## **Trustees' Annual Report For the period**
## **1 January 2023 to**
## **31 December 2023**
# **London Environmental Educators’ Forum (LEEF)**
**Charity number: 1168740**
**London Environmental Educators’ Forum**
Trustees' Annual Report for the Period Ended 31 December 2023
## **Objectives and Activities**
## **Purpose:**
LEEF promotes excellence in environmental education and education for sustainable development across London, supporting the development and training of staff, volunteers and others delivering such education by bringing together a range of individuals and organisations that work in this area.
LEEF aims to _‘.advance the education of the public in subjects relating to the protection, enhancement and rehabilitation of the environment and sustainable development and to promote study and research in such subjects provided that the useful results of such study are disseminated to the public at large.’_
## **Summary of main activities:**
To deliver its charitable objects LEEF:
- Delivers an annual programme of low-cost training events which enable LEEF members, other environmental educators and interested members of the public to learn and share experiences about a range of environmental and sustainability topics in order to improve access to urban green space and the natural world for all, particularly those living in significantly deprived areas.
- Provides networking opportunities for professionals and interested parties to swap experiences and best practice, and to make connections/develop partnerships with other groups across London.
- Operates a Fellowship scheme designed to recognise the skills and experience of senior practitioners, provide opportunities to share their wisdom, and create a mentoring network for less experienced professionals.
- Provides a forum for our members to share questions and advice.
- Circulates and conduct research into topics of interest to our members and the wider community with a view to utilising our sector experience to improve policy guidelines in London and other urban areas of the UK.
## **Trustee Declaration**
The trustees declare that they have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the commission in exercising their powers or duties.
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**London Environmental Educators’ Forum**
Trustees' Annual Report for the Period Ended 31 December 2023
## **Achievements and Performance**
## **Membership**
LEEF has four membership categories, reflecting the breadth of individuals and organisations working across London. In 2023:
- 9 Freelance / volunteer / Students / Retired members
- 5 Individual members
- 17 small organisations, with up to 4 staff members
- 7 large organisations, with up to 10 staff members
## **Annual Training Programme**
Many of our members are one of a small team or the only environmental education in their organisation, LEEF events are an opportunity for face-to-face interaction with others in similar circumstances and enable mutually supportive relationships to develop. Example events
- Natural History GCSE Update and discussion online – March 2023
- Sensory Accessibility workshop at the Natural History Museum – July 23
- Bat and Moth Leader Training – September 2023
## **Networking**
Networking events have a more social focus. We ran the following events in this reporting period:
- Winter Social – December 2023
## **Fellowship Scheme**
The Fellowship scheme recognises members and their contribution to environmental and sustainable education. No event was run in this reporting period.
## **Member forum and Communications**
The main member forum is through an email group. This provides an open forum for members to communicate with the rest of the membership, about topics and themes that are of interest. Through this members are able to share jobs and opportunities directly with others.
A mailing list is used to communicate with members and a wider group of people who are interested in LEEF events, but may not have joined.
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**London Environmental Educators’ Forum** Trustees' Annual Report for the Period Ended 31 December 2023
Wider engagement is through social media channels: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
## **Contribution made by volunteers:**
LEEF is supported by the Trustees who undertake their duties in a voluntary capacity. Additional volunteer support was provided by:
- Georgia Prasad – compiling and sending newsletters using Mailchimp
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**London Environmental Educators’ Forum**
Trustees' Annual Report for the Period Ended 31 December 2023
## **Financial Review**
## **Financial Position**
The Charity ended the year with a reasonable balance in the bank. This is enough to cover running expenses and ensures the charity is able to operate as we apply for new core funding.
## **Reserves Policy**
The trustees have established a reserves policy commensurate with the activities of a small charity that needs to be flexible to maintain its operations. LEEF aims generally to be solvent and for its expenditure not to exceed income. However, reserves are needed to avoid financial difficulties with the time-limited nature of grant funding, and in recognition that there may be unexpected expenditure or unforeseen operational costs.
There should be adequate funds to meet all current and known future liabilities, and the trustees have established a policy whereby the free reserves held by the charity should be sufficient to cover three months activity of the charity and at minimum one month.
LEEF is currently able to meet the three months' recommended level of reserves and the policy will be reviewed annually.
## **Related Party Transactions**
No remuneration was paid to any trustees or other related parties. There were minimal Trustee expenses. Trustees are also members of LEEF, many as part of the organisation they are employed by. The income from Trustee membership is under £200.
## **Funding**
There has been no external funding in this reporting period.
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**London Environmental Educators’ Forum** Trustees' Annual Report for the Period Ended 31 December 2023
## **Structure Governance and Management**
## **Type of Governing Document:** Constitution
**How the Charity is Constituted:** Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)
## **Trustee Selection**
LEEF is managed by a Board of Trustees drawn from the LEEF network. Our trustees bring a wealth of skills and sector knowledge to their role at LEEF as detailed below and they receive no financial remuneration from the charity in return.
Trustees shall be appointed on the basis of their knowledge and experience of environmental education in London. Every trustee must be appointed for a term of three years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees. Details of the current trustees is available on the LEEF website.
Further information about LEEF trustees is set out in section 9 of the LEFEF constitution.
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**London Environmental Educators’ Forum**
Trustees' Annual Report for the Period Ended 31 December 2023
## **Reference & Administration Details**
Charity name: London Environmental Educators Forum Other names the charity uses: LEEF Charity number: 1168740 Charity's operating address: c/o International House, 30 Romford Road, London, E15 4BZ
**Names of the Charity Trustees who Manage the Charity**
||**_Trustee Name_**|**_Office (if any)_**|**_Appointed_**|**_Retired_**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|1:|Dr Iain Boulton|Chair|11 Aug 2016||
|2.|Helen Robertson||11 Aug. 2016||
|3.|Richard Pering||1 Oct. 2019||
|4.|Stuart Walker||4 May 2020|Jan 2023|
|5:|Shaira Begum||20 Oct. 2020|Jan 2023|
|6.|Dr Jaya Gajparia||26 May 2021|July 2023|
## **Names & Addresses of Advisors**
Bank:
Independent Examiner:
The Co-operative Bank. P.O. Box 101, 1 Balloon Street, Manchester, M60 4EP
None, as income in 2020 did not reach the required threshold for external examination
## **Names of Senior Staff with Delegated Responsibilities**
There were no employees in this reporting period.
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**London Environmental Educators’ Forum** Trustees' Annual Report for the Period Ended 31 December 2023
## **Declarations**
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
Full name(s): ………… Iain Bolton ……………………… Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc): …………Chair……………… Date: ………19/10/2024…………………………… Full name(s): …Helen Robertson………………… Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc): ……Trustee……………………………… Date: ………19/10/2024…………………………
8
|**LONDON ENVIRONMETNAL EDUCATORS FORUM**|**LONDON ENVIRONMETNAL EDUCATORS FORUM**|**LONDON ENVIRONMETNAL EDUCATORS FORUM**|**1168740**||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Receipts andpayments accounts**||||**CC16a**|
|**For the period**
**from**|1/1/2023|**To**|31/12/2023||
|**Section A Receipts and payments**|**Section A Receipts and payments**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest**
**£**
**3,023**
**203**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**3,226**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**3,226**
**-**
**375**
**173**
**-**
**548**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**548**
**2,678**
**-**
**11,122**
**13,800**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**3,023**
**203**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**3,226**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**3,226**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**375**
**-**
**-**
**173**
**-**
**-**
**548**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**548**
**2,678**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
|Memberships|**3,023**||**-**||**3,535**|
|TrainingEvents|**203**||**-**||**1,127**|
|Donations/ Other|**-**||**-**||**328**|
|Grants|**-**||**-**||**1,000**|
||||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**
**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|**3,226**||||**5,990**|
|||||||
|~~**A2 Asset and investment sales,**~~
**(see table).**||||||
||**-**||**-**|||
||**-**||**-**
**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**|**-**||||**-**|
|**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**||||||
||||**-**||**5,990**|
|||||||
|
SalaryInc NI and Pensions|**-**||**-**||**1,068**|
|Other staff costs(training&payroll)|||**-**||**-**|
|Additional Staff|||**-**||**-**|
|Rent & Admin(incl. insurance & ICT)|**375**||**-**||**855**|
|Legal / Professional Fees|||**-**||**-**|
|Volunteer Expenses|||**-**||**-**|
|Events & TrainingWorkshops|**173**||**-**||**1,260**|
||||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**
**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_ **|**548**||||**3,183**|
|||||||
|**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**||||||
||**-**||**-**|||
||**-**||**-**
**-**|||
|**_Sub total_ **|**-**||||**-**|
|**_Total payments_**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_**||||||
||||**-**||**3,183**|
|||||||
||**2,678**||
**-**||**2,807 **|
||**-**||**-**|**-**
**11,122**|**-**|
||**11,122**||**-**||**11,122**|
||**13,800**||
**-**|**13,800**|**13,929**|
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
24/10/2024
1
|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at**|**the end of the period**||
|---|---|---|---|
|**Categories**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B5 Liabilities**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B1 Cash funds**|Signature
**Details**
**Details**
Co-op Bank
**Details**
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
**Details**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**13,800**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**13,800**
**-**
OK
OK
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**
**-**
Ian Bolton
Helen Robertson
Print Name|**Endowment funds**
**to nearest £**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||OK|
||||**Endowment funds**
**to nearest £**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value (optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value (optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**When due (optional)**|
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
||||Date of approval|
|||Ian Bolton|19/10/2024|
|||Helen Robertson|19/10/2024|
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
24/10/2024
2