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2024-12-30-accounts

Registered Charity Number: 1188486

Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements

For the period

31[st] December 2023 – 30[th] December 2024

Contents

Reference and Administration details

History

Objectives and Activities

Key positions and staffing within ELM

Achievements and Performance

Trustee Statement

Financial Review

Structure, Governance and Management

Future Plans

Chairman’s / Manager’s thoughts

Declarations

The Trustees of ELM Wildlife are pleased to present the financial statement and Annual Report for the charity for the period 31[st] December 2023 – 30[th] December 2024.

Reference and Administrative details

Name of Charity ELM Wildlife
Other name the Charity uses ELM Hedgehog Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre
Registered Charity Number 1188486
Registered Office Devon House
Ruckamore Road
Torquay
TQ2 6HF
Rescue Address Unit 5 Hayter Hames
Seale Hayne
Newton Abbot
TQ12 6NQ

TRUSTEES:

Mr Richard Parker (Chair)

Mrs Jacqueline Parker (Secretary)

Mr Neil Langridge MBE (Resigned on 14 March 2024)

Mrs Emma Hickson (Treasurer)

Mrs Gayle Bloomfield

There are no corporate trustees or directors or any trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity.

History

ELM Wildlife (Every Life Matters Wildlife) was created in October 2018 by the Parker family, Richard (Rick), Jacqueline (Jacky) and Emily. They started rescuing wildlife in 2010 and for many years, they worked by word of mouth until 2018 when they took on the void created by Devon’s then largest hedgehog rescue “Prickly Ball Farm” due to its closure.

The rescue centre gradually filled their house until ELM finally found a new home at Seale Hayne in July 2020; within 6 months ELM had filled the 2000sqft and continue to look for larger premises with outside space.

ELM became a Registered charity in March 2020.

Objectives and Activities

Aims and Objectives:

  1. To promote positive human behaviour towards animals, specifically hedgehogs, by providing appropriate care, protection, treatment and security for those who are in need of rescue, care and attention through sickness, maltreatment, poor circumstances or ill use.

  2. To provide advice and education to the general public concerning hedgehog and wildlife welfare, highlighting the need to alleviate cruelty and suffering by increasing the understanding of their needs.

Main Activities:

ELM Wildlife is open 365 days a year to rescue, rehabilitate and release native European hedgehogs in order to support and preserve the species.

We actively promote to the public hedgehog awareness and our ability to help when needed through telephone and social media. Members of the public contact us when they find an injured, sick or distressed hedgehog; advice is given via telephone in the first instance. If deemed necessary the hedgehog is brought to our rescue centre where they go through a triage process and if necessary, admitted for care.

Hedgehogs are assessed upon admittance with all casualties initially going into an incubator while being monitored and given subcutaneous injection (subcut) fluids. When stable, a course of treatment is decided; during the treatment assessment all casualties have a faecal sample tested, which gives an overall health picture.

The treatment process can range from rehydration and food, flystrike removal (which can take several hours), pain medication, a range of different specialised medications and antibiotics to treat all types of internal parasite burden, x-rays and major surgery supported is by off-site veterinary practice ‘Moorgate’, hand feeding or nurturing care until the hedgehog is heavy enough to be released to raising new-born hoglets.

We have a mortality rate of between 25-30%, this rate reflects our policy of taking any casualty and not suggesting the finder to take to a vets before coming to us, this practice is used by some rescues so as not to incur more cost, but unfortunately a lot of vets are not familiar with treating wildlife and their first reaction is to euthanize (PTS). This is not a reflection on vets and vet practices, their actions are driven more by lack of familiarity and the ability to give long term care. Any casualty brought to us that is deemed beyond help or in too much stress and pain, goes straight to the vets and at our expense.

Unlike other smaller rescues, ELM does not farm out casualties/hoglets for care at people’s homes, there is no adequate way of monitoring or medicating casualties this way;

continually moving wild animals is stressful. At the centre, the cages are cleaned out and the hedgehogs checked every day, their weight and general condition are monitored by the volunteers and then the trained staff. If any action is needed, for example medication, fluids or incubator, treatment can be administered immediately.

Once the hedgehog is healthy and has been rehabilitated, we aim to release them as soon as possible to where they came from, unless it’s not safe to do so. If the latter is the case, they go into our extensive rehoming program.

Our rehoming program starts with offering hedgehogs to finders that have brought in an animal from their property or nearby, if the animal has died from symptoms not related to its original environment, we may offer another hog to them that needs rehoming. The next option is to vet members of the public and their property/location who contact us to rehome a rehabilitated hedgehog. We constantly have requests for rehoming, this is a difficult, time-consuming process and ultimately sometimes leads to bad feelings when turned down; our focus is always on the safety of the animal and its ability to lead a normal life. I wouldn’t call it our final option, but we are working on creating small new communities in safe areas. This is not an easy process and does include a lot of work and angst in finding the correct sites, but we feel this is extremely important way to help aid the survival of the species. Our starting criteria for these sites are villages with no through roads, no badger population too close and a willingness from the community to want to help as a group.

At present ELM’s public interaction, guidance/information and support, is mainly via social media and telephone, although this year we have attended more in person events. We have a main ELM Facebook page and several Facebook groups. From the main page we can impart information, and the public can contact us on Messenger via the same page. We try to avoid contact from the public via email for animal issues as it is not as easy to share questions, messenger allows any of the ‘staff’ to drop in and answer a question. The rescue/advice mobile number is manned by Rick; this is contacted roughly between 30 and 80+ times a day, with an average call length of 5 minutes. That equates roughly to around 22,000 calls a year and if we say 5 minutes a call, that is 1,833 hours. If the call taken was to rescue a casualty and the caller cannot transport, a request via the ELM Ambulance group

on Messenger is generated, with the hope that one of the ‘group’ has free time to attend. In some circumstances, Rick or Jacky do have to recover the casualty. It is interesting to note that even though this mobile number is for rescues or casualty and general advice, there is a fair amount of abuse taken via this number from the public.

Now going into our fifth year at Seale Hayne, manning each day has been pretty difficult to fill. It is an ongoing struggle to source the increased number of volunteers needed for all the shift spaces required each day, 365 days a year. The total volunteer members fluctuate between 70 and 150, which is very fluid with people joining and leaving all the time. Motivating and organising the group and spaces on a daily basis has become a major task, so much so that it takes two trustees to manage it daily.

We have an ‘Ambulance Group’ on ‘Messenger’ that we use for members of the public to assist with relaying sick and injured animals to the rescue centre. This does work well and saves us going out to collect casualties. However, with the cost-of-living crisis and rising costs, it’s been a tricky year for support, so the amount of time people are willing to give is much less.

Key Positions

Rick and Jacky Parker continue to work on average 90+ hours a week, 52 weeks a year. Their dedication and commitment to saving wildlife and building ELM is immense.

Emily receives a small salary for the tremendous number of hours and dedication to the charity. Unfortunately, until ELM is better funded, she only gets paid for 25 of the 90+ hours she works every week.

We are grateful to the other Trustees who also contribute many hours a week dealing with all aspects behind the scenes to ensure ELM keeps running. We do, however, still need much more help and support daily with admin etc and, without funding for paid staff, this is proving difficult.

Achievements and Performance for 2024

At the start of the new hear we made the decision we really had to make fundraising a big priority! We started an online fundraising campaign to raise much needed funds by raffling items that had either been donated or we had purchased. This included things like an inflatable ice bath, a stay in a bed and breakfast, £250 Sainsburys gift card and a £500 M&S gift card.

We were delighted to welcome Bethany from 8[th] Newton Abbot Brownies to the rescue centre in February. As part of their Volunteering Brownie Badge, Bethany and her fellow Brownies have been fundraising and collecting food for us. Strengthening our ties with the local community is a huge part of our role as Charity and we love seeing the enthusiasm from the younger generation for wildlife conservation.

March was a month of mystery for our newest intake Spud! Looking very sorry for himself we initially thought it was mites and ringworm, but skin scrapes came back as inconclusive. We have had many hedgehogs in this year presenting in very poor condition like this causing a bit of a mystery for us to work out the best course of treatment.

April saw the return of our much loved Tea and Tours event at the rescue centre. With 5 tours throughout the day, tickets sold out in less than 48 hours! It was another opportunity to have small groups of the public into the rescue centre to see, first-hand, the work we do with the animals. One of the Trustees gave a talk whilst walking around and after the visitors were invited to join us for some wonderful homemade cakes with tea and coffee.

The day was another huge success making just over £1,000 in donations. It’s definitely an event we will continue to hold each year as it’s so well received by our visitors and gives them a rare glimpse into the life at the rescue centre and the work we do.

We saw our first Hoglets of 2024 arrive in early May…roll on the late nights and early morning hand feeds! This was the start of a deluge of Hoglets into the centre, the poor weather at the start of the year had massively affected their breeding season. These four hoglets were found when a mum made her nest under a stored car, when the car was moved these babies were found and rescued.

All four grew up and were released back into the wild.

The best news came in June when Rick and Jacky completed on the purchase of 10.75 acres of land to keep ELM alive. The land at South Knighton not far from our current rescue centre is far from perfect, but it gives us hope that one day we can have a new purpose built rescue centre for ELM to continue its invaluable work with hedgehogs and eventually all wildlife!

Now the fun starts with trying to secure planning permission.

During July we attended several village fairs and events, getting out to speak to the public and provide information and education leaflets was brilliant. We have always been well-supported by our followers who make wonderful craft items for us to sell, raising essential funds. We have attended village fairs in Abbotskerswell, River Dart Country Park, Ogwell, Illsington and many more this year.

August saw many many more hoglets continue to pile into the rescue centre, we were just able to balance this as we were able to release the earlier babies who now were big enough to be released to safe homes as part of our rehoming programme. Each hoglet going out in a hedgehog house and being support fed each evening by their new humans

September was another big push for fundraising. Gayle, Emma and Rick attended the Ipplepen Hedgehog Fair specifically put on for ELM by some of amazing supporters. This was one of our biggest fundraisers in 2024 and with the help of Louisa, her Mum and Ippleprickle we raised over £1350 in one day, incredible result for us.

This is Jess, one of the three foxes we raised from cubs. Due to no room at the rescue centre and needing constant care, they were brought on and weaned at home. It is very important to be hands off when preparing to release, not easy when at home and needing to transport to their release enclosure. After a successful release to the wild in September, they were still popping back for the odd snack in October.

November saw the return of the Christmas Fair at Abbotskerswell. We are tremendously grateful to all our supporters who so kindly made us wonderful homemade craft items to sell this year, without their help, we simply couldn’t do as much fundraising as we do. We always love interacting with the public, talking all things hedgehog and answering their questions.

When we are full in December we consume vast amounts of food each day! Our food donation points in the community continue to be a real success story, the number of drop of places is growing. These drop off points have given ELM a healthy supply of donated food and kept us going

throughout the year. We haven’t had to purchase any day-to-day food all year, only the specialist food for the hoglets, other wildlife and those in intensive care.

2024 overall was another busy year at ELM, but we only admitted just over 900 casualties in total, which doesn’t include any ‘dead on arrival’. This is considerably down on our 2023 intake, but not that surprising, the weather plays a massive part in their breeding ‘season’ and success rate and with the incredibly wet start to the year and the very dry summer it wasn’t doing them any favours this year!

The Trustees would like to express their thanks and gratitude to the huge number of volunteers for their ongoing dedication to ELM, we couldn’t have done it without their help.

Trustee Statement

The trustees confirm that they have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charities Commission in exercising their powers and duties. The public benefit of the Charity’s activities is to raise awareness of the endangered status of hedgehogs in the UK and to provide information about how to preserve the species.

Financial review for the period 31st December 2023 – 30th December 2024

Summary:

2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
Income for the year £75,894 £65,495 £46,805 £69,585 £34,244
Total expenses £89,400 £60,868 £44,891 £34,965 £13,351
Taken over -£13,507 £4,627 £1,914 £34,620 £20,893

Major sources of income:

2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
Donations £59,137 £31,535 £35,689 £62,758 £20,789
Fundraising £16,757 £33,960 £11,116 £6,827 £1,200
Total £75,894 £65,495 £46,805 £69,585 £21,989

Major expenditure:

2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
Rent £8400 £8,400 £8,400 £8,400 £3,500
Medical costs £4,073 £3,328 £4,517 £4,864 £1,238
Vehicle costs £7,166 £8,300 £5,855 £5,331 £3,938

Reserves Policy:

The Trustees monitor the financial situation throughout the year to ensure there are sufficient reserves to support the charity in case of difficulty, such as increased running costs, veterinary bills or a drop in donations. We aim to have 3 months running costs in reserve at any time. At the end of the last financial period 30[th] December 2024 ELM Wildlife had approximately £20,000 in reserve.

Details of any funds mutually in deficit:

The trustees declare that the charity had no funds which were in deficit at the date of the statement of assets and liabilities.

Charity’s financial stability:

As far as finance, 2024 is a turning point for ELM; this is the first year that ELM has had a deficit in donations related to expenditure. The irony is that donations are up, but not enough to keep up with the expenditure. A deficit of £13,507 is uncomfortable and we obviously need to find a way of replacing these funds, plus covering the same amount of expenditure in 2025.

The answer to the future stability of ELM is manpower and this manpower is needed to either help find funding or give Rick enough time to write funding bids. It is also needed to bring back the online raffles that were held at the end of 2023 and Q1 of 2024; this was a successful venture, which again rested on Rick’s shoulders. This is achievable with the right people in place.

ELM hits well above its weight as far as casualties treated and quality of care, but it really falls down on support staff. A well-funded rescue centre of ELMs capacity would have employees to focus on funding. Writing funding bids, is a bit of a black art; although Rick doesn’t relish the task, he’s willing to give it a go……………..given free time.

The £75,894 is amazing amount of support given by the general public / ELMs supporters and we feel humbled that our followers appreciate our work so much. The simple fact is that ELM would not exist if it wasn’t for the monetary and hands on help it receives.

Thank you all so much for your support, which helps us save wildlife.

Particulars of any outstanding guarantee given by the charity:

The trustees declare that the charity has not given any guarantee where potential liability is outstanding at the date of the statement of assets and liabilities.

Particulars of any outstanding debt:

The trustees declare that the charity has no outstanding debts on any of the assets of the charity at the date of the statement of assets and liabilities.

Remuneration of trustees:

All trustees act in a voluntary capacity and receive no remuneration as a trustee or other material benefits from their services to the charity.

Reasonable out of pocket expenses incurred by the trustees in promoting the purpose of the charity are reimbursed at cost.

Structure, Governance and Management

Governing Document:

ELM Wildlife is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) Registered Charity Number 1188486, which was constituted on 11th March 2020.

Constitution – based on the Charities Commission’s model governing document for Charitable Incorporated Organisation (where trustees are just members of the charity)

Governance:

The Charity is governed by the trustees who hold twice yearly meetings, or more frequently If deemed necessary. There must be at least three trustees. New trustees can be appointed at a Special Meeting following agreement from all the existing trustees and must be selected for their skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the charity.

New trustees are given access to the ELM Wildlife’s governing document, policies and copies of previous meetings’ minutes and reminded regularly of their responsibilities.

Organisation:

The trustees oversee the financial position and management of the charity, the day-to-day running of the charity is left to Richard (Rick) Parker as CEO, assisted by Jacqueline (Jacky) and Emily Parker.

By the end of 2024, ELM Wildlife has two paid members of staff; neither of these have been, or are presently, Trustees.

Future plans

• We continue to make great progress forward with our hoglet care, with continual tweaking to perfect our essential formula to feed the tiniest hand fed hoglets. This continues to result in a massive decrease in our mortality rate.

These tiny hoglets, generally under 30g at the time of admission, are the most ‘tricky’ to save and we have seen great results again this year. This is under ongoing review so we can improve it even further during the next year.

available on the market are of questionable standard. It will also help us replace a much missed revenue stream from before.

Chairman / Manager’s thoughts

Welcome to my annual report for the Charity Commission, my name is Rick Parker, CEO and cofounder of ELM Wildlife.

I must come clean; I’m sat here in October 2025 writing and rewriting this report. Over the past month I’ve seen some well-funded and well supported local major charities, go to the wall. Why am I writing this so late? Well, it’s pretty simple, I spend all my time Fire Fighting.

It has been yet another stressful and costly year for my family and I; the money I can quantify, but the harm that over work and constant stress has done to us, I have no idea and I’m amazed we are still together. Jacky and I have had major problem with the two of the four properties we let being destroyed by tenants and due to not being able to have time away from ELM, it has cost us in the region of £24k and counting. Apart from the need to save wildlife, the guilt of walking away is driving us on. There are three goals we need to achieve, that seem to be just out of reach. One is to build the new rescue centre and get out of Seale Haynes toxic environment, the second is find more help, we need people who want to support our family and the third, well it’s that obvious one, we need to find funding.

Giving thanks

We are not the only charity struggling with volunteers, it started to slide after Covid (no really, this is not an excuse) and now that the UK is being forced into poverty; there just isn’t the same support. Having said that, ELM’s core of volunteers have been amazing! They give up so much time to help and then come in again to fill the gaps left. You are amazing guys, thank you so much for supporting ELM.

Co Create https://cocreate-architects.com/ are the architects helping us to achieve our planning goal, not only are they lovely people to deal with, but they helping completely pro bono, as they want to support the work we do.

There are numerous companies that support ELM, not to mention the members of the public who follow, donate and purchase items for ELM. This would not be possible without your help, thank you.

Neil Langridge is one of ELM’s original trustees and benefactors; although he has now stepped down as a trustee, he tirelessly sells items to raise funds for ELM. thank you for supporting ELM, we couldn’t have done it without you.

Gayle Bloomfield is one of ELM’s present trustees. She organises the casualty releases, comes in the centre twice a week, sometimes filling volunteer gaps, always up for public engagements and many more ways she helps ELM; Gayle, you’re a star.

I have to acknowledge Emily Parker, my daughter. Unfortunately, Emily cannot be a trustee as she is an employee of ELM, this to me seem so wrong as she is a co-founder and without her, ELM would not survive. Saying Emily is an employee, really doesn’t do her justice, she gives nearly every hour of every day tending to casualties and get paid less than her junior staff member. I know the stress you have to cope with, and I know the animals would thank you if they could; but from me, I think you do an amazing job.

Last but definitely not least, Jacky Parker, my lovely wife. It would take me pages to describe what Jacky does for ELM. Can you imagine working every day to help wildlife, from dawn to dusk and a workload for two. Coping with the constant sadness of death and the decision of when to end life, coping with my frustrations; all this and you have to lose your savings for the pleasure, well that is what Jacky does for ELM. You are a quiet hero and I applaud your sacrifice.

ELM’s accounts

Let’s start on a positive, the donations were up by £10,399, with the 2024 total being £75,894 as opposed to 2023 being £65,895; this makes 2024 ELM’s best year for donations. That being said, the majority of that increase was down to ELM’s online raffles; I still refer to these as donations. I’ll come back to the raffles after this section.

It all sounds rosier until you look at the expenditure. In 2023 ELM’s overheads were £60,868, but it 2024 they had risen to £89,400; this is an increase of £28,532, leaving ELM with its first deficit of - £13,507.

Since Brexit and Covid, everything has become more expensive; no surprise as the majority of the country is feeling the pinch. Not unexpectedly, the major increase in ELM’s expenditure, is wages. ELM only has two paid employees; one is paid for 33 hours per week. The other, Emily (our daughter) works an average of 80 hour per week and only gets paid for 26 hours per week; both on minimum hourly rate. Jacky and I do an average of 80 hours per week too, but do not take a wage. So, you can see that the staffing expenditure is at its bare minimum. Sadly, we had an opportunity to achieve funding to the amount of £20k, but this wasn’t taken to fruition by those given the task.

The land purchase

Since that point sometime in 2019 when we realised that ELM was going to need a significant amount of space to move forward and since realisation, Jacky and I been looking for land; those who follow us will know that this hasn’t been an enjoyable task. The move to Seale Hayne in July 2020 took our eye of the ball slightly, but the threat of eviction in 2024, created new focus.

Our offer was accepted on the 11[th] January and we completed on the 24[th] May 2024; Jacky and I are now the proud owners of 10.75 acres, plus a larger uncomfortable mortgage.

During 2024, a lot of time was spent on being prepared for the planning application to build a new rescue centre on the land; although we planned to go straight in for a full application, we were advised to go the Pre-App (Pre- application) route first. Unfortunately, this took five months to prepare and a further two months to receive a decision. The good news is that in principle our plans are acceptable, with some tweaking.

We now have an extra hurdle to cross; since the purchase in 2024, building costs have doubled. How much we can afford to put in has always been an issue, it was always felt that the sale of our house would cover some of the costs; but without some

As I’ve mentioned, 2024 hasn’t been kind to Jacky and I. With shortage of volunteers, renovation work and a lack of funds, progress has been slow. As of the end of October 2025, we are back pushing to achieve planning; we still have another house to finish and very short of funds, but we will try. I can’t see ELM surviving without the new rescue centre.

I hope you enjoyed my snapshot of ELM’s year, please come to our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/savinghedgehogs and follow our exploits. ELM is Devon’s largest capacity rescue centre and when we build the new centre; we’ll be stepping up to another level. We need your support in so many ways, with more opportunities coming with the land.

If you love and care about wildlife, like we do, please think of supporting us with a monthly bank transfer; remember that individual rescue like ELM are the places your wildlife ends up at and every penny is spent on saving animals.

NatWest account name: ELM Wildlife Account Number 749 532 73 Sort Code 55 – 70 – 01

Thank you for following and supporting ELM.

Kindest regards,

Rick Parker

CEO ELM Wildlife

Ded4r4tlons The trustees declare that they hève approved the trustees report above. Slgned on behalf of the charltV$tru$tees 5I8nature5 Full namel51 fe¢W Posltlon (Chair etcl Date

ELM Wildlife (Every Life Matters Wildlife) Charity number 1188486 Income & Expenditure account For the year ended 30 December 2024

Income
General donations
Paypal
Rent contribution
Cash donations
Expenditure
Accountancy
Advertising
Rent
Food, bedding etc
Vet & medicines
Repairs incl cages
Insurance
Mileage and travelling
Office expenses & sundries
Legal and professional
Shelving
Wages
Surplus for the period
Statement of Assets & Liabilities
For the year ended 31st December 2024
Bank balance
Paypal
Cash in hand
Monies owed at year end
Accumulative Trustee Loan		 2024
£
59137
9400
0
7357
75893
0
250
8400
5119
4073
1273
317
7166
4525
1865
0
56411
89400
-13507
7540
22757
22000
52296
49902
49902		 2023
£
17469
33960
7000
7066
65495
54
464
8400
5585
3328
444
267
8300
5197
0
185
28644
60868
4627
27354
13427
14833
55614
39713
39713

Inde endent Examiner'5 Re ort 10 Elm Wildlife Eve Life Matiers Wildlife isrered Charit Number,. 1188486 I report to the charity trustees on my examination of tbe accounts of the above charity Ithe Trust) for the year ended 30 December ?024. Responsibilities and basis of report As the ¢harity trustees of the Trusi you are re%poll5ible for the preparation of the accounts En accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act ?01 l {'Ihe Act.). I report in respect of my examination of the Trnst's account8 ca￿led out under section 145 of the Act and in carrying out tlly examinaiion I have followed all applicable Direc110115 given by the Charity Cotllmi55ion under section 145{5llbl of (he Act. Independent examiner's statement I have completed my examination. I confjrni that no material tnatters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giwing me cauqe to believe that in any material respect.. accounting records were noi kept in respect of the Trnst as required by section 130 of the Act; or the accounts do not accord with tho$e records; or the accountb do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the foTm and contellt of accounts set out in the Chariiies IAccoullt5 and Reports) Regulations 2008 other ihan any requirement thai the accounts give a INe and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no ¢on¢erns and have come acroq8 no other matters in connection with the eXa￿l￿atIon to which attention should be drawn in Ihi% report in order io enable a proper understanding ot the accounts to be reached. Daijid Rudall FMAAT Greenwood Accountancy Lid 5-7 Pellew Arcade Teignmouth Devon TQ14 REB Date.. 24th October 2025