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Annual Report 2023/2024

Reporting period:

06/04/2023 – 05/04/2024

National Federation of Parks and Green Spaces (NFPGS) charity registration number: 1185924

Registered address: 7 Carrick Gardens, London, N17 7AX

Email: info@natfedparks.org.uk Websites: https://www.natfedparks.org.uk/https://www.parkscommunity.org.uk

Who are we and what do we do?

The National Federation of Parks and Green Spaces [NFPGS] is a CIO* and is governed by our constitution which can be found on our website (https://natfedparks.org.uk/resources/). The NFPGS was originally constituted in 2010 but converted to a CIO on the 23[rd] November 2019 which was registered with the Charity Commission on the 22/10/2019.

OUR MISSION

(What we do)

The NFPGS promotes the voluntary sector concerned with the protection and improvement of the UK’s parks and open green spaces of all kinds as public facilities and resources for the benefit of the public. It does this by providing advocacy, advice and information to its members and the wider public in support of its’ charitable objects. It acts as an umbrella for Friends Groups Forums and other stakeholders of public open spaces nationally.

OUR GOALS / PURPOSE

(What we must achieve)

Influencing strategic decision making and policy, and lobbying for statutory recognition and adequate funding for public green space
Addressing the deficiencies of green space in the environment
Advancing the education of the public in the enjoyment, understanding, appreciation, and conservation of open spaces.
Promoting the development and empowerment of Friends / Community Groups for parks and open spaces, and their forums and networks, their communication and cooperation, and their full involvement in the management of their parks and open spaces
Raising the profile of members and the Friends Groups movement as a whole.

OUR VISION

(What we want to be)

The Federation to become the ‘go to’ organisation and resource for all information for and about the Friends Groups’ movement, and by coordinating and strengthening that movement thereby have a real and positive influence over the future of the UK’s green spaces.

OUR BEHAVIOURS

Inclusive
Transparent

(How we will work)

Respectful
Encouraging
Sharing
Focused
Outspoken
Collaborative

*A Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) is a corporate form of business designed for (and only available to) charitable organisations in England and Wales, similar to (but with important differences from) a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation.[1] CIO status is conferred by the Charity Commission for England and Wales on application by a charity, whether new or existing.

Charitable Objects [as registered with the Charity Commission]

To promote the voluntary sector concerned with the protection and improvement of the UK’s parks and open green spaces of all kinds as public facilities and resources for the benefit of the public by:

a) influencing strategic decision-making and policy, and lobbying for statutory recognition and adequate funding for public green space;

b) addressing the deficiencies of green space in the environment;
c) advancing the education of the public in the enjoyment, understanding, appreciation and conservation of open spaces;
d) promoting the development and empowerment of friends/community groups for parks and open spaces, and their forums and networks, their communication and cooperation, and their full involvement in the management of their parks and open spaces;
e) raising the profile of members and the friends groups movement as a whole. "voluntary sector" is defined as "charities and voluntary organisations".

Charities are organisations, which are established for exclusively charitable purposes in accordance with the law of England and Wales. Voluntary organisations are independent organisations which are established for purposes that add value to the community as a whole, or a significant section of the community, and which are not permitted by their constitution to make a profit for private distribution. Voluntary organisations do not include local government or other statutory organisations.

What the charity does:

General Charitable Purposes
• Environment / conservation / heritage
Economic / Community Development / employment
• Recreation

Who the charity helps:

Other Charities Or Voluntary Bodies
The General Public / humankind

How the charity helps:

Provides Advocacy / advice / information
• Sponsors Or Undertakes Research
Acts As An Umbrella Or Resource Body

Where the charity operates:

Throughout England and Wales
• Northern Ireland
Scotland

Activities - how the charity spends its money:

The Federation works with the dynamic and inspirational grassroots movement of over 7,000 local Friends of Parks groups, supporting volunteers who act on behalf of the communities who use and care about our vital public green spaces of all kinds. We exist to represent their activities, issues and concerns and strengthen their 3

passionate and knowledgeable voices. To that end we communicate with local groups and Forums, manage websites and social media, produce newsletters and reports, organise meetings, liaise with Government, collaborate with other national bodies, contact the media, apply for funding, and manage our organisation.

To further explain what we do the following infographic(from 2019) shows how we fit together in the green spaces big picture.

Our theory of change also explains what we do, why, and the changes we hope to effect

We aim to share learning, develop good practice, and strengthen grassroots organisation, coordination and cooperation throughout the UK. Most importantly, we raise the issues impacting on our open spaces, including seeking the effective protection and improvement of all the UK’s 27,000 public parks and green spaces. We successfully campaigned for a national inquiry into how to end the current underfunding crisis, and played a significant role in it.

We want to see an active Friends Group for every public green space, and an active and independent Forum run by such groups in every area throughout the UK.

The Federation is a democratic, accountable, ‘bottom up’, grassroots organisation of the movement’s area forums and networks (currently numbering over 70 such Forums actively networking and coordinating over 3,000 of the local groups). We are uniquely placed to be able to support and build up this grassroots movement.

We provide support for friends groups working together to make a difference to their local area, city, region and nationally. Such groups and their coordination forums are dependent on unpaid and over-stretched volunteer commitment at every level, including our own Federation officers and representatives (who are also active in their local Friends Groups and Area Forums).

We are developing a partnership approach to working with other ‘community-facing’ national greenspace organisations, most notably with Keep Britain Tidy (through their Love Parks campaign team) with whom we have an agreed Memorandum of Understanding. We have supported the creation and development of The Parks Alliance as a campaigning body.

We call on all those who value the UK’s green spaces to work together to speak out and defend them, to call for the effective action urgently needed at Government level – make parks a statutory service backed by adequate public funding and effective protection. We call on everyone to support and help build the Friends Groups movement in every locality and area throughout the UK.

Better Friends – A Report on the State of the Movement of Greenspace Friends Groups throughout the UK

https://natfedparks.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/NFPGS-PCUK-Second-Report-2023.pdf

This pathbreaking and important report, produced by the PCUK team of the NFPGS (updated 2023), analyses in depth what Friends Groups do, how they do it, their memberships, character, needs, partnerships and successes. It is based on the statistics emanating from our Better Friends strength checker – a state-of-the-art audit tool freely available to all local greenspace community groups.

The only free tool of its type, designed specifically to help the thousands of volunteer Friends groups who champion and improve their local UK parks and green spaces. It is an enjoyable challenge and a neat way to test the current health of your group.

The ‘ Better Friends ‘ tool aims to help people understand and strengthen the effectiveness of their group, it will get them thinking about how they operate, how effective they are and highlight areas for improvement.

Those doing the survey will receive an emailed feedback report with an overall score for their group, plus a more detailed breakdown covering key topics such as:

organisation
structure
strengths
effectiveness
ambition.

Here is an extract from a sample “ Better Friends ” strength-checker report:

We recommend you use the tool as a group, but completion by individuals can also be useful. A guideline time for completion is 20-30 minutes . We really hope you find this tool useful.

Our Partner Organisations

We recognise the importance of collaboration and the benefits that good partnerships can bring and as such we are always looking to expand our partnerships with like minded organisations.

We currently have partnerships with a joint memorandum of understanding with:

Keep Britain Tidy - improving the environment on your doorstep
Fields in Trust champions and supports our parks and green spaces by protecting them for people to enjoy in perpetuity. Because once lost, they are lost forever.
The Conservation Volunteers - Connecting people and green spaces to deliver lasting outcomes for both.
Groundwork takes practical action to create a fair and green future in which people, places, and nature thrive.
The Gardens Trust is a charity dedicated to protecting and conserving historic parks, gardens and designed landscapes in the UK.
Campaign to Protect Rural England believes in countryside and green spaces that are accessible to all, rich in nature and that enriches all of our lives.

Let’ ’s s Celebrate, Improve and Defend the UK Green Spaces!

Our local green spaces are vital for everyone and every community – and for all age groups and interests! They are an essential and unique service promoting relaxation, recreation and play, wildlife and bio-diversity, attractive walking and cycling routes, green jobs and skills, heritage, flood control, health and social well-being, and community cohesion.

However, there is growing alarm from the public, from Friends of Parks groups, parks managers, experts and MPs, about the serious long-term damage being caused by devastating cuts to green space budgets for staff and maintenance, and the lack of funding and investment by local and national government. If not reversed, this neglect will cause them to go into serious decline and become problem spaces abandoned by park users and plagued by vandalism – or even being closed and sold off. We must not let this happen.

We call on all park lovers and the UK public in general to…

CELEBRATE our public green spaces and community activities organised there
EMPOWER OUR COMMUNITIES to take ‘ownership’ of our local spaces and get involved in all decision-making
SET UP FRIENDS GROUPS for every urban park and green space
SPEAK OUT to ensure that the needs of parks are heard loud and clear
OPPOSE threats of inappropriate commercialisation, development and sell-offs of facilities and green space
HELP CREATE A MASSIVE CO-ORDINATED GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT to promote, defend and improve our green spaces
DEMAND THE GOVERNMENT bring in a Statutory Duty to monitor and manage these spaces to Green Flag Award standard; and ensure adequate public resources and protection for all green spaces

The NFPGS, as the voice of the Friends Groups movement, pledges to…

CONTINUE TO ENCOURAGE, PROMOTE AND SUPPORT co-ordinated Friends Groups networks and conferences around the country
CALL for whole greenspace sector and supporters everywhere to back the grassroots movement and
this call to action

The Charter for Parks

Celebrate the central role well-run parks play in our neighbourhoods for all sections of our communities
Recognise the right of every citizen to have access within walking distance to a good quality public green space
Endorse a legal duty for all public green space to be managed to a good standard
Embed effective protection from inappropriate development or use, or loss of any part of our parks
Ensure adequate long-term resources for ongoing maintenance, management and improvements
Encourage and enable community involvement and empowerment of local people and park users

Parks Community UK operates within the movement of thousands of parks and green space Friends and community groups and we are managed by The National Federation of Parks and Green Spaces, the movement's umbrella organisation.

Our Trustees:

Our trustees are all elected by NFPGS members. At present the National Federation of Parks and Green Spaces is entirely run on a voluntary basis.

Name of Trustee	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for wholeyear	Terms of Office
David Morris	Chair	n/a	23/11/2019 –present
Michelle E. Furtado	Vice Chair	n/a	23/11/2019 –present
Sarah Elizabeth Royal	CEO	n/a	23/11/2019 –present
Nigel Thomas Sharp	Secretary	n/a	23/11/2019 –present
Martin Willis	Treasurer	n/a	23/11/2019 – 30/06/2023
Marion Williams	Vice Chair	n/a	10/04/2021 – 04/10/2023
Clifford Munn	Trustee	05/11/22 - 05/04/23	05/11/2022 - 04/10/2023
ShellyJQuinton-Hulme	Trustee	n/a	10/04/2021 -present
Paul Ely	Trustee	05/11/22 – 05/04/23	05/11/2022 -present

David Morris: Dave was one of the founders of the NFPGS in 2010. He is the chair of his local Friends Group in Tottenham (North London), helps coordinate the Haringey Friends of Parks Forum, and chairs the London Friends of Green Spaces Network which coordinates the movement of around 900 Friends Groups throughout London. He liaises on our behalf with other national greenspace organisations and has been a member (its only community representative) of the Government/Sector official liaison body, the Parks Action Group, coordinating its Empowering Communities Working Group and projects.

Michelle Furtado: Michelle Furtado is a climate and sustainability consultant, focusing on systems-thinking and systems-dynamics, future visioning, and regenerative practices. She works independently as FuturEcoLogic (www.futurecologic.co.uk), is a Director of the Association of Sustainability Practitioners (https://sustainabilitypractitioners.org/), and Director of Green Tides CIC (https://greentides.org.uk/). She now lives in the mountains of Portugal, remaining a committed to supporting UK organisations, whilst growing her networks locally.

Nearly 20 years ago, she started designing parks and playgrounds with communities and fell in love with the volunteers who helped to improve and maintain these spaces. Whilst working in green spaces policy at national level, she joined the National Federation of Parks and Green Spaces, helping to lobby for fair funding and protection for our precious green spaces. With Green Tides, in Adur and Worthing, she helps develop The Wildflower Trail (https://www.thewildflowertrail.org/) that showcases the wonderful efforts of volunteers in protecting and enhancing the environment for pollinators. Connect with her on LinkedIn: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle furtado/

Sarah Royal: I have been part of NFPGS from the very beginning, as our first Chair. We worked in in close partnership with GreenSpace and then Keep Britain Tidy to help start up more Community Green Space Forums across the country and bring us all together in to the network. I have spoken to groups across the country and have met some many wonderful people I have been working in Birmingham with the Birmingham Open Spaces Forum since we started in 2004, moving from a forum of local parks Friends Groups to a CIO with around 140 community green space groups from across the city. My background shows my continued passion for our natural environment with a B.Sc. (Hons) from Leicester Polytechnic in Science and the Environment.

Nigel Sharp: From early days as an urban ranger, and later as a development officer, Nigel worked with Liverpool City Council for over thirty years, helping establish the Liverpool Parks Friends Forum, and later the regional North West Parks Friends Forum (which he still coordinates). Following work on the Love Parks project at Keep Britain Tidy, Nigel is now a group development worker at Sefton Council for Voluntary Services, in North Merseyside, supporting a wide range of voluntary, community and faith organisations, including park and beach friends groups. This role also helps inform his position as NFPGS secretary, responding to parks and green space community group enquiries with guidance, advice and support.

Shelly Quinton-Hulme MBE: Shelly joined as a trustee at the AGM in 2021. She is the Chairperson for the Friends of Victoria Park, Stretford and also the Friends of Trafford’s Parks and Green Spaces. She has a strong background in governance and is also Chair of Governors at her local infant school and runs Stretford Children’s Theatre too. She works as a Project Manager for Network Rail and loves her family life in Stretford and is a big part of the community there.

Paul Ely: Paul lives in London and joined us at the AGM meeting.

The majority of his working life has been spent in local government working for London based local authorities, Haringey and Tower Hamlets, and he also worked in the charity sector for Bankside Open Spaces Trust and more recently as an independent consultant.

Whilst in Haringey, he worked closely with the Friends of Lordship Rec to fundraise for and implement the £5.5m restoration of Lordship and subsequently teamed up again with Dave Morris on the NESTA funded project to share the good practice learned from Lordship about partnership working and community empowerment. As a trustee for NFPGS, he has taken a lead in developing a partnership with University College London’s Community Research Initiative (CRIS) which has enabled us to investigate how we could better involve people from an ethnic minority background in Friends groups and this year to identify factors that can lead to better working relationships with local authority partners.

In the pursuance of our activities the trustees named above confirm that they have given due regard to the Charity Commissions public benefit guidance.

We are always looking for new Trustees to join us to help strengthen the Federation and the wider movement.

– Our Year in Review April 2023 to March 2024

By NFPGS Chair – Dave Morris

The Friends Groups movement in 2023 and 2024 continued to be a crucial presence and determined advocate for green spaces throughout the UK.

However the generally woeful level of funding and staffing for the maintenance and management of greenspace over the last decade continued to be placed even further under pressure as Councils reported serious budgetary crises, cutting ‘non-statutory’ services, and some even being forced to declare bankrupcy. This included Birmingham where the local Birmingham Open Spaces Forum has been forced to grapple with the dire situation.

For the NFPGS, as the voice and coordination body of the movement, our key activities included:

assuming responsibility for the Parks Community UK platform for supporting those at the grassroots of the movement. This included promoting our ‘Better Friends’ selfaudit tool (which over 500 groups had taken advantage of by the autumn of 2024).
providing ongoing support for local groups and their area Forums (our members), for example supporting Glasgow Council to re-establish the Glasgow Friends Forum.
general communication and promotion, including occasional bulletins, updates and additional social media activity.
producing our second major ‘state of the movement’ report: October 2023 - - - - - https://natfedparks.org.uk/wp content/uploads/2023/10/NFPGS PCUK Second - Report 2023.pdf - re-affirming that there are around 7,000 local groups with 60,000 core activists and a total membership of around 840,000, altogether contributing around 7m hours of volunteering each year.
continuing our collaboration with University College London to support MA students research into UK Friends groups activities.
supporting the carrying out of surveys about Friends Groups activities and views, including on the themes of Heritage and Volunteering (for The Gardens Trust), Naturebased Inclusion activities (for a universities-based project), and Protection and Volunteering (for Fields in Trust).
holding a very well attended AGM in January 2024, and regular trustee meetings. We’ve organised 3 major discussions for Forum reps on:

• Relationships with Local Authorities.

Biodiversity Strategies.
Attracting and Retaining Volunteers.
continuing to support collaboration among greenspace national organisations, including sector alliances and joint calls for adequate resources for the sector. This included

promoting the ‘Nature for Everyone’ alliance, and a ‘Restore Nature Now’ march.

invited in October 2023 to provide evidence to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee of Westminster MPs detailing the chronic underfunding of the greenspace sector, the history of the Parks Action Group and the need for its relaunch as the sector/Government liaison body. [Autumn 2024 Update – MHCLG is now planning to do this, and we have had a fruitful discussion with the relevant officials.]
attending conferences and making presentations promoting Friends Groups and community empowerment, including for the World Urban Parks annual congress in 2023.
seeking major core funding for the NFPGS. This has so far proved unsuccessful, despite extensive effort by Trustees. We therefore have no alternative but to continue to try to fulfil our crucial role within the sector and for the wider UK public without any staffing or substantial resources.

Impact

We believe that the Friends Groups movement in general has continued to remain a crucial force within the sector and in local communities throughout the UK and makes a real difference to many thousands of the UK’s green spaces. However, the reach of the movement is still patchy: there remain so many spaces which don’t yet benefit from having a Friends Group, and many towns and areas are without a coordinating Forum or network to champion all the public greenspace in their area.

As we experience yet another funding crisis for local government, we anticipate that more and more groups will be established to defend and protect their local green spaces and that local authorities will hope that these new groups can help to provide the crucial services, such as maintenance and activation, that they are withdrawing from as a result of a lack of funding.

The NFPGS ensures that there is a strategic voice and overview at national level and is crucial to the practice, coordination, effectiveness and success of this movement. However, the NFPGS needs proper resourcing to offer the Friends movement the support it requires and deserves (eg staffing for our admin, coordination and social media - which we continue to seek and which most of the other national greenspace organisations have) and with which our impact would be far greater.

Financial Review:

Reserves policy: We will not hold in excess of six months average expenditure as reserves and will ensure that any accumulation over this will be spent on furthering the aims and objectives of the organisation.

Amount of reserves currently held: £0

We do not incur financial liabilities and so should not find itself in deficit.

No employees have total benefits over £60k for this charity

Fundraising – This charity raises funds from the public but does not work with professional fundraisers or commercial participators.

Trading – This charity does not have any trading subsidiaries.

Trustee payments - One trustee was briefly hired freelance for his specialist skill as a consultant and therefore received payment for providing services to the charity. He did not take part in the relevant decision-making. No trustees are paid for carrying out trustee duties.

We have a suite of adopted policies which can be seen at NFPGS Policies (natfedparks.org.uk)

ned Accounts 2023 2024 CMARIIY IOMMISSION IOQ INGIAO AND WAIIS Nalional FdratiowJ ol Parks GreeTr Spaces 1185924 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a Foi the peiiod from 0610412023 0510412024 Section A Receipts and payments Unies41ic4ed funds Aestiicted funds Endofftenl lunds Toial funds Lasi yeai ib* &e4ve51 t A1 Recei ts ht lorward B414n<¢ biou 5.154 .•68 5.154 ¥.060 Dohatioh= ?.022 ¥.022 A2 A55et and investmenl sales. Isee tablel. 9.022 Ib.1122 A3Pa 64 150 64 W¢brflt¢ ho= Bahk ¢haf9¢: 286 286 A4 Asset and investmenl uichases. (see iablel 286 2•6 A5 Tran5feis bet¥een funds A6 Cash funds last yeai end 16

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unrestricled funds Restricted lunds Endovmert r'Y.T4 funds Caiegories Deiails Bl Cash funds l>ahk b41ahCt 8.786 Tel&/cash 8.736 Unrestricied Funds Restricted lunds Endo¥ffteN frunds Defai15 B2 Oiher monetary a88eQ8 Uelails assel bel B3 Inveslment a88el8 Deialls asst btlo B4 Assets retained For the charity's own use Detai15 tio•al B5 Liabililies Signed byone or two Irus¢ees on behalf ol all the trusteès Signatur Print Nam* Dale ol roval Shèll uinion-Hulrne 1310712024 17

OpenCharities

2024-04-05-accounts