2023-04-05-accounts - The Wildlife Gardening Forum

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						SORP reference
Summary		ofthe purposes			of	Para 1.17	a) To promote the conservation,
the charity as set out				in its			protection and improvement ofthe
governing		document					physical and natural environment of
							gardens and their biological diversity.
							b) To advance the education ofthe
							public in the conservation, protection
							and improvement ofthe physical and
							natural environment and biodiversity	of
							gardens and the consequent human
							health and well-bein benefits.
Summary activities		of the main in relation to those				Para 1.17and 1.19	Gardens are diverse and important habitats for our declining wildlife and
purposes		for the public					where the great majority of children find
benefit,	in particular,			the			their first direct contact with nature.
activities,		projects	or				Nearly 90%of UK households have
services		identified	in	the			gardens and so our work can benefit	a
accounts.							very large proportion ofthe public who
							wish to manage their gardens
							sustainably and with wildlife in mind.	In
							planning and executing our work, the
							Trustees have given careful
							consideration to the Charity
							Commission's general guidance on
							public benefit and in particular to its
							public benefit guidance on advancing
							education and on conservation ofthe
							environment.
							Object a) Promoting conservation,
							protection and improvement ...
							The Wildlife Gardening Forum furthers
							this object through issuing four
							newsletters per year summarising new
							research and best practice findings.	We
							maintain a large website to provide
							access to evidence-based information
							on the science ofwildlife gardening	and
							on garden organisms, including
							practical guidance. We seek to inform

the work ofthe many charities and other
organisations within our membership
and contacts. We influence decision
makers through working with other
charities and disseminating evidence.
The influence ofthe Forum on social
media has grown remarkably on its
Facebook group and is developing on
Instagram and X(formerly Twitter).
Our website continues to grow with the
ambition of being a 'one stop shop for
scientific and practical information
about gardens and wildlife'. It contains
extensive background information in
garden and wildlife science and planting
for wildlife, reviewing information
largely unavailable to a general reader.
By March 2022 the site contained nearly
400 pages of information and a further
120downloadable documents. It
constitutes the largest compendium of
freely available information about
garden biodiversity anywhere on the
web.
The Forum's Manifesto, available in
English and Welsh on the website,
provides a simple introduction to
decision makers about the policy
changes we would like tosee to improve
the status of gardens for wildlife and
people. Our membership ofthe umbrella
organisation Wildlife and Countryside
Link is allowing the Forum to contribute
its voice alongside other charities in
environmental issues.
Object b) To advance the education of
the public. ...
This object is addressed through the
creation of publications and
newsletters, provision of professional
guidance and training for teachers and
practitioners and maintaining awebsite
to provide access for everyone to
evidence-based information and advice.
The Trustees ensure a powerful
educational outcome by insisting on
testing all statements and guidance in
our material and on our website against
established and published fact, giving
attribution so that those who wish can
have access to original work. We
identify and point out areas where
evidence is inadequate and have
succeeded in starting research projects
such as the RHS-run "Plants for Bu s

					Project" investigating the relative value	Project" investigating the relative value
					of native and non-native garden plants)
					where a major deficiency of evidence
					has let myths and assumptions stay
					unchallenged.
					While most of our focus is on
					biodiversity, our education objective	is
					also concerned with the role of gardens
					and urban green space on human
					mental and physical health, and the
					cohesion and better function of
					communities. This is another relatively
					new field of research that has not yet
					become widely known among the public
					and decision makers but is of increasing
					importance as Britain becomes steadily
					more urban. There is great synergy
					between this aspect of gardens, and
					biodiversity conservation, and we see
					our role as helping to make the health
					research findings accessible to
					everyone alongside the biodiversity,	and
					with the same standards of ri our.
Statement		confirming		Para 1.1B	The Trustees confirm that in the period
whether	the trustees		have		covered by this report they have had
had regard		to the guidance			regard to the guidance issued by the
issued	by	the Charity			Charity Commission on public benefit.
Commission on public
benefit

chieve	men	ts and Per	formance
			SORP reference
				In the ninth year ofthe Wildlife
				Gardening Forum's operation as a
				registered charity, trustee meetings
Summary of the main achievements of the charity,			Para 1.20	continued to be conducted remotely and although no in-person conferences were
identifying	the	difference the		held during the period the charity
charily's	work	has made to		organised its first ever online
the circumstances of its				conference in Jan 2023, providing a low-
beneficiaries and any wider benefits to society as a				cost (donation-based ticketing), travel- free format to an audience of over 300.
whole.				Keynote speaker Professor Dave
				Goulson was joined by speakers from
				Plantlife and BTOto address diverse
				topics on the theme 'Resilience,
				challenges and solutions for today' s
				wildlife gardeners'. Recordings were
				made available through the website and
				a member podcast.
				The Forum was able to fulfil its core
				purposes in a number ofways;
				Building on resources developed
				through the Polli:Gen project in 2021,
				the Forum ran a wildlife- ardenin self-

						accreditation scheme pilot in 2022
						called 'Cholsey Wildlife Garden
						Challenge', set in a village in rural
						Oxfordshire. 55households participated
						and 16certificates awarded (2 Bronze, 7
						Silver, 7Gold). The success ofthe	pilot
						has provided a proof-of-concept for a
						future expansion ofthe scheme.
						The Forum's Facebook group exceeded
						100,000 members in 2022, making	itthe
						largest Facebook group dedicated	to
						wildlife gardening. It is primarily a	UK-
						based group though it encourages	and
						supports members in over 100countries
						and enlists a volunteer moderator	team
						of around 15to maintain a friendly,
						positive online community.
						The Forum's website has expanded	its
						section on garden birds, which now
						covers 49species, comparison pages
						and bird biology. This topic is
						particularly popular with people new to
						wildlife gardening and contributes	to
						improved nature-connectedness and
						wellbeing. An ambition ofthe Forum is
						to convert itto asecure https site.
						Our member's quarterly newsletter	has
						continued to inform over 3,000
						gardeners, garden designers,
						landscapers, conservationists and	other
						practitioners, giving them the tools to
						make direct changes to benefit
						biodiversit and the environment.
inanc	ial	Review
Review	of the charity's				Para 1.21	The charity's reserves fell slightiy	in the
financial	position		at	the end		period due to combined expenses	of
of the period						website/domain hosting and mailout
						costs. New income from the online
						conference helped to offset losses	and
						in future this could prove to be an
						effective revenue stream. Any larger
						ambitions ofthe charity will need to be
						sou ht from rant fundin .
Statement		explaining		the	Para 1.22	The Wildlife Gardening Forum has
policy for holding			reserves			general funds, currently approximately
stating	why they		are	held		equal to one (normal) year's operating
						costs, which the Trustees consider
						prudent to maintain the charity's core
						activities, especially given the current
						financial uncertainties. There are no
						designated or restricted funds.
Amount	of	reserves		held	Para 1.22	R5,557
Reasons for holding				zero	Para 1.22	N/A
reserves

Details of fund materially	Details of fund materially	Details of fund materially	Para 1.24	None
deficit
Explanation	of any		Para n23	None
uncertainties	about the
charity continuing		as a going
concern

tructure, Governance	and Man	agement
Description of charity's
trusts:
Type of governing document	Para 1.25	Constitution
trust deed, ro al charier)
How is the charity	Para 1.25	Charitable	Incorporated	Organisation
constituted?
(e.g unincorporated
association, CIO)
Trustee selection methods	Para 1.25	Appointed	by existing	Trustees on the
including details of any		basis ofa Board Skills		Audit and
constitutional provisions e.g.		informal	interview.
election to post or name of
any person or body entitled
to appoint one or more
trustees

Charit	name			Wildlife Gardenin
Other name the charit			uses	n/a
Re istered charit		number		1156608
Charity's	principal	address		Mollys Lodge
				Little Wolford
				Shipston on Stour
				Warwickshire
				CV36 5NR

	Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year
	Helen Bostock	Chair (October	All Year
		onwards)
	Karen Murphy	Hon Secretary	All Year
	Johan Ingles le-		All Year
	Nobel
	Mary Jackson		All Year
	Judith Conroy		All Year
	Mark Goddard		All Year
	David Perkins		All Year
	Adrian Thomas		All Year
19
10
11

Type of	Name	Address
adviser
Hon.	Mare Carlton	10, Portwall	Road,Chepstow, NP16 5DL
Treasurer
Name of	chief executive or names of senior		staff members	(Optional	information)
None

O	CHARITY CplylMISS(0hi FOR ENGLAND AND WALES	CHARITY CplylMISS(0hi FOR ENGLAND AND WALES	CHARITY CplylMISS(0hi FOR ENGLAND AND WALES	The	Receipts Wildlife Gardenina	Receipts Wildlife Gardenina	Receipts Wildlife Gardenina	Receipts Wildlife Gardenina	and payments Forum	and payments Forum	1156608 accounts		CCiea
				For the period from				6th	April 2022	To	5th April	2023
		~	~	~
				Unrestricted funds				Restricted funds		Endowment funds	Total	funds	Last year
				to the nearest			2	to the nearest 2		to the nearest 2	to the nearest 2		to the nearest 2
A1 Recei	ts
Volunta	Recei ts: Donations					20						20	524
Charitable income	activity:	Conference				951
u	fota ross /ncoms or
			AR)			9'71						971
A2 Asset	and investment sales
(see table).
		u r t t	total tpt	~git~~~grt									~goo
A3 Pa ments
Charitable	Activit: Website					520						520
Charitable	Activity:	Conferences
						585
Charitable	Activit: Influence
Mailchim	costs					452							398
Governance costs						103						1'03	107
		Sub	total		1	660
A4 Asset	and investment
ur h	e	ble
	r	Sub t tp r	total t~i@so~~~togo										~sa
Net ofreceipted'(payments)												689
AS Transfers between funds
AS Cash funds last		year end			6,246							6,246	6,227
Cash funds		this year	end									5,557.

				~	e	'~ e			~ e
						Vnrestricted	Restrloted			Endowment
			Derails			funds		funds		fuhds
						to nearest f.	to	nearest 2		to nearest	2
Bt Cash	funds					5,557
					Total cash furids
			(agree	balances	wiib receipts and payments
					accccm(s))
						Unrestricted	Restricted			Endowment
						to nearest r	to	nearest 2		to nearest	2
B2 Other	monetary assets
			Details			Fund to which	Cost		(optional)	Current value
BSinvestment		assets
			Details			Fund to which	Cost		(optional)	Current value
B4Assets retained forthe
charity's	own	use
			Details			Fund to which	Amount due			When due
B5Liabilities
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees				Signature		Print	Name			Date of r v	I
						Helen	Bostock			ltr..0'f.g&
						Judith	Conro