Whitby Wildlife Sanctuary Managers Report for 2024
A key aim for WWS in 2024 was to try to diversify our income to add more stability to our finances and ensure we had less dependency on social media related income streams. We have successfully managed to spread 90% of our income across 7 independent revenue streams in comparison to just 3 streams in 2022.
As our old shop came to the end of its lease in Q1’24, we had the opportunity to upgrade to a larger premises, officially opening in June. The new shop is in a better position, with better footfall and easier access for donations. The resultant increase in income has been encouraging and has enabled us to increase our spend on infrastructure for the charity. We made the decision to raise adoption fees due to rising vets bills. Adoption fees help us to cover some of the vets bills incurred. So we have seen an increase in funds raised through this avenue, though the adoption fee doesn’t cover the animals entire vets bill. We have been made aware of one legacy donation which will be made in 2025 but other than that, we haven’t seen any legacy donations come to WWS in 2024 so this isn’t a revenue we rely on. Therefore, unexpected large donations like a legacy donation always comes as a surprise to us.
There was a decrease in donations through text donate platform as we made the decision to close this account early in the year due to rising administration fees. A new platform has been chosen for 2025 with significantly less admin fees. There were some increases in the outgoings for 2024 mainly due to the higher costs of food and bedding. Less admissions yet food bills were higher, showing an effect of our current economic climate.
We appear to have found our comfortable number of annual admissions, being around 3000 casualties a year. Thankfully we still have an excellent relationship with our vets, The Beck Veterinary Practice. For 2025 though, we wish to improve relations with the 60+ veterinary practices we also work alongside, to ensure wildlife are getting the help they need in the areas they are in. We have found there was an unacceptable number of wildlife coming through to Whitby from other towns for reasons of euthanasia and that simply isn’t fair to the individual animal or the volunteers driving.
Year on year our utility costs appear to have reduced, but this is due to higher than normal spend in 2023 thanks to a billing error from 2022. Excluding this, utility costs have increased due to the larger shop premises and an expansion of our animal care facilities which require power and heating.
The trustees agreed that the site required continued development, upgrading and improving and in 2024 we decided to clad our main rehabilitation buildings. Not only do these improve the appearance of our site but it also helps to protect the buildings
from weather damage and provides better insulation too. We are continuing with this into 2025 with upgrading our predator building and a new build - a dedicated quarantine building. There was also a lot of work around the 3 acre centre as some enclosures were in need of improvements and repair. The tasks completed in 2024 includes installing new pump and filter systems for our seabird and waterfowl pools, building more shelter in the long flights used for owls and corvids , hardstanding in two paddocks and the repurpose of one of our cabins to become a dedicated space for hedgehogs and small mammals. We will continue to prioritise site development and maintenance as funds allow. The salaries of the staff is the second highest cost to the charity, but there needs to be appropriate levels of supervisions and support to ensure our large team of volunteers are well cared for, as well as the animals we admit.. We have good cover of staff to care for the animals and we maintain a good number of volunteers as well as students on placements. However, we expect a rise in wages in 2025 and hope to increase staffing to ensure our staff are fully supported in their jobs whilst trying to care for literally thousands of animals every year.
We feel the charity operated well in 2024. We had a higher volume of calls than previous years (over 13,000 calls) and though we may not admit all of the animals we are called about, we are still offering advice and support to thousands of callers every year. Calls come in from all areas of the country and though we are happy to offer advice and help to other rescue centres, it is not possible for us to take all of these animals. Though we primarily focus our efforts in the North East, it is a very large area and we are simply not able to attend all rescues , with our rescue & transport team being entirely made of volunteers. It would seem the increase of calls are from people who are struggling to find any help in their areas. We have also seen an increase of calls from other rescues and vet practices who are struggling to keep up with the demand and need for wildlife rescue centres so the public are often being directed to call us instead.
We noticed a drop in hedgehog and fox admissions as in previous years. We can’t explain the decrease in fox admissions but for hedgehogs, we feel this may be a sign of a declining population as other hedgehog carers have reported the same.
I continue to manage the charity and look after all volunteer teams as well as the staff team. Our volunteer teams consist of animal carers, rescue & transport, charity shop, online sales, tin coordinators, food bin collectors, administration , Newsletter, website and general maintenance. We hope to increase our volunteer numbers even further in 2025 so all these areas have a very healthy cover.
Signed,
________, Alexandra Smith, Founder & Manager
Whitby Wildlife Sanctuary Registered Charity CIO: 1185213
Income and Expenditure for the year ending 31.12.2024
Starting Balance:
| Starting Balance: | |
|---|---|
| Reserves Account as of 31.12.2023 | £28,999.30 |
| Business Current Account as of 31.12.2023 | £23,487.84 |
Income:
| Text Donations | £5,907.90 |
|---|---|
| Grants | £10,500.00 |
| Cash / Cheque Donations | £21,515.84 |
| Paypal donations | £705.21 |
| Event | £8,809.23 |
| Gift Aid | £17,829.25 |
| Direct bank Transfer donations | £42,439.93 |
| CAF donations | £38,911.08 |
| Facebook donations | £27,082.70 |
| Shop Sales | £55,437.26 |
| Total | £229,138.40 |
Expenditure:
| Food & bedding | £17,131.30 |
|---|---|
| Equipment | £13,036.47 |
| Building Materials & Infrastructure | £56,590.00 |
| Van fuel / maintenance | £782.21 |
|---|---|
| Vets | £27,679.16 |
| Phone & Internet | £1,172.77 |
| Rent / Rates | £7,951.15 |
| Wages | £44,832.60 |
| Administration | £9,869.12 |
| Shop rent | £27.231.24 |
| Utilities | £15,582.13 |
| Shop fittings / maintenance | £3,052.75 |
| Total | £226,253.94 |
Closing Balance:
| Closing Balance: | |
|---|---|
| Reserves Account as of 31.12.2024 | £35,952.03 |
| Business Current Account as of 31.12.2024 | £19,419.57 |
I certify that the above analysis shows a true and fair account of the cashflow for the year ending 31.12.2024.
Signed,
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Mark Smith, _____ Trustee Treasurer
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Whitby Wildlife Sanctuary Registered Charity CIO: 1185213
Accounts for the year ending 31.12.2024
I declare that this is a true record of the accounts for Whitby Wildlife Sanctuary for the year ending December 2024.
_________
Laurie Farmer, Chair
Stats and Figures of our work in 2024 WHrrBY WILDUFE SANCTUARY STATS 2024 2781 Total 58 mall Mammals 23 Large Mammals 2128 Birds 5 Repliles & 67 Cats hibians 64% SUCCESSFULREHAPAUTATION RATE VMTrY.whrtbywildlrfe co.u )A- 2024 LDLIFE 2024 LWFE RESIJJE TRENDS TRENDS 336 HEDGEHO th• d•y i &yoth & k6tt•n• burLlens 50 .' 07J17J737
2024 LDUFE 2024 LWFE TRENDS 1 PIGEONS TrENDS BIRDS OF PRE Kestrel Whltby 64/ iou ¢OndllDn WhiT4YOX411W 2024 LDLIFE 2024 LDUFE TrENDS TRENDS 6 SEABIRD 5 GARDEN BIRD ird an 84/ 42/ u¥. WS1217Sn4 Iv. Y02Z4P4W
2024 LDUFE 2024 LDUFE TrENDS TrENDS 27 RODEKrs 2 WATERBIRDS an 54/ l u•.. o7J4117J724 IYOII •NY4 2024 WILDUFE 2024 LDUFE TrENDS TrENThS 27 BATS 63 RABBITS & HARE 26/ Orphan Efftwl U.. ?175724 Wmthy. YQ224NW
2024 WILDUFE RESUJE TRENDS 2024 LDUFE 15 FOXES ThENDS 50 GAME BIR ley 74% Isn u¥". WS12X73724 i¥t4thy. V0224PJW 2024 LWFE TrENDS row 8ioornP•4st4rrn Iby YO224pThV
What some of our volunteers had to say about their favourite moments of 2024
'0000 $0 77L&ny; swons from stokesLEy Qnd Josephine the fo% but obviously these two thrivin9 ofter &rrivin9 on hlis07L L&bVtons shift orph&ned & tiny. Cuties • but then henry the ctst too IDI, Toddl The first ever fo cub I rescued fostered for & few d5. I'IL never ever for9et tA&t &m&zin9 e*peri£Trcel %
'Lots, PersoLLY... brin9in9 Fossg (w&s juno) ho?e &ll th&nks to her rescuer for brin9in9 her to the sAnctrg And fvlori nd tsecks Vets keepin9 her &Live &fter her wful sttsrt in life &nd losin9 Aer brother. ShÉ's still ktsvin9 on90in9 problems tsnd we're &t ecks more th&n I would like to be but I'm very tknnkful to the st&ff there especi&lly Libbg ond Juliette. Fossy is now loved sfyfe forever., 'This be&L4tiful boy. It so rewc&rdin9 to 9fc¢du&(ly work up to 9ivin9 him treats directly from 77Ly h&nd
'Cliff tsnd Clive the b&d9ers the stotst, 'hny of the b&d9er p&tients And JOIthn the fo who turned DL4t to be shel
WHITBY WILDLIFE SANCTUARY
Registered charity CIO: 1185213
FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST DECEMBER 2024
DRAYCOTT & KIRK CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS Cleveland House 92 Westgate Guisborough Cleveland TS14 6AP
WHITBY WILDLIFE SANCTUARY
SUPPORT GROUP INFORMATION YEAR ENDED 31ST DECEMBER 2024
Trustees
Laurie Farmer Chair Sam Taylor Secretary Mark Smith Finance Catherine Law Jennifer Law Carole Hardwick
Address
Broomfields Farm Stainsacre Lane Whitby YO22 4NW
Bankers
National Westminster Bank Plc
Accountants
Draycott & Kirk LLP Cleveland House 92 Westgate Guisborough Cleveland TS14 6AP
WHITBY WILDLIFE SANCTUARY
Receipts and payments account for the year ended 31st December 2024
| Note Incoming Resources Grants Text donations Cash/cheque donations Paypal donations Event payments Gift Aid Donations via bank transfer CAF donations Facebook donations Shop sales Other income Total Incoming Resources Expenditure Direct charitable expenditure Food and bedding Equipment Building materials /housing Van fuel and maintenance Vet bills Telephone and internet Mortgage payments Wages Volunteer expenses Administration/other Shop rent Utililites Shop fittings Shop merchandise Total Expenditure Net Incoming/Outgoing Resources Transfers between funds Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward |
Unrestricted Funds 1,000 5,908 22,978 705 8,809 17,829 42,440 38,911 27,083 53,975 - __ 219,638 __ 17,131 13,037 47,090 782 27,679 1,173 7,951 44,833 - 9,869 27,231 15,582 3,053 1,343 __ 216,754 __ 2,884 52,487 __ 55,371 __ |
Restricted Funds 9,500 - - __ 9,500 __ 9,500 __ 9,500 __ - __ - __ |
Total Funds 10,500 5,908 22,978 705 8,809 17,829 42,440 38,911 27,083 53,975 - __ 229,138 __ 17,131 13,037 56,590 782 27,679 1,173 7,951 44,833 - 9,869 27,231 15,582 3,053 1,343 __ 226,254 __ 2,884 - 52,487 ___ 55,371 ___ |
_ _ _ _ _ _ |
2023 7,966 3,726 26,162 6,272 6,196 35,309 28,234 28,225 27,825 35,596 1,679 _ 207,190 _ 9,745 14,451 24,740 366 32,375 1,325 10,247 40,546 11 7,175 10,500 23,301 _ 174,781 _ 32,409 - 20,078 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52,487 ____ |
WHITBY WILDLIFE SANCTUARY
STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AS AT 31ST DECEMBER 2024
| Funds Cash at bank Reserve a/c Assets retained for the Charity's own use Land & Buildings Equipment & fixtures & fittings Gift Aid due Liabilities Vet bill payable Independent examination Long term Liabilities Mortgage |
2024 £ 19,419 35,952 55,371 2024 3,983 3,983 £ 2,014 500 2,514 36,126 |
2023 £ 23,488 28,999 |
|---|---|---|
| 52,487 | ||
| 2023 0 |
||
| 0 | ||
| 0 0 |
||
| 0 | ||
| 40,244 |
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The annual report and accounts were approved by the Trustees on
Signed ……………….......………………………
Mark Smith
Full name .................................................
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WHITBY WILDLIFE SANCTUARY
Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31st December 2024
1 Accounting Policies
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, and are in accordance with the Charities act and Charities Accounting Statement Of Recommended Practice (SORP).
-
a. All grants and voluntary income are accounted for gross when receivable, as long as they are capable of financial measurement.
-
b. All expenditure is accounted for including VAT when incurred.
-
c. Transfers are made from restricted funds to unrestricted funds when grants are approved.
-
d. Reserves policy: The trustees have considered the level of reserves needed in order to maintain the ongoing activities of the charity. The trustees consider that an amount representing 3 months essential running costs are advisable.
| 2 Grants Receivable Jean Sainsbury Trust Seachangers France Hayhurst MyGivingCircle |
Resticted Unresricted Total 4,000 4,000 2,500 2,500 3,000 3,000 1,000 1,000 |
|---|---|
| 9,500 1,000 10,500 |
The restricted grants were for the purpose of property improvements and were fully expended during the year.
3 Funds
| Funds | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Total funds |
Opening balance 52,487 |
Transfer Incoming between resources funds 219,638 |
Outgoing resources 216,754 |
Closing balance 55,371 |
||
| - | 9,500 | 9,500 | - | |||
| 52,487 | 229,138 | - | 226,254 | 55,371 |
4 Transactions with trustee's and connected persons
During the year there was no transactions with connected persons.
5 Control
The charity is under the control of the Trustees.
Independent Examinerfs Report to the Trustees of Whitby Wildlrfe Sanctuary I report on the accounts of the charrty for the year ended 31 Dmber 2024 whith Ere attathed. Rp¢t1¥e re$ponslbllftles of trustees and examinor The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of tIE accounts The char ty""s trustees consider that an audit L8 not reouired for this year under serAion 144121 of Charth"Ès Act 2011 (the 2D11 Act) and that an independent examination is needed. It is my re$pon$ibilty ¢0.. examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act". follow the procedures laid d¢)wn in th¢ 9err81 "re¢lIOnS given by the Charity Commission under section 1451Sllbl of the 2011 Act". and state whelttw partiojlar matters have corne to rny attentN)n. Basis of independeni examlnerfs pOrt My examinatson was carrd out in accordaTh th tFie general Direaions given by the Charity C¢ynmission An examination irtludes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and E comparisw of the accounts presented with those records. It a150 IndleS considerabon of any Unusu rtems cr disdosures in the accounts, and Seeking explanation5 froTn you as trustees Conrning any such matters The [IfLKedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required In an audrt and consequenty no opirion is given as to whether the accounts present a.true and fair viw and report Is limrted ¢0 those matters set )tst in the ststement below. Independent examinerts ststement In Connects with my examination. no m3tter has ¢orY to my attention.. wh¢ch giv8s m8 roasonable cause to belie¥e that in any malerial respect. reqUIrents.. lo keep aCCting Tecottls in accordan with sectKJn 130 of the 201. ACL an to rKepare a¢Unts which aco)rd ith the accounting record5 anc eompty with the accounling uirements of the 2011 Act have not been rnet.. or to whith. in my ¢¥inion, attentKsn should be drawn inor(lerto enawe a proFr JndeTStanding of the ac¢ounts to be wched. C N Mason Chart8r8d Certified Accountant Dr8ycckt & Ki ClevelaffKI House 92 Iveslgate Gu15b(QUg aevel&ncl TS14 6AP Date