## **Charity trustees’ annual report (2025-2026) March 2026** **1. Charity’s name:** SCALED UP **2. Constitution:** CIO - FOUNDATION **3. Registered:** 23/09/2024 **4. Registration number:** 121054 **5. Address:** Canopi, 82 Tanner Street, London, SE1 3GN **6. Trustee names** - Dr Christopher Browne - 12 April 2024 - Chair - Dr Steven Van Winden - 12 April 2024 - Secretary - Dr Sofia Biffi - 12 April 2024 - Co-chair - Dr Mazdak Salavati - 12 April 2024 - Treasurer **7. Charitable Objects** The objects of the CIO are, for the public benefit, to promote the conservation, protection, and improvement of the physical and natural environment through promoting the reduction of the impact of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions in smallholder livestock farming in low & middle-income countries, in particular but not exclusively by: - promoting practices and strategies to adapt to and improve resilience to climate change for smallholder livestock farmers who are most at risk - advancing education in climate change and the impact of effective smallholder livestock farming practices ## **8. Organisation mission statement** Our mission is to scale up mitigation and adaptation strategies to as many individuals in low & middle income countries (LMIC) as quickly and effectively as possible. To do this, we will collaborate with universities to train students to collect data from communities in LMIC countries. This initial data capture will help secure workable mitigation and adaptation solutions that are compatible with current farming practices in every country, ultimately to de-risk investments in the area. Working with communities we will provide tailored mitigation and adaptation strategies. One of our key aims is to implement mitigation and adaptation strategies, with university students and young professionals playing an integral part of this strategy. As the impacts of climate change are becoming more frequent and intense, we will continue to monitor and evaluate the implemented mitigation and adaptation strategies to ensure that they are still serving the communities. Our focus is on marginalised communities where they rely most on livestock as a source of income, food and security. However, our aim is to meet the needs of everyone in the community whether they have livestock or not. At SCALED UP we are committed to provide and support students and young professionals to learn about climate change and to apply this knowledge in helping to design with communities the best mitigation and adaptation strategies. Building on this knowledge, we will then use this information to facilitate, mobilise and implement mitigation and adaptation strategies. Finally, we will continue to support and monitor the implemented mitigation and adaptation strategies to ensure that they continue to work in a changing environment. Our approach is different to others and for good reason, time is running out. Our process ensures that communities play a pivotal role especially empowering women and marginalised communities. The pace and scale to provide adaptation and mitigation strategies is far from what is needed. As a result, millions of people in LMICs will be displaced, malnourished and even die if we do not act now! We cannot sit back and allow this devastation to happen. This is why at SCALED UP we are looking to transform how mitigation and adaptation strategies are implemented and evaluated to ensure that they work within the shortest timeframe possible. ## **9. Structure** SCALED UP operates as a CIO Foundation. ## **10. Governance** SCALED UP was founded by four trustees (listed above). Currently, all decisions are made by the trustees. Any decision is made through a voting process - with a majority vote leading to any decision. Our organisation is run as per the instructions set out in our constitution. In addition, we have also developed a governance framework. The governance framework provides a structured outline for the Board of Trustees of SCALED UP – detailing the structure of the organisation, officer and sub-committee roles and responsibilities. The purpose of this governance framework is to enhance oversight, accountability, and transparency, while supporting the organisation’s constitution. We will ensure that any new employees, volunteers and new trustees will read both the constitution and governance framework. We also developed policies covering: data protection and IT policy, Environmental and Sustainability, Equality and Diversity, Financial Control, Governance Framework, Internal Risk Management, Overseas policy, Risk assessment, safeguarding and social media policies. ## **11. Management** ## Training of trustees Trustees have access to learning materials provided by The Charity Commission. The Chair of SCALED UP has attended several online events and one in person event provided by the Charity Commission. These materials are shared with the other trustees. Trustees also have had access and read the relevant materials provided by The Charity Commission. We have also developed a Governance Framework - this was developed to provide a structured outline for the Board of Trustees of SCALED UP – detailing the structure of the organisation, officer and sub-committee roles and responsibilities. The framework was developed to enhance oversight, accountability, and transparency of the trustees, while supporting the organisation’s constitution. ## Decision making processes All decisions are reached through discussions during regular meetings - a 75% consensus is needed to pass any decision as per the Constitution. ## Trustee recruitment Currently, we still have the original trustees (all appointed 12 April 2024) when we initially set up SCALED UP. A decision was made by the trustees’ to hold off recruiting further trustees’ until SCALED UP became more established i.e. bank account set up, website launched, pilot study completed. This decision was reached by all trustees as we felt that a more established charity organisation would be more appealing to the right candidate. We plan to recruit the trustees through recruitment portals. We require new trustees with HR, finance, and legal expertise. Our current trustees are experts in veterinary science, data collection, social sciences, computer modeling - which are all fundamental skills in the setting up of SCALED UP. Once we have published the position, we plan to follow formal recruitment processes and interview any new potential trustees through an open and transparent process. ## Risk management We have developed a risk register outlining the organisation's risks and how these can be mitigated. We sought expert advice in generating the risk register and will continue to monitor and update as the organisation develops. ## **12. Activities** Since SCALED UP was established on the 23/09/2024 our primary focus and aim has been to set up the organisation. Our focus as been on the following activities: ## Setting up google drive To ensure all documents, files, information is accessible and stored safely for the trustees (and eventually the wider organisation) - we have spent the last year setting up a google drive storing all documents and relevant information. ## Establishing trustee officer roles As per the role of the trustees’ we allocated specific officer roles to ensure the smooth running and accountability within the organisation. Trustees’ voted on the various roles available. Officer roles were allocated and defined within the organisation where each trustee has specific responsibilities within SCALED UP. ## Website We have developed our website. This was one of our top priorities to establish future collaboration and to provide further information about our organisation. We launched the website through Ionos and developed with all of the trustees involved. The website also holds the education platform and social media accounts where students will eventually be able to access. We are likely to launch the website in the second quarter of 2026 once we have completed our final checks. ## Social media Our primary audience will be to involve students to volunteer in communities providing mitigation and adaptation strategies. Therefore, social media is a useful tool to showcase what the students are doing and to encourage more students to be involved with our organisation. We have set up Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin social media accounts. In addition, we have also developed and our social media policy to ensure safeguarding rules apply to all members of the organisation. ## Policies We have written and signed off organisational policies including data protection and IT policy, Environmental and Sustainability, Equality and Diversity, Financial Control, Governance Framework, Internal Risk Management, Overseas policy, Risk assessment, safeguarding and social media policies. These policies are inline with the Charity Commission's recommendations and additional policies which are tailored to working internationally in LMICs. These will be updated accordingly and eventually shared with all members of the organisation. ## Learning The Chair of the organisation has attended one in person events and several online events. These materials and notes are shared with the other Trustees. ## Bank account We have applied for a bank account with CAF Bank. Deciding and applying for a bank account was a key milestone. We reviewed several bank accounts that would be suitable for our organisational needs. We applied for the bank account in December 2025 and are awaiting the outcome. To ensure accountability, we have a dedicated trustee who acts as the treasurer and every purchase will require a signoff from two members of the board of trustees. ## Education portal A core component of the organisation is to provide educational materials for the students. We have registered a moodle account and this will be incorporated in our website. We will be reaching out to esteemed academics globally and asking them to be involved in providing teaching materials that will be accessed by the students this year. The courses that will be made available to the students will include climate mitigation, adaptation and data collection- these courses will help students to understand the importance of data collection, climate change and what strategies are available to elevate the impacts of climate change. ## Country identification We have carried out a country prioritisation list to identify which countries are most in need of mitigation and adaptation strategies for marginalised livestock communities. We explored different resource materials and ranked them taking into account the impact, need and risk to these countries. Eventually, our long term goal is to reach all countries that are at risk, but in the short and medium term is to focus on the top priority countries. These are defined as countries that are not receiving funding or interventions, that rely on livestock for their livelihoods and are at increasing risk of extreme weather. ## Veterinary and agriculture university lists We have identified universities and academics that we are able to reach out to for future collaboration. We have started to pull together a list of potential universities from a number of LMICs including Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. This process will enable our organisation to identify academics that we can collaborate and reach out to once we have the funding secured. This is an ongoing process and we will build this data set and add more countries and eventually reach out to the universities in due course. ## Risk register We have developed an organisation risk assessment matrix. This tool ensures that we are aware of the operating risks and have made provisions to reduce these risks. The risks are managed by the trustees. As the organisation progresses we will review and develop the risk register further. At SCALED UP our trustees will give consideration to any major risks and make necessary steps to mitigate or manage those risks when the time arises as per the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. ## Pilot study SCALED UP will operate through students from veterinary, agriculture and animal science universities in LMICs collecting data via a questionnaire from marginalised communities. This information will then be used to develop bespoke mitigation and adaptation strategies. We have developed a set of questions that will be used to collect the data. It is essential that these questions are correct, fit for purpose and are easily accessible for both the students and the communities that they are aiming to serve. We have been working with Banaras Hindu University (India) with Associate Professor Vinod Paswan who has been supporting us in developing our questionnaire. Through his expertise and knowledge of the landscape of working with Indian farmers - we have developed a questionnaire. We are now planning to sense check the questionnaire with a cohort of his students and marginalised groups. We will then refine the questionnaire before conducting a pilot study. Our plan is to conduct the pilot study Q2 of 2026. Exploring funding opportunities One of our ongoing activities is to explore funding opportunities. We have pulled together a comprehensive list of available funding opportunities. We regularly review this list and assess what funding we can apply for meeting the organisation's objectives and funding requirements. ## **13. Public benefit** **The public benefit of SCALED UP is** to promote the conservation, protection, and improvement of the physical and natural environment through promoting the reduction of the impact of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions in smallholder livestock farming in low & middle-income countries, in particular but not exclusively by: - promoting practices and strategies to adapt to and improve resilience to climate change for smallholder livestock farmers who are most at risk. - advancing education in climate change and the impact of effective smallholder livestock farming practices. Therefore the actions we have been delivering to meet these public benefits have focused on the planning and setting up of the organisation to be able to deliver. As SCALED UP uses a model that is different from other organisations, we have taken the time to plan for future work so that we are more successful in the long term. To deliver for the public benefit, we have started to identify key countries that we can work in that will be most impacted by climate change. We have also started to map out universities that we can collaborate with. Our main focus has been developing the questionnaire - this is one of the more critical areas that we need to get right as this will influence the data we collect so that we can distribute and implement mitigation and adaptation strategies. Given that we are a newly formed organisation - our main focus has been on an operational perspective. We have developed, reviewed and signed our policies. We also developed a governance framework, risk register and reviewed and applied for a bank account and built our website. These key operational activities are needed to provide the foundation for delivering public benefits. Going forward in 2026 - our key aim is to apply and secure funding, launch our pilot study and develop and populate teaching materials for the students. ## **14. Future activities** Pilot study Our main focus will be to conduct, refine and learn from our pilot study so that we can SCALE UP the approach in more countries and different states. To do this, we will work closely with BHU university in India. We have been working closely with Indian academics led by Dr Vinod Paswan to refine our questionnaire. The next phase is to get students to sense check the questionnaire in marginalised communities in India. We will ensure that the pilot study is designed to ensure sufficient analysis and confirms to data processing and ethical approvals. Once the questionnaires have been conducted, we will review the data When we collect the data - we will ensure that the consent form is issued. An example consent statement: This survey is devised to collect information regarding the farming practice and individual farmer/family unit socio-economical circumstances in the context of running their farm. The gathered information would be solely used to inform future policy and form of engagement of the SCALED-UP charity. The secure data storage and privacy protection practices of the charity will be applied to the collected information for the duration of 10 years or the date of request by the participant to opt out, whichever date that arrives earlier. This dataset or any identifiable information will be treated according to the United Kingdom General Data Protection and Regulation legislation (UK-GDPR act 2018). Consent will be given as part of this survey will be in place for the duration of 10 years after which the dataset will be purged from Charity records. Please indicate your consent by ticking the box below and for opting out in later date please contact info@scaled-up.org with the title “SCALED-UP survey consent opt out”. ## Apply for funding Another main focus will be to apply for funding opportunities. We will use the data generated from the pilot studies to provide a case for further funding. We will also have set up the organisation i.e. the website and bank account. ## Develop and populate the teaching materials for students We have identified leading experts and reached out to them to develop teaching materials and to form future collaborations. Once the teaching materials have been developed we will add these on to the educational portal where students will begin to gain access. To populate the teaching materials, we will be working in parallel with universities (using the lists we have developed to reach out to academics within the universities) and asking them to collaborate with SCALED UP. ## **15. Financial review** We have submitted the financial review via the Charity Commission portal. The Chair spent £319 during the financial period on the virtual office and google workspace so that the organisation can operate. These payments do not lead to a conflict of interest and are no personal benefit to the Chair. Trustees are aware of these payments. Once the organisation begins to receive funds - then these donations will stop. Our organisation had no other income. The donation received from the trustee is considered a related party transaction. It was an unrestricted donation with no conditions attached. All spending decisions were approved in accordance with the charity’s governance procedures. ## **Statement of Balances** ## **Fund Type Amount (£) Notes** Unrestricted funds 0 All funds received (£319) were spent on administration **Total funds** 0 Our organisation did not have a bank account during the reporting period. All funds were temporarily held and spent by a trustee on behalf of SCALED UP. One of our priorities (see above) is to open a bank account for future transactions - we have submitted our application to CAF bank. ## **16. Trustee statement** We the trustees’ confirm that the annual report is accurate and conforms to the legal requirements as set out by The Charity Commission. We also acknowledge that the first year of operation has mostly been spent preparing, setting up and organising SCALED UP. ## **17. Signed and approved by the trustees** **Chair** Christopher Browne 17 March 2026 **Co-chair** Sofia Biffi 17 March 2026 **Treasurer** MAZDAK SALAVATI 18 March 2026 Edinburgh **Secretary** Steven van Winden, 18th of March, Potters Bar ## **Accounts for SCALED UP** Receipts and Payments Account ## **For the year ended 23/09/2024 - 24/05/2025** ## **Receipts** |**Description**|**Amount (£)**| |---|---| |Trustee donation (unrestricted)|319| |Total|319| ## **Payments** |**Description**|**Amount (£)**| |---|---| |Administration|319| |Total|319| Net surplus / (deficit): £0 Final statement of balance ## **As at 24/05/2025** |**Description**|**Amount (£)**| |---|---| |Cash in hand/ bank|0| |Total|0| Chair Christopher Browne 18/03/2026 **Co-chair** Sofia Biffi, 18/03/2026 **Treasurer** Mazdak Salavati 18th March 2026, Edinburgh **Secretary** Steven van Winden, 18th of March, Potters Bar