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2023-01-31-accounts

Annual Return to the Charities Commission ‐

Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts

For the Year Ending 31 January 2023

Charitable Incorporated Organisation Name:

Natural Sciences Collections Association (NatSCA)

Registration Number:

1186918

Address:

c/o Yvette Harvey, NatSCA Secretary

Royal Horticultural Society

RHS Garden Wisley

Woking, Surrey

GU23 6QB

Trustees in post for the period 1 February 2022 to 31 January 2023:

Jack Ashby

Clare Brown

Annabelle Buchanan‐Smith (co‐opted by board 31 October 2022)

Tannis Davidson (appointed at AGM 7 June 2022)

Patti Wood Finkle (appointed at AGM 7 June 2022)

Jan Freedman

Jen Gallichan (re‐appointed at AGM 7 June 2022

David Gelsthorpe

Amy Geraghty (appointed at AGM 7 June 2022)

Isla Gladstone

Yvette Harvey

Lucie Mascord

Laura McCoy

Holly Morgenroth (retired at AGM 7 June 2022)

Bethany Palumbo (retired at AGM 7 June 2022)

Glenn Roadley

Laura Soul

Paolo Viscardi (retired at AGM 7 June 2022)

Donna Young (retired at AGM 7 June 2022)

Structure & Governance:

NatSCA is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation run by elected volunteer trustees from its membership. NatSCA is managed according to a Constitution of a Charitable Incorporated Organisation with voting members other than its charity trustees. This states that NatSCA must have a minimum of nine and maximum of 15 trustees. Named trustee roles to ensure key functions operate are Chair or Co‐Chair, Secretary, Membership Secretary, Treasurer, Editor. Ordinary member trustees support NatSCA’s delivery of training, conference, social media and online blog, website, advocacy, conservation, awards, and bursaries.

At every AGM one‐third (or number nearest to one‐third if not a multiple of three) of the trustees retire by rotation according to those who have been longest in office. Vacancies are advertised to the membership and wider NatSCA community through our website, email lists and social media channels, and filled by decision of the members at the AGM.

Annual Activities and Objectives:

NatSCA supports natural science collections and the people who work with them, to improve care, access, and enjoyment for all. We are UK‐based but welcome international members and users.

NatSCA’s objectives are to:

(1) to advance the education of the public in the care and use of natural sciences collections and specimens.

(2) to promote for the benefit of the public the highest standards in the preparation, care, conservation, management, interpretation and research of natural sciences collections and specimens.

(3) For the benefit of the public to promote the science of natural sciences collections conservation and curation.

These are achieved through a combination of; training workshops, seminars & conferences; peer‐reviewed journal; networking opportunities; website & sector resources; member bursaries; member project grants; advocacy.

NatSCA’s achievements and performance 1 February 2022 to 31 January 2023:

The following report is compiled from an extract of the Annual General Meeting of the Natural Sciences Collections Association (NatSCA) held on 27 April 2023 and additional commentary, where relevant. At the AGM the trustee annual reports detailing what has been achieved by NatSCA for public benefit were presented to our members. Minutes and annual reports from NatSCA’s AGMs are also published in print and online in our Journal of Natural Science Collections.

The Annual Accounts included below in the Treasurer’s report and were approved for signature at the AGM.

Secretary’s Report: Yvette Harvey

Seven Zoom committee meetings and one hybrid (October) have been held between February 2022 and January 2023. October 2022’s meeting included a special vote (in accordance with NatSCA’s constitution) for a Treasurer.

Trustees have faced challenges at work and home over the past year, affecting meeting attendance. Please see below ( ‐ denotes special leave and grey denotes a non‐Trustee period):

ii.’22 iii.’22 iv.’22 v.’22 vii.’22 x.’22 xii.’22 i.’23
Jack Ashby y y y y y y y y
Clare Brown y y y
Belle Buchanan‐Smith y y
Tannis Davidson y y
Patti Wood Finkle y y y y
Jan Freedman y y y y
Jennifer Gallichan y y y y y y y y
David Gelsthorpe y y y
Amy Geraghty y y y
Isla Gladstone y y y y y y
Yvette Harvey y y y y y y y y
Lucie Mascord y y y
Laura McCoy y y y y y y y
Holly Morgenroth y y
Bethany Palumbo y y y
Glenn Roadley y y y y y y y
Laura Soul y y y y y y y y
Paolo Viscardi y y
Donna Young _ _ _ _
Total No.present 10 10 9 11 12 10 9 12

Treasurer’s Report: Belle Buchanan‐Smith:

Accounts summary 01.02.2022 ‐ 31.01.2023 Accounts summary 01.02.2022 ‐ 31.01.2023 Accounts summary 01.02.2022 ‐ 31.01.2023 Accounts summary 01.02.2022 ‐ 31.01.2023 Accounts summary 01.02.2022 ‐ 31.01.2023
Income 2022‐23 2021‐22 Expenditure 2022‐23 2021‐22
Institutional Subscriptions Running costs
Previous Years
£ ‐ £ 200
Committee Expenses
£(333) £(95)
Current Year(bank)
£ 1,880 £ 1,938
Website,Zoom etc
£(815) £(1,187)
Future Years
£ 40 Stationery £ ‐
£ 1,920
£ 2,138

Postage
£ ‐ £(22)
Personal Subscriptions Payment Fees £(141) £ ‐
Previous Years
£ 20 £ 20
Data Protection
£(35) £(35)
Current Year
£ 4,475 £ 5,455 £(1,323) £(1,339)
Wrongamount
£ ‐ £ 30
Workshops
Future Years
£ 150
£ 4,645
£ 5,505
Workshop Income £ ‐
Conference
SPNHC £(53)
£(53)
£ ‐ Publications & Information Provision
2020 Journal print &
Conference Income postage £(1,592)
2021 Journal print &
postage £(2,174)
2021
£ ‐ £ 240 £(2,174) £(1,592)
£ ‐
£ 240

Charitable
Donations Bill Pettit Fund £(2,528) £(4,510)
Donations £ ‐ £ 44
Bursaries
£(1,504)
£ ‐
£ 44

Sector support
£ ‐
Other £(4,032) £ 4,510
Misc.
£ ‐ Other
Publications
£ 12
Bank interest
Unallocated
£ ‐
£ 12
£ ‐
TOTAL INCOME £ 6,577
£ 7,927

TOTAL EXPENDITURE
£(7,583) £(7,441)
2022‐23 2021‐22
Cash(Deficit) / Surplus for the Year £(1,006) £ 486

Comments on Year End Accounts from Treasurer:

Cash Flow Statement Cash Flow Statement Cash Flow Statement OUTSTANDING EXPENDITURE OUTSTANDING EXPENDITURE
01.02.2022 Current a/c £ 48,791
2022 Journal Estimate £ 2,000
Paypal a/c BP 2020 ‐ Teeth KCL £ 2,100
£ 48,791 £ 4,100
02.01.2023 Current a/c £ 47,785
EXPECTED INCOME
Paypal a/c
£ 47,785.36
Balance Including Liabilities £ 43,685 £ ‐
Adjusted Surplus/(Deficit) £ (5,106) Estimated adjusted balance 31.01.2023 £ 47,785

Reserve Policy – Post AGM note:

NatSCA has been cautious in use of reserves over the past 2 years, during and following the COVID‐19 pandemic. Prior to this period the CIO general reserves were increasing year on year, largely due to consistent membership levels and good turnout at the annual conference. The trustees have reviewed the level of reserves required, based on spending commitments and timings, and consider that reserves in the region of £20,000 would be sufficient to ensure a secure basis for the continued operation of the charity and delivery of objectives.

Current reserve levels are more than twice this level and the board are working on plans to utilise excess funds to the benefit of members and the wider Natural Sciences Collections community. Initial plans over the next 3 years include:

The board will review reserve levels a minimum of 6 monthly, to monitor available budget for opportunities for additional areas of work, member and public support, and advocacy across the sector.

Charity Name:
Charity Name:
Charity Name:
No: CC16a
Natural Sciences Collections Association (NatSCA)
1186918
Receipts and payments accounts
For the period from
Period start
date
01/02/2022
To Period end
date
31/01/2023
Section A Receipts andpayments
Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
Endowment
funds
Total funds
Last year
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
Institutional Subscriptions 1,920


1,920

2,138
Personal Subscriptions 4,645


4,645

5,505
Workshops



Conferences



240
Donations



44
Publications 12


12

Bank Interest







Sub total(Gross incomefor AR) 6,577


6,577

7,927
A2 Asset and investment sales




Sub total



Total receipts 6,577 6,577
7,927
A3 Payments
Running costs 1,324


1,324
1,339
Workshops


Conference 53


53
Publications & Information Provision 2,174


2,174
1,592
Charitable Activities : Bill Petit
Grants
2,038
490


2,528
4,510
Charitable Activities : Bursaries 1,504


1,504
Sub total 7,093
490


7,583
7,441
A4 Asset and investment purchases



Sub total
Total payments 7,093 490 7,583 7,441
Net of receipts/(payments) ‐ 516
‐ 490


‐ 1,006
486
A5 Transfers between funds


A6 Cash funds last year end 48,301
490


48,791
48,305
Cash funds this year end 47,785


47,785
48,791
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
Categories Details Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Endowment funds
to nearest £ to nearest £ to nearest £
B1 Cash funds Current
Account
47,785
PayPal
Total cash
funds
47,785
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
OK OK OK
Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Endowment funds
Details to nearest £ to nearest £ to nearest £
B2 Other monetary assets
Details Fund to which asset
**belongs **
Cost (optional) Current value
(optional)
B3 Investment assets
Details Fund to which asset
**belongs **
Cost (optional) Current value
(optional)
B4 Assets retained for the
charity’s own use
Details Fund to which liability
relates
Amount due
(optional)
When due
(optional)
B5 Liabilities Journal 2022 Unrestricted 2,000
Bill Petit 2022 Unrestricted
Bill Petit 2020 Restricted 2,100
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
Signature Print Name Date of approval
Isla Gladstone (Chair) 27 April 2023
Annabelle Buchanan‐Smith (Treasurer) 27 April 2023

Membership Secretary’s Report: Clare Brown

1st February 2022 ‐ 31st January 2023

For 2022 the membership statistics are as follows:

Membership numbers have dropped slightly from 2021. This is likely to be linked to NatSCA’s reduced post‐COVID programme. However, it may also reflect the increasing cost of living problem and the stress on institutional resources. We hope membership numbers will increase again as our programme picks up with an in person NatSCA‐led conference in April 2023 and planned training events for the year. We are aware of the need to understand any continued drop in numbers beyond this.

I would like to thank everyone who has supported me with the membership work over the last year, Holly Morgenroth, Glenn Roadley and Justine Aw in particular.

Editor’s Report: Jan Freedman

We have had a lot of really interesting articles submitted for Volume 11 of the Journal of Natural Science Collections , covering a range of topics from decolonisation, conservation, collections research, and learning and outreach.

Volume 11 is online and available in print for those members who requested the hard copy version (https://www.natsca.org/jonsc‐vol‐11). The first two articles, Colonial entanglement in extinction narratives: the afterlives of two Saint Lucia giant Rice rats, and Promises of mass digitisation and the colonial realities of natural history collection, are available free for non‐ members, as part of NatSCA’s aim to make all decolonising articles accessible to the wider museum community.

There was a small delay in the completion of Volume 11, unfortunately due to a restructure in a museum, but I’m pleased to say that our colleagues were not affected.

As always, I would like to thank all the authors for their submissions, and all their hard work and time that they put into their original article and subsequent revisions. I would also like to thank all the reviewers who spend time to go through each article and provide positive and constructive feedback to improve the quality of the articles. And finally, a special thanks to our Editorial Board, Bethany Palumbo, Paolo Viscardi and Rob Huxley, who take the time to coordinate finding peer reviewers.

We are looking for two volunteers to join the Editorial Board. Being on the Editorial Board is an important part in the article review process. Members of the board will receive an article that has been submitted, and then reach out to find two reviewers. They are the contact for the reviewers, and return reviewed articles back to the Editor. The process helps by finding a large range of specialist reviewers that one person alone cannot do. The role involves good written communication skills, and is a great way to network with other experts in the sector. If you are interested, please contact me at Editor@natsca.org.

The deadline for the next Journal is the end of July 2023, and if you are interested in submitting an article, please feel free to contact me for any information.

Chair’s Report: Isla Gladstone

2022 has marked NatSCA’s first return to in person activity since the Covid‐19 pandemic. We have offered professional development and networking opportunities through a hybrid conference and programme of virtual talks. We have continued our digital and physical publications, with a steady flow of readership and increased diversity of contributors to our blog. The NatSCA trustees have also continued to review our operating model in the context of low sector resources and increasing cost of living, including a significant increase to our bursary offer. Additional priorities developed during this year for 2023 include trialling new volunteer positions and links to wider networks to help increase our capacity to deliver for, represent and support the NatSCA community.

Conference lead 2022, Glenn Roadley, reports that our first physical conference post‐ lockdown took place in Edinburgh in June 2022, in partnership with the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) and Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL). The conference was well attended, with 12 NatSCA members being granted bursaries to support attendance (10 physical and 2 digital). NatSCA hosted two symposia at the conference: One closed (‘ Civically engaged natural history museums: transforming public programmes to stay relevant ’) and one open (‘ Long Time No See ’). NatSCA’s AGM was also held as part of the conference.

In January 2023, NatSCA circulated a Call for Papers and Save the Date for the 2023 conference: ‘So how do we actually do all this? Hopeful futures and turning theory into practice for big issues in natural history collections’, to be hosted by The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke‐on‐Trent. Twenty six papers were received and all were accepted. Due to increased costs, the decision was made to increase registration fees, however the amount made available to cover speaker expenses and bursaries was also increased.

Our training leads Laura McCoy and Laura Soul have continued to deliver our regular Lunchtime Chats series, on the last Thursday of each month. These provide an informal opportunity for members to share topics of professional interest with our subject specialist network. Talks this year have ranged from an update on Bill Pettit funded project ‘Marvellous Molluscs’, to approaches to skeletal preparation and conservation at Natural History Museum of Denmark, to how to mitigate specimen freezer burn. Please do get in touch with training@natsca.org if you have an idea for a future Chat. We are also working towards

returning to our pre‐pandemic training programme of one skills‐based and one seminar‐ based event per year, now with the added benefit of virtual delivery options.

Blog Editor Jen Gallichan reports steady engagement from across the sector, with an increase in blogs submitted from non‐committee sources. This is partly due to blog articles being offered on receipt of bursaries, and partly because of an increased rate of successful submissions from call outs on the NatSCA Jiscmail. The 2023 blog calendar is currently filled until June.

Visits to blog page per month

Visits to blog page per month
Month Visits Views
February 1043 1551
March 1452 2047
April 1079 1547
May 1112 1767
June 1197 1679
July 973 1461
August 1067 1644
September 1619 1159
October 1196 1804
November 1254 1873
December 1306 1690
January 4273 3455
February 1239 1685
TOTAL for PERIOD 18810 23362
% Increase vs Feb 2021 ‐ Jan 22 +26% +8%

The highest number of visitors come from the UK, although we are attracting visitors from our colleagues in the USA, Australia, and parts of Europe. The table below shows a drop in numbers apart from a large spike in January 2023 from the USA and a welcome return of visitors from Italy who had not recorded views on the blog since 2017.

Country Views % Change vs 2020
UK 7962 ‐17
USA 6894 +24
Australia 466 ‐36
Ireland 461 ‐17
Germany 423 ‐1.5
India 386 ‐15
Canada 372 ‐18
France 338 ‐39
Italy 297 +100

A total of 42 articles were posted. The top, most viewed blogs covered a range of new and old articles, showing that they have longevity and remain relevant to readers for a long period after they are posted.

Post

Private Bone Collections: The Good, The Bad and The Illegal Giant Sequoia at The Natural History Museum

Telling The Truth About Who Really Collected The ‘Hero Collections’ Freezing Specimens and how to Mitigate Freezer Burn Resurrection 101

The SS Great Britain’s ‘Final Passenger’ Frequently Asked Questions in Taxidermy Brendel Plant Model Survey

‘Marvellous Molluscs’ – Increasing accessibility, improving storage & unlocking research potential at the University of Aberdeen

Collecting with Lao Chao [Zhao Chengzhang]: Decolonising the Collecting Trips of George Forrest

NatSCA Website lead Glenn Roadley reports fairly consistent traffic across the period, with generally higher traffic early in the year. There were a few spikes in traffic around April 17[th] , May 4[th] and June 16[th] . Overall figures for the year are down 25‐30% on the same period last year, bringing total users in line with 2020‐2021 following last year’s increases.

Visits to website per month

Month Sessions Users Page Views
February 2,199 1,690 4,800
March 2,146 1,611 4,409
April 2,545 1,968 5,366
May 2,674 2,097 4,786
June 2,467 1,902 4,846
July 1,454 1,071 2,943
August 1,531 1,162 2,973
September 1,701 1,314 3,568
October 1,863 1,395 3,563
November 1,784 1,317 3,517
December 1,606 1,202 3,096
January 1,754 1,338 3,284
Total for Period:
(% change vs 2021‐2022)
23,724(‐29%) 18,067(‐28%) 47,115(‐24%)

Top Pages

Rank Page Page
Views
Unique
Page
Views
Avg. Time on
Page
1(0) /home 9159 6679 51.06
2(+1) /taxidermy 3592 3278 353.65
3(+2) /jobs 3527 3056 89.82
4 (‐2) /importance‐of‐natural‐science‐
collections
1960 1721 336.71
5 (+1) /article/2509 (Nature Read in Black
and White)
1512 1310 360.13
6(+1) /journal 1310 817 33.92
7(+2) /care‐and‐conservation 1187 905 200.44
8(+2) /publications 1062 847 43.82
9(+3) /events‐and‐workshops 913 704 38.03
10
(+3)
/membership 714 595 136.54

Website updates have included 22 new journal articles and 66 sector job vacancies. Updates have been made to Awards and Bursaries, Committee Nominations, committee member profiles and Natural Science Collections and Environmental Action pages. Event pages have been created for the NatSCA Lunchtime Chats and the NatSCA 2023 conference.

NatSCA’s Bill Pettit Memorial Award , which is available to members to apply to for projects that support conservation, access and use of natural science collections, has been paused for the past year. This is to allow for time to recruit new trustees and volunteers to support its running. Our thanks to David Gelsthorpe who has administered this award as well as our bursaries. Tannis Davidson is now taking on this role and plans to re‐start the award scheme in 2023.

NatSCA has continued to partner on two national network projects in 2022. ‘DiSSCo UK’ (the Distributed System of Scientific Collections UK) is being coordinated by the Natural History Museum London and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). This project is working towards securing major investment for a UK infrastructure for digitising natural science collections – accessible to diverse sizes and locations of heritage organisation. ‘People and Plants’ is an AHRC networking project exploring the modern relevance of biocultural collections, in conversation with indigenous knowledge holders, researchers and museum professionals. The project has funded NatSCA members to attend workshops and share their content on our blog.

It remains a difficult time financially for many individuals and organisations. NatSCA has increased our bursary offer both in terms of number of bursaries and total amount offered, to support members to attend our events. We are also able to write letters of advocacy for specific collections at risk , please contact: chair@natsca.org. Through platforms such as our conference, we will continue to platform best practice that helps to sustain collections, and offer opportunities for connecting with colleagues for mutual support.

Election of NatSCA committee:

Trustees form a steering committee with obligations to ensure NatSCA meets our mission, ensure good governance and conform to Charity Commission regulations.

Below are the nominees for NatSCA trustee positions standing for election at this AGM. The Membership Secretary has confirmed that those proposed, those proposing and those seconding are all current personal members of NatSCA. No term will exceed three years without re‐election.

Below are the nominated candidates for Co‐Chair:

Nominee Position Proposed Seconded
Jen Gallichan
(3 year term)
Co‐Chair Yvette Harvey Laura McCoy
Isla Gladstone
(2 year ordinary term)
Co‐Chair David Gelsthorpe Yvette Harvey

There are two vacancies for Co‐Chair and two nominees.

Below is the nominated candidate for Secretary:

Nominee Position Proposed Seconded
Yvette Harvey Secretary Jen Gallichan Rachel Webster

There is one vacancy for Secretary and one nominee.

Below are the nominated candidates standing for Ordinary Member positions on the committee:

committee:
Nominee Position Proposed Seconded
Jack Ashby Ordinary Member Liz Hide Matthew Lowe
Eimear Ashe Ordinary Member Paolo Viscardi Amy Geraghty
Clare Booth‐Downs Ordinary Member Jen Gallichan Isla Gladstone
Laura McCoy Ordinary Member Yvette Harvey Patti Wood Finkle
Emma Murphy Ordinary Member Paolo Viscardi Amy Geraghty
Glenn Roadley Ordinary Member Olivia Beavers Lukas Large

There are 6 vacancies for Ordinary Members and 6 nominees.

At our AGM in 2022, NatSCA had one vacancy for a Treasurer and no nominees. At that AGM we stated our intention to co‐opt to this role. In 2022 we co‐opted Belle Buchanan‐Smith as our new Treasurer.

All appointments above were agreed or ratified at the AGM.

Vote of thanks:

NatSCA would like to thank everyone who has been involved in delivering our Activities in 2022 for sharing their time, expertise and content.

We would like to thank NatSCA’s trustees for their work leading on key activities as well as contributing to the overall running of NatSCA. This includes our new trustees in 2022 ‐ Amy Geraghty, Tannis Davidson and Patti Wood‐Finkle, as well as co‐opted Treasurer Belle Buchanan‐Smith, and former Treasurer Holly Morgenroth. We also thank Justine Aw for highly valued external technical support.

Jen Gallichan and the trustees would like to pass on heartfelt thanks to the great group of volunteers who compile our monthly Digital Digests including Glenn Roadley, Olivia Beavers, Milo Philipps, and Clare Dean (who has now stepped down). Our Editor Jan Freedman has shared thanks to the Editorial Board for their valued support: Bethany Palumbo, Paolo Viscardi and Rob Huxley.

NatSCA would like to extend special thanks to those trustees stepping down from committee this year: David Gelsthorpe, Laura Soul and Lucie Mascord. Their contributions have been highly valued, and they will be very much missed.

NatSCA’s strength is in being community‐led, and we value your contributions towards this past and future.