautical miles from nations’ coasts. It covers almost two thirds of the surface of the ocean, or 42% of the entire planet. A key outcome we have long called for and supported is a universally recognised mechanism to establish marine protected areas in the high seas for the first time. This is a vital step in the UN’s target to protect at least 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030.
*There are negative balances on the restricted funds for FCDO Pakistan WRAP (£1,000), Elephants (£431,000), Penguins (£210,000), Pandas (£129,000), Mountain gorillas (£39,000), Turtles (£41,000) and hosting costs (£27,000). This is due to the fact that future income is anticipated which will exceed the amount of the deficit balance.
## 34. PRIOR YEAR ANALYSIS OF GROUP ASSETS AND LIABILITIES BETWEEN FUNDS
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment Total
funds funds funds 2022
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Intangible fixed assets 675 - - 675
**----- End of picture text -----**
|Intangible fxed assets|675
-
-
**675**|
|---|---|
|Tangible fxed assets – Living Planet Centre
Tangible fxed assets – Other
Investments
**Total fxed assets**
Current assets
Current liabilities
**Net assets**|8,173
4,694
-
**12,867**
505
-
-
**505**
20,918
-
5,568
**26,486**|
||30,271
4,694
5,568
**40,533**
13,941
23,381
-
**37,322**
(11,132)
-
-
**(11,132)**|
||**33,080**
**28,075**
**5,568**
**66,723**|
84
## WWF-UK CORPORATE DIRECTORY
The information shown below is that pertaining between 1 July 2022 and 19 October 2023, the date of signing the accounts.
## **President: HRH the former Prince of Wales**
TRUSTEES COMMITTEES Sir Dave Lewis (Chair) N Catherine Dugmore (retired Jan 2023) A, F, N, Inv Andrew Green CBE F Professor Eleanor Milner-Gulland DBE I Steve Morris N Justin Mundy OBE I Stephen Hay A, F Professor Jules Pretty OBE (retired Oct 2022) I Baroness Bryony Worthington I , N Dorcas Gwata I Dr Steve Waygood F Kirsty Brimelow KC A Professor Jos Barlow (appointed Oct 2022) I David Barnes (appointed Oct 2022) (Treasurer) F, Inv, A Dr Jessica Omukuti (appointed Oct 2022) F, I Dr Rhian-Mari Thomas OBE (appointed Oct 2022) Inv
## THE FOLLOWING, WHO ARE NOT TRUSTEES, HOLD HONORARY POSITIONS
## COMMITTEES
(A) Audit Committee
(F) Finance and Business Committee (N) Nominations and Remuneration Committee (I) Impact Goals Committee (formerly Programme Committee) (Inv) Investment Sub-Committee
## THE EXECUTIVE GROUP/PRINCIPAL OFFICERS
## Chief executive
Executive director of operations and strategy Executive director of people and culture Executive director of supporter income and engagement Executive director of science and conservation Executive directors of advocacy and campaigns Executive director of communications
## COMPANY SECRETARY
## PRINCIPAL AND REGISTERED OFFICE
## PRINCIPAL PROFESSIONAL ADVISERS
**Bankers**
## CHAIR
## Stephen Hay
Catherine Dugmore (until Jan 2023) David Barnes (from Jan 2023) Sir Dave Lewis Professor Eleanor Milner-Gulland Catherine Dugmore (until Jan 2023) Dr Rhian-Mari Thomas (from Jan 2023)
## Tanya Steele CBE
Catherine McDonald Jane Drysdale Michael Dent Mike Barrett Katie White and Kate Norgrove Lisa Lee
Zoë Ballantyne
The Living Planet Centre Rufford House Brewery Road Woking GU21 4LL
Lloyds Bank plc 2 City Place Beehive Ring Road Gatwick West Sussex RH6 0PA
Martin Laing CBE (Trustee Emeritus)
The Hon Mrs Sara Morrison (Trustee Emeritus) Ed Smith CBE (Trustee Emeritus) Sir Andrew Cahn (Trustee Emeritus)
## INDEPENDENT MEMBERS AND EXTERNAL ADVISERS COMMITTEES
Professor Isabelle Durance I Professor Neil Burgess I Emily Robinson I Dr Henry Travers I Osama Bhutta I Dr Dilys Roe I Oliver Riley-Smith (appointed Mar 2023) I Paul Harrison I Professor David Viner I Laura Hobbs Inv
**Auditor**
Crowe U.K. LLP 55 Ludgate Hill London EC4M 7JW
**Legal advisers**
Bates Wells 10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1BE
Veale Wasbrough Vizards LLP Narrow Quay House Narrow Quay Bristol BS1 4QA
WWF-UK would also like to thank all those law firms and Counsel who have provided pro bono advice during the period.
**Investment managers** Newton Investment Management Ltd 160 Queen Victoria Street London EC4V 4LA
86