Trustees’ Annual Report for the period 24 August 2020 to 31 July 2021
Yorkshire Rewilding Network (YRN)
Charity registration number: 1190992
Objectives and Activities
The objects of the CIO are to advance biodiversity and environmental improvement through rewilding, principally in Yorkshire, by providing support, education, information and encouragement to the public and other stakeholders, including but not limited to those with an interest in rewilding. In this sense, rewilding is defined as the restoration of ecosystem functions to a point where nature can take care of itself. It seeks to reinstate natural processes and, where appropriate, missing species – allowing them to shape the landscape and the habitats within. Rewilding embraces the role of people – and their cultural and economic connections to the land – working within a wider, healthy ecosystem.
YRN carries out a range of activities to fulfil its purposes, including publishing newsletters and other relevant stories about rewilding, hosting publicly available webinars and, where COVID restrictions and site facilities permit, arranging small group visits to rewilding projects.
YRN adopts an inclusive approach, centring all of activities around public benefit, ensuring that the charity operates in line with the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit.
As a young charity, YRN is rarely in a position to make grants. Where it does so, it refers to its purpose and ensures that any grants are aligned with that purpose.
All time and effort on YRN activities during the period covered by this report is voluntary. Volunteers have constructed the YRN website, written material for newsletters and articles and arranged and hosted webinars. Without such contributions, YRN would have been unable to operate in its initial stages.
Achievements and Performance
YRN has connected many individuals with peers and advisors, ranging from those looking for occasional grazing advice to people concerned that trees would not establish on an exposed coastal site to those wondering how to start rewilding, and many others. It has also signposted people to funding sources such as the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme.
In the corporate/public sector, as well as with landowners, YRN is also seeing opportunities for enabling positive rewilding projects. ECS/B-Corp has risen up the agenda of many businesses, and they are actively seeking solution providers who can help them embed rewilding into their ESG policies. YRN has recently connected a large manufacturing business (who had calculated they needed to plant 100,000 trees to support their
commitment to carbon reduction) to the Broughton Estate who are rewilding 3,000 acres. YRN is building up details of other estates who are also supporting tree planting/rewilding to enable it to make further similar contributions.
YRN has its own website, 750 newsletter subscribers, 1,250 Twitter followers (as at the time of this report, April 2022), an active discussion forum and has staged twelve well-attended webinars on a range of rewilding topics with local relevance. A small number of site visits between members of its Smallholder Cluster Group have taken place when Covid restrictions have allowed and volunteering opportunities for both surveys and wild wood planting have been arranged. A presentation about rewilding is in development, ready to take out to schools and community groups, aiming to increase the reach and diversity of the network.
Increasingly, YRN is engaging at a senior level with other stakeholders such as Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Yorkshire Water, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and Nidderdale AONB to influence them to include rewilding in their future plans.
In line with the emergent, less structured nature of rewilding, YRN deliberately avoided fixed, measurable objectives in its first year, instead following the energy of the network to achieve the most impact.
Financial Review
YRN’s financial position at the end of its first year was very healthy when compared to its initial running costs. As the charity grew, however, the need to contract in a paid part-time Project Officer to supplement the efforts of volunteers became apparent. Ongoing fundraising efforts aim to provide sufficient resources to enable a Project Officer to be brought in.
Funds come from individual and corporate donors and from a range of small grants.
YRN aims to maintain reserves of a minimum of £1,000 which is a sufficient amount to cover its committed costs and to enable and orderly wind-down of the charity if the Trustees take the decision that that is necessary.
The main risk facing YRN is an inability to cope with the increasing interest in rewilding in Yorkshire and the consequent requests for its services.
Structure, Governance and Management
As a CIO, YRN has a written constitution, based on the standard proforma for a CIO.
Selection of new trustees is by existing trustees, usually from those who have already engaged with YRN so that potential new trustees know about the charity, its activities and aspirations.
YRN is wholly independent from Rewilding Britain, but liaises with the national charity regularly.
Reference and Administrative details
| Charity name | Yorkshire Rewilding Network |
|---|---|
| Registered charity number | 1190992 |
| Charity’s principal address | 18 Cheltenham Avenue Ilkley LS29 8BN |
Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 |
Trustee name | Office (if any) | Dates acted if not for whole **year ** |
Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (ifany) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeff Davitt | Chair | N/A | ||
| Elizabeth Sutcliffe | 01 August 2020-3 November 2021 |
N/A | ||
| Jessica Penrose | 01 August 2020-7 October 2021 |
N/A | ||
| Deborah Davitt | Treasurer | N/A | ||
| John Hartshorn | N/A | |||
| Darren Sheffield | 01 August 2020-7 April 2021 |
N/A | ||
| JennyWatson | Secretary | 1 August 2021 onwards | N/A | |
| Antonia Beardsall | 3 November 2021 onwards |
N/A |
No trustees hold title to property belonging to the charity
No funds are held as custodian trustees on behalf of others
Declarations
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
----- Start of picture text -----
Signature
Full name(s) Jeffrey John Davitt
Position Chair
Date
09 May 2022
----- End of picture text -----
| Yorkshire Rewilding Network | 1190992 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receipts andpayments accounts | CC16a | |||
| 24-Aug-20 For the period from |
To | 31-Jul-21 |
| Section A Receipts and payments | Section A Receipts and payments | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 2,334 1,060 2,000 - - - - - 5,394 - - - 5,394 1,049 185 72 500 - - - - - 1,806 - - - 1,806 3,588 - 743 4,331 |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
Total funds to the nearest £ 2,334 1,060 2,000 - - - - - 5,394 - - - 5,394 1,049 185 72 500 - - - - - 1,806 - - - 1,806 3,588 |
Last year to the nearest £ |
|
| Individual donation,inc Gift Aid | 2,334 | 243 | ||||
| Corporate donations | 1,060 | - | ||||
| Grants received | 2,000 | - | ||||
| Initial loan | - | 500 | ||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
5,394 |
743 | ||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
||||||
| - | ||||||
| - |
- | |||||
| ~~Sub total~~ | - | - | ||||
| Total receipts A3 Payments |
||||||
| 743 | ||||||
Software and licences |
1,049 | - | ||||
| Insurance | 185 | - | ||||
| Bank charges | 72 | - | ||||
| Initial loan repayment | 500 | - | ||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| **Sub total ** | 1,806 | - | ||||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| **Sub total ** | - | - | ||||
| Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end |
||||||
| - | ||||||
| 3,588 | - | - | 3,588 | 743 | ||
| - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 743 | - | - | 743 | - | ||
| 4,331 | - | - | 4,331 | 743 |
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
22/03/2022
1
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Categories Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B5 Liabilities B3 Investment assets B2 Other monetary assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B1 Cash funds |
Details None Details Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) None Current account Details Details None Details None Signature |
Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ 4,331 - - - - - 4,331 - OK OK Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) - - - - - Print Name Jeff Davitt |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| OK | |||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| When due (optional) |
|||
| Date of approval |
|||
| Jeff Davitt | 22/03/2022 | ||
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
22/03/2022
2