Trustees' Annual Report For the period
1 January 2024 to
31 December 2024
London Environmental Educators’ Forum (LEEF)
Charity number: 1168740
London Environmental Educators’ Forum
Trustees' Annual Report for the Period Ended 31 December 2024
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:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Provides a forum for our members to share questions and advice.
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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 2024
Achievements and Performance
Membership
LEEF membership is open to individuals and organisations. In 2024 membership was as follows:
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Large Organisations: 10, with approx. 80 members
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Small Organisations: 20 with approx. 52 members
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Individuals / Freelancers / Volunteers: 20 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.
Networking
Networking events have a more social focus and include the annual winter social.
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 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.
Wider engagement is through social media channels: Facebook, X 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 for the following activities:
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Newsletter production
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Social media support
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London Environmental Educators’ Forum
Trustees' Annual Report for the Period Ended 31 December 2024
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 2024
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 2024
Reference & Administration Details
Charity name:
London Environmental Educators Forum
Other names the charity uses: LEEF Charity number: 1168740 Charity's operating address:
Office 5651, 58 Peregrine Road, Hainault, Ilford, Essex IG6 3SZ
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 | ||
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 2024
Declarations
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
Signature(s): ………… ……………………………………………… Full name(s): …… Iain Boulton …………………… Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc): ………Trustee……………………… Date: ……22 October 2025…………………………… 7 AT vie Signature(s): ……………… ………………………………………… Full name(s): ………Helen Robertson……………… Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc): ………Trustee……………………… Date: …………22 October 2025………………
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| LONDON ENVIRONMETNAL EDUCATORS FORUM | LONDON ENVIRONMETNAL EDUCATORS FORUM | LONDON ENVIRONMETNAL EDUCATORS FORUM | LONDON ENVIRONMETNAL EDUCATORS FORUM | LONDON ENVIRONMETNAL EDUCATORS FORUM | LONDON ENVIRONMETNAL EDUCATORS FORUM | 1168740 | 1168740 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| To 31/12/2024 For the period from 1/1/2024 Receipts and payments accounts ~~ee~~ ~~ee~~ ~~ee~~ |
CC16a | ||||||||||
| Section A Receipts and payments | |||||||||||
| Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Restricted | Endowment funds |
Total funds | Last year | ||||||
| to the nearest £ |
to the nearest | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | |||||
| A1 Receipts | |||||||||||
| Memberships | 2,755 | - | - | - | 2,755 | 3,023 | |||||
| TrainingEvents | 130 | - | - | - | 130 | 203 | |||||
| Donations/ Other | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Grants | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
(Gross income for AR) 2,885 |
- | - | - | 2,885 | 3,226 | |||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). - - - - - - - - - Sub total - - - - - Total receipts 2,885 - - 2,885 3,226 ~~——————~~ |
|||||||||||
| A3 Payments | |||||||||||
| SalaryInc NI and Pensions | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Other staff costs(training&payroll) | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Additional Staff | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Rent & Admin(incl. insurance & ICT) | 819 | - | - | - | 819 | 375 | |||||
| Legal / Professional Fees | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Volunteer Expenses | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Events & TrainingWorkshops | - | - | - | - | - | 173 | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||||
| **Sub total ** | 819 | - | - | - | 819 | 548 | |||||
| A4 Asset and investment ~~purchases, (see table)~~ - - - - - - - - Sub total - - - - - Total payments 819 - - 819 548 Net of receipts/(payments) 2,066 - - 2,066 2,678 A5 Transfers between funds - - - - - A6 Cash funds last year end 13,800 - - 13,800 11,122 Cash funds this year end 15,866 - - 15,866 13,800 ~~——————~~ ~~====>=~~ |
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
30/10/2025
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Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Unrestricted Restricted |
Endowment funds | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Categories | Details | funds funds |
||||
| to nearest £ to nearest £ |
to nearest £ | |||||
| B1 Cash funds | 15,866 - - - - - - - 15,866 - - Co-op Bank Total cash funds ~~SSeS~~ |
|||||
| (agree balances with receipts and payments | (agree balances with receipts and payments | |||||
| account(s)) | OK OK |
OK | ||||
| Unrestricted Restricted |
Endowment funds | |||||
| funds funds |
||||||
| Details | to nearest £ to nearest £ |
to nearest £ | ||||
| B2 Other monetary assets | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~~===>~~ |
|||||
| B3 Investment assets | Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) Current value (optional) - - - - - - - - - - Details ~~===~~ |
|||||
| B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use |
Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) Current value (optional) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Details ~~====~~ |
|||||
| Fund to which Amount due |
When due (optional) | |||||
| B5 Liabilities | liability relates (optional) - Details ~~===.~~ |
|||||
| Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees |
Signature | Print Name | Date of approval | |||
| Ian Bolton | 22/10/2025 | |||||
| Helen Robertson | 22/10/2025 |
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
30/10/2025
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