## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the period**
**From 1[st] January 2025 to 31[st] December 2025**
## **Charity name: Treez CIO**
## **Charity registration number: 1185908**
## **Objectives and Activities**
||SORP reference||
|---|---|---|
|Summary of the purposes of
the charity as set out in its
governing document|Para 1.17|**The advancement of environmental**
**protection and improvement for the**
**public benefit in Malawi by providing**
**funding for locally managed reforestation**
**projects.**|
|Summary of the main
activities in relation to those
purposes for the public
benefit, in particular, the
activities, projects or services
identified in the accounts.|Para 1.17 and
1.19|**The charity’s activities are confined to**
**raising funds and making grants to assist**
**projects carried out by others in Malawi.**
**During the period of this report the**
**projects being supported in this way are**
**those of Zomba TREEZ Ltd, a not for**
**profit company formed in Malawi in an**
**effort to protect and restore the once well**
**forested area of the Zomba Plateau. Work**
**for which grants have been given relate**
**to the planting, maintenance and**
**protection of trees in this location.**|
|Statement confirming
whether the trustees have
had regard to the guidance
issued by the Charity
Commission on public
benefit|Para 1.18|**The trustees have had regard to the**
**guidance from the Charity**
**Commissioners on public benefit**|
## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
||SORP reference||
|---|---|---|
|Policy on grant making|Para 1.38|**The grants that the CIO can make are**
**necessarily dependent on the amount of**
**donations received. The aim is for all**
**donation income ultimately to be given as**
**grants, apart from a minimal amount for**
**expenses and a small working balance.**
**(but bearing in mind that it will generally**
**be safer to retain funds in the UK, until**
**they are actually needed).**
**An organisation seeking a grant must**
**submit a costed proposal for a project in**
**Malawi (and at least for the period**
**covered by this report it must also be in**
**the Zomba Plateau region). The**
**organisation must hold a bank account in**|
|||**its name.**
**Eligibility for a grant is then assessed**
**against the following criteria: The**
**proposal must be for community based**
**tree planting and protection initiatives**
**that**
•
**Mobilise communities to tackle**
**deforestation**
•
**Improve nutrition, food security,**
**incomes and local livelihoods**
•
**Support communities’ rights to manage**
**natural resources in a sustainable way**
•
**Mitigate the negative impacts of**
**climate change**
•
**Preserve and promote indigenous**
**knowledge of natural resource**
**management**
**The aim is to support organisations that are**
**based within or close to their community, and**
**which represent the interests of the local**
**community, including women and vulnerable**
**groups; and to help such community-based**
**organisations build their capacity.**|
|---|---|---|
|Policy on social investment
including program related
investment|Para 1.38||
|Contribution made by
volunteers|Para 1.38|**The charity has no paid employees. All its**
**activities are carried out by volunteers**|
|Other|||
## **Achievements and Performance**
||SORP reference|||
|---|---|---|---|
|Summary of the main
achievements of the charity,
identifying the difference the
charity’s work has made to
the circumstances of its
beneficiaries and any wider
benefits to society as a
whole.|Para 1.20||**Some Background**
**The Charity was formed as a result of the**
**Trustees’ awareness of efforts being made in**
**Malawi to reverse the degradation being**
**suffered to the once well forested highland**
**area of the Zomba Plateau. These efforts were**
**at first undertaken by individuals, in particular**
**the proprietors of Zomba Forest Lodge. Then in**
**2016 a not for profit company was formed to**
**facilitate the work. This was named Zomba**
**TREEZ Ltd (using an acronym that stands for**
**“The Reforestation of the Environment and**
**Ecosystem of Zomba”). The Charity was formed**
**to help raise funds outside of Malawi to help**
**with the work being done by Zomba TREEZ and**
**potentially other similar projects in Malawi.**
**Why reforestation is needed in Malawi**
**Malawi has one of the highest rates of**
**fuelwood use in the world, with 97% of the**
**population dependent on firewood or charcoal**
**for home use. Fast population growth and**
**increased pressure on**fuelwood and charcoal
have led to the depletion of Malawi’s forest
resources. In the last few decades, Malawi has
lost over half of her forests.
The loss of forests brings with it multiple issues.
Some of the most pressing ones include the loss
of potential forest-based income (fuelwood,
timber, honey, wild foods); changes in
microclimate, leading possibly to less
precipitation in areas with high deforestation;
threats to local water resources and overall land
degradation due to disturbances like fires and
soil erosion. Loss of tree cover also leads to
much greater risk to life from flooding. This was
tragically illustrated by the devastation caused
by Cyclone Freddy in 2023.
Poverty is both cause and effect in this scenario;
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the
world in terms of per capita income, and the loss
of forest resources is likely to disproportionately
affect communities in and around forested
areas that might already inhabit marginal lands
**Making a start in Zomba**
It is against the above backdrop that the
current efforts are being made to protect and
enhance the forest resources of the Zomba
Forest Reserve.
Zomba Forest Reserve encompasses Zomba
Plateau, a massif rising to 2000m in southern
Malawi. The plateau is the_only_source of water
for the city of Zomba, the former colonial
capital and now Malawi’s fourth largest city with
apopulation of around 100,000. Theplateau|
further gives rise to multiple streams and small rivers that are used for drinking water and irrigation by local communities all around the plateau. Zomba, and the country’s second largest city Blantyre (which is only an hour away), have placed rising pressure on Zomba Plateau’s forest resources; research has noted that urban areas depend heavily on charcoal (not locally collected firewood), meaning that the rising population of Zomba and Blantyre will continue using more and more charcoal, sourced one way or another from local timber resources. Zomba Plateau has lost vast amounts of its natural forest in the recent past. The existing forests have also been ravaged by human-induced wildfires. This has led to a vicious cycle of forest depletion, leading to loss of livelihoods, which in turns pressures communities to extract even more resources from the forest
## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
||Achievements against
objectives set|Para 1.41|In the year the Charity received
donations of £7,617, and a grant of
£12,000 from the Belvedere Trust.
From Malawi, Zomba TREEZ made
two funding requests in the period:
the first for £5000, the second for
£8000. Both related to the on-going
project under which community
groups have been set up and
allocated areas in need of
reforestation. There are now 14 such
groups. Reforestation is being sought
through both new planting and
rewilding. Zomba TREEZ pay an
annual sum to the groups based on
the number of trees, whether newly
planted, previously present or
naturally regenerated, which are still
surviving in their respective areas.
This approach is designed to
encourage continuing maintenance of
the regrowing forest as well as new
planting. The two requests were
granted making a total of £13,000
given in the year to aid this key
project.|
|---|---|---|---|
|||In September Zomba TREEZ held their
annual Run4Reforestation on the
Plateau. As in previous years the
Charity saw an increase in donations
around that time, some of this coming
from sponsorship of “virtual runs”
elsewhere. As well as being a
fundraiser, the event itself is
important locally in Malawi to raise
awareness of conservation, and show
what is being done.
Towards the end of the dry season
Malawi had hot and windy weather.
This increased the danger of fire; and
several fires did break out on the
plateau. As in previous years Zomba
TREEZ had organised local groups
earlier in the year to clear fire breaks,
which helped with containment.
Nevertheless, bringing the fires under
control was far from easy. Without
any professional fire service or special
equipment, it was down to Zomba
TREEZ and their sponsored
community groups to fight the fires in
difficult terrain, often at night and
with no more than a pickup truck to
carry water to anywhere near where
it is needed. Their efforts however
were largely successful in limiting
damage and protecting areas where
conservation efforts had been
concentrated.
.|
|---|---|---|
|Performance of fundraising
activities against objectives
set|Para 1.41||
|Investment performance
against objectives|Para 1.41||
||||
Other
## **Financial Review**
|**Financial Review**|||
|---|---|---|
|Review of the charity’s
financial position at the end
of the period|Para 1.21|**The Charities Income for the year was**
**£19,653**|
|Statement explaining the
policy for holding reserves
stating why they are held|Para 1.22|**Funds are retained for the purpose of**
**making future grants as needed**|
|Amount of reserves held|Para 1.22|**£19,845 at the year end**|
|Reasons for holding zero
reserves|Para 1.22||
|Details of fund materially in
deficit|Para 1.24||
|Explanation of any
uncertainties about the
charity continuing as a going
concern|Para 1.23||
## **Additional information (optional)**
|**Additional information (optional)**|**Additional information (optional)**||
|---|---|---|
|You may choose to include further statements||where relevant about:|
|The charity’s principal
sources of funds (including
any fundraising)|Para 1.47|**Donations**
**Grants**
**An annual fund- raising event- the**
**Run4Reforestation**|
|Investment policy and
objectives including any
social investment policy
adopted|Para 1.46||
|A description of the principal
risks facing the charity|Para 1.46||
|Other|||
## **Structure, Governance and Management**
|Description of charity’s
trusts:|||
|---|---|---|
|Type of governing document
(trust deed, royal charter)|Para 1.25|**A written Constitution adopted in August**
**2019**|
|How is the charity
constituted?
(e.g unincorporated
association, CIO)|Para 1.25|**As a charitable incorporated organisation**
**(CIO)**|
|Trustee selection methods
including details of any
constitutional provisions e.g.
election to post or name of
any person or body entitled
to appoint one or more
trustees|Para 1.25|**The Constitution named the first trustees.**
**It further provides that the CIO shall have**
**a board of trustees comprising at least 3**
**persons; and that the Board may recruit**
**new trustees. In selecting these the**
**Board must have regard to the skills,**
**knowledge and experience needed for the**
**effective administration of the CIO.**|
## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
||||
|---|---|---|
|Policies and procedures
adopted for the induction and
training of trustees|Para 1.51||
|The charity’s organisational
structure and any wider
network with which the
charity works|Para 1.51|**As described elsewhere in this report the**
**Charity is achieving its charitable**
**objectives by providing funding to Zomba**
**TREEZ Ltd in Malawi. That organisation**
**was the Charity’s inspiration and so far**
**has been the Charity’s only direct**
**beneficiary.**|
|Relationship with any related
parties|Para 1.51|**Two of the trustees are related to Thomas**
**Inch who is a director of Zomba TREEZ**
**Ltd (and also the proprietor of Zomba**
**Forest Lodge). James Inch is Thomas’s**
**father and Laura Coyle is his cousin. The**
**other trustees, Selena Gleadow-Ware and**
**Colin Doney, are not related, but were**
**acquainted with Thomas Inch during the**
**respective times they lived in Malawi.**
**The trustees are aware of the need to**
**treat Zomba TREEZ Ltd as they would**
**any other beneficiary and expect them to**
**submit written, costed applications in**
**accordance with the Charity’s grant**
**making policy before making any funding**
**available to them.**|
|Other|||
## **Reference and Administrative details**
|Charity name|Treez CIO|
|---|---|
|Other name the charity uses||
|Registered charity number|1185908|
|Charity’s principal address|**2 Underwood Cottages,**
**The Coombe,**
**Streetly-on Thames,**
**RG8 9RA**|
|||
## **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity**
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20|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole**
**year **|**Name of person (or body) entitled**
**to appoint trustee (ifany)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||Mrs Laura Coyle||||
||Dr Selena
Gleadow-Ware||||
||Mr James Inch||||
||Mr Colin Doney||||
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– Corporate trustees names of the directors at the date the report was approved
**Director name**
Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity
**Trustee name Dates acted if not for whole year**
## **Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others**
Description of the assets held in this capacity Name and objects of the charity on whose behalf the assets are held and how this falls within the custodian charity’s objects Details of arrangements for safe custody and segregation of such assets from the charity’s own assets
## **Additional information (optional)**
## **Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**
**Type of Name Address adviser**
## **Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)**
## **Exemptions from disclosure**
Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details
## **Other optional information**
## **Declarations**
**The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.**
**Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees**
|**Signature(s)**
**Full name(s)**
**Position (eg Secretary,**
**Chair, etc)**
**Date**|||
|---|---|---|
||James Davidson Inch||
||
Trustee||
||January 2026||
||January 2026||
**Treez CIO** (Charity number 1185908) (incorpora8on date 21/10/2019) **ANNUAL ACCOUNTS** for period from 01/01/2025 to 31/12/2025 Opening Balance £13,974.01 **Income** Dona8ons £7,617.34 Grants received £12,000.00 Bank interest £36.37 £19,653.61 £19,653.61 £33,627.62 **Expenditure** Fundraising expensesJust Giving subscrip8on £126.00 Enthuse subscrip8on £545.88 Bank charges £110.00 **Grants** Zomba Treez £13,000.00 £13,781.88 £13,781.88 Surplus £19,845.74 **Balance Sheet** at 31 /12/24 at 31/12/25 **Assets** Cash at Bank £13,974.01 £19,845.74 Retained surplus £13,974.01 £19,845.74