## **Butterfly Conservation**
## **Annual Report and Financial Statements Accounts**
## **31 March 2025**
Company Limited by Guarantee Registration Number 02206468 (England and Wales)
Registered charity number 254937 (England and Wales) and SC039268 (Scotland)
## **Reports**
|Reference and administrative information|1|
|---|---|
|Overview by Chair and Chief Executive Officer|3|
|Report of the Council (including Strategic Report)|5|
|Independent auditor’s report on the financial statements|26|
|**Financial Statements**||
|Consolidated statement of financial activities|30|
|Balance Sheet|31|
|Consolidated statement of cash flows|32|
|Principal accounting policies|33|
|Notes to the financial statements|39|
Reference and administration information
**President** Sir David Attenborough OM CH CVO CBE FRS FSA
**Vice-Presidents** Jim Asher Maurice Avent Nick Baker John F Burton FZS FRES DL Cbiol Dudley Cheeseman Sue Collins The Earl of Cranbrook PhD David Dennis Mike Dilger Clive P Farrell Karen Goldie-Morrison David Hanson Ian Hardy MVO Dr Amir Khan Chris Packham CBE Professor Jeremy Thomas Alan Titchmarsh MBE **Council Members (Directors and** Martin Spray CBE (Chair) **Trustees)** Steve Almond Hugh Ellerton (Honorary Treasurer) Catrin Evans Prof Laurence Harwood Carrie Hulme Dr Elaine King Lynnette Leeson (co-opted) Simon Saville Shaun Thomas Dr Ruth Waters (co-opted) **Senior Leadership Team** Julie Williams (Chief Executive and Company Secretary) Natalie Bridge (Director of Fundraising & Communications) Steve Gray (Director of Engagement & Volunteering) Dr Dan Hoare (Director of Nature Recovery) Russel Hobson (Director of Business & Research) **Registered address** Manor Yard East Lulworth Wareham Dorset BH20 5QP **Company registration number** 02206468 (England and Wales) **Registered charity number** 254937 (England and Wales) SC039268 (Scotland) **Website** butterfly-conservation.org **Facebook** Facebook.com/savebutterflies **Instagram** Instagram.com/savebutterflies **X (formerly Twitter)** @savebutterflies **LinkedIn** Linkedin.com/company/butterfly-conservation
1
Reference and administration information
|**TikTok**|@savebutterflies|
|---|---|
|**YouTube**|Youtube.com/savebutterflies|
|**Auditor**|Buzzacott Audit LLP|
||130 Wood Street|
||London|
||EC2V 6DL|
|**Bankers**|NatWest plc|
||49 South Street|
||Dorchester|
||Dorset|
||DT1 1DW|
|**Solicitors**|Stone King LLP|
||Boundary House|
||91 Charterhouse Street|
||London|
||EC1M 6HR|
|**Investment managers**|Cazenove Capital Management|
||1 London Wall Place|
||London|
||EC2Y 5AU|
2
Overview by the Chief Executive Officer
Finding a positive and optimistic path towards the future feels difficult given the current global economic situation, the volatile geopolitical backdrop, and the many other challenges organisations are facing but Butterfly Conservation is doing just that. This is not the time to reduce our ambition to restoring butterflies and moths in landscapes across the UK. And not just in the countryside, our determination to see more butterflies and moths in urban towns and cities is as strong as ever.
In 2024 Big Butterfly Count results revealed the lowest numbers on record and we declared a national ‘Butterfly Emergency’, highlighting the hugely concerning decline in numbers. We must continue to lobby governments to deliver the global target to protect 30% of the Earth’s land and ocean areas by 2030. To do this we need to galvanise an army of supporters to be the voice for nature, to call for urgent action so this target is not watered down.
People are the key to everything we do and want to achieve. Over the next year we will be developing our volunteer network to give us more capacity to increase our conservation effort and provide the data that fuels vital research. For this to happen we need to inspire more people to care and take action for nature in the areas they live and work.
Our Youth Panel will be helping us understand how we can connect and engage young people in our work and importantly how we give them a voice to stand up for butterflies and moths as the future advocates of our planet.
We are a smaller organisation than we were last year, with less resources and with no signs that the external economic environment will improve in the next 12 months. Despite this we are determined to continue to deliver meaningful impact in turning around the declines of butterflies and moths and connecting more people to the wonders and joy of them both for their own wellbeing and also so they will be inspired to take action.
We can only deliver impact and raise awareness because of the loyal support of our members, our donors, our supporters, our Branch committees, our volunteers, our President Sir David Attenborough, our Vice Presidents and our dedicated staff team, I thank all of you for supporting Butterfly Conservation and for believing we can make a positive difference for butterflies, moths and for people.
Julie Williams CEO
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Overview by the Chair
There has never been a more important time to ensure our work is delivering impact so that we can achieve our mission of conserving butterflies and moths and connecting people to nature. As we come to the end of the 2024/25 financial year, it’s a good opportunity for me to reflect on what Butterfly Conservation has delivered against our Strategy which we introduced in autumn 2020.
We have delivered greater impact in landscape-scale conservation than at any time in our history. In 2024 we delivered conservation action in at least 64 landscapes across the UK, up from c35 in 2020. This means we have increased geographic coverage for conservation delivery across the UK, with a significant investment and greater staff capacity and delivery in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The number of sites we reach with conservation advice continues to increase, and went up 21% to 950 sites last year.
Through our Threatened Species Programme we have worked systematically to improve the fortunes of more than 65 species through staff-led species recovery actions; on top of this our Branches and volunteers contributed massively to this programme and also made an impact for dozens of other local priority species.
We have invested more in research with a dedicated research team including our first ever postdoctoral researcher and submitted our first research fellowship application. We co-authored 55 papers since 2021, and have had more PhD students in our new BC Research Lab than ever before.
We have engaged more people in our work through volunteering and inspiring them to act to help butterflies and moths. We have reached several thousand people, with a particular focus on people living in areas of green space deprivation. In the last year just one of our projects alone created space for butterflies and moths in the grounds of 37 primary schools in deprived areas of Bristol and Weston-super-Mare.
The serious decline of butterflies and moths means that we must continue to deliver impact in all areas of our work. None of this work would be possible without the support of our dedicated volunteers, our Branches, our loyal members, our funders, our partners, our donors, our supporters and our hardworking staff team. I thank you all.
Martin Spray CBE Chair
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Report of the Council (including Strategic Report) Year to 31 March 2025
The Council of Butterfly Conservation presents its report together with the consolidated financial statements of the charity and its trading subsidiary, Butterfly Conservation Trading Limited, for the year ended 31 March 2025.
This report equates to a directors’ report as required by Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 and has also been prepared in accordance with the Charities Act 2011.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out on pages 33 to 38 and comply with the charitable company’s Articles of Association, applicable laws and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).
Council members confirm they have given due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and have considered how our aims and activities demonstrate this to fulfil our charitable objectives.
## **Our Vision**
A world where butterflies and moths thrive and can be enjoyed by everyone, forever.
## **Our Purpose**
We conserve and recover butterflies and moths and champion them for the benefit of nature and people.
## **Our Strategic Goals**
- Halve the number of the UK’s threatened species of butterflies and moths.
- Improve the condition of 100 of the UK’s most important landscapes for butterflies and moths
- Transform 100,000 wild spaces in the UK for butterflies, moths and people
We will deliver the Strategic Goals through a programme of Initiatives and Enablers.
## **The Initiatives**
- Recover butterflies and moths
- Connect people to nature
- Unite for wildlife
- Tackle threats to nature
- Manage land sustainably
## **The Enablers**
Our Enablers are the essential platform for achieving our Strategic Goals.
- Inspiring communications
- Sustainable funding
- Lean and scalable organisation
- High performing staff and volunteer team
## **Our Values**
Our values underpin our culture, the way we do things and what we believe in.
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Report of the Council (including Strategic Report) Year to 31 March 2025
## **Deliver Excellence**
We use our wealth of scientific evidence and practical experience to deliver positive change for butterflies, moths and nature. We are the experts. You can trust us to give you the information you need.
## **Passionate**
Nature is at the heart of all we do. We are dedicated to delivering positive change to conserve butterflies, moths and our environment. We are relentless in the pursuit of our vision, seeking new ways to make a difference.
## **Inspiring**
We take action and speak up for what we believe in; we enable people to understand, enjoy and care for butterflies and moths.
## **Collaborate**
We will achieve our vision by building networks, communities and partnerships to deliver success for nature. Our culture champions and promotes inclusion, equality and diversity.
## **Our year in numbers**
- **500,000+** social media followers (doubled from 2023/24)
- **2,332** people have had the opportunity to discover butterflies and moths and connect with nature through Wild Spaces community engagement activities
- **10** young people aged between 16-25 joined our first ever Youth Panel
- **2,178** advisory visits to 1,016 sites across the UK
- **8,510** hectares of habitat managed across the UK
- **£727,000** secured for Scottish Borderlands project
- **42,601** nature lovers signed our letter to Government demanding a ban on neonicotinoid pesticides
- **143,241** Big Butterfly Counts completed
- **186,001** records submitted via the iRecord app
- **3,208** number of volunteers
- **2,443** children involved in creating a Wild Space for butterflies and moths in their school grounds
- **57,000** unique visitors accessing our online Discover and Learn resources and activity guides
- **41,000+** members supporting our work
- **6** new PhD projects developed with Butterfly Conservation
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Report of the Council (including Strategic Report) Year to 31 March 2025
## **Goal 1: Halve the number of UK's threatened species of butterflies and moths**
## **Introduction**
We have always had the ambition to improve the fortunes of threatened species. This strategic goal has focused effort on systematically improving the status of 65 of the UK’s most threatened butterflies and moths. Over the last four years we have taken a targeted approach to species recovery for nearly 50 species, assessing our progress using the framework of a ‘Species Recovery Curve’. This recognised standard for species recovery takes a step-by-step approach to identifying the drivers of species declines, researching and testing solutions and scaling them up to help populations recover.
## **Individual threatened species which have been moved along species recovery curve**
Conservation progress can look very different for individual species depending on their ecology and range: for example, a relatively widespread butterfly like Marsh Fritillary, present in all four UK countries, requires a different approach from a micro-moth known from just a single site. Our work tackles both these extremes.
For Marsh Fritillary, recovery work has a varied focus in different parts of its range: In the well-studied habitat networks of Dartmoor we support farmers in tailoring agri-environment schemes to coordinate habitat condition at a landscape-scale; in Scotland improving monitoring is the top priority, so we can understand where it is most at risk and where to target conservation effort. While in Cumbria, despite poor weather in 2024, the butterfly is thriving following a reintroduction in 2007 and stretching its wings into a range of grasslands, some conventionally grazed as farmland and others being restored for nature recovery aims.
The Greenweed Piercer, a moth known from just a single site in Somerset, trail management has taken place to improve habitat condition, with larval numbers increasing in the last year. Fundamental insights into suitable habitat management could be the difference between survival and extinction for such a rare species.
The Bright Wave moth illustrates how threatened species could take advantage of changing climates to broaden their niche. Formerly restricted to coastal shingle in Kent, this moth has recently expanded its range with a large population discovered in restored wildflower meadows. Finding larvae this year has helped us understand how it uses this new niche, and what meadow management is required to ensure it prospers here.
## **Improving UK monitoring of Marsh Fritillary**
Species monitoring is key to understanding how populations of butterflies and moths are responding to local habitat changes and large-scale threats such as climate change. Until recently, a lack of monitoring activity meant we were struggling to understand how Marsh Fritillary populations were faring across the UK. Thanks to the efforts of staff and volunteers, we can now produce trends for each country for the first time.
In Scotland, the number of monitored sites increased from 13 in 2019 to 49 in 2024, where 24 volunteers counted 910 larval webs. The number of monitored sites has also increased in Northern Ireland, contributing to country and UK trends, whilst in Wales we have a better understanding of Marsh Fritillary distribution as colony surveys have risen.
Continued long-term monitoring in England contributes to a population trend spanning more than 40 years. While the overall UK abundance trend is stable through that period, there is significant variability between nations and more signs of progress in the short-term trend across much of the UK.
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Report of the Council (including Strategic Report) Year to 31 March 2025
## **Understanding Large Heath populations in Northern Ireland**
Large Heath _Coenonympha tullia_ is a focus of our threatened species programme in all four UK countries. Peatlands cover 12% of the land area of Northern Ireland, and although many of them are degraded there has been a surge in peatland restoration to help meet our biodiversity and carbon commitments. This offers huge potential for habitat restoration and peatland biodiversity including butterflies and moths, so we’re working to assess where recovery actions are most needed and how to monitor the impact of conservation action.
In 2021, we established our first Single Species Transect for Large Heath at Peatlands Park, Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI), working with our partners NIEA (Northern Ireland Environment Agency). At the same time an Interreg VA peatland project ‘CANN’ (Collaborative Action for the Natura Network) was delivered by Ulster Wildlife and some key volunteer recorders. We aim to support the creation of a fourth transect in 2025 with RSPB through their peatland restoration programmes. Improving standardised monitoring allows us to track the population and gather evidence of effective habitat management, critical steps in the species recovery curve for Large Heath. With a clearer picture of what is needed to move things forward for Large Heath in Northern Ireland we have worked with partners to develop collaborative funding bids for improved conservation delivery for peatland species.
## **Targeted habitat improvements for High Brown Fritillary on Exmoor**
Our ‘Reviving Heddon Valley’s Fritillaries’ project took place across north-west Exmoor and focussed on restoring the fortunes of the High Brown Fritillary, one of our most threatened UK butterflies. Working with our partners at the National Trust, our project officer Ellie Wyatt delivered management across 11 sites to improve the fortunes of the High Brown Fritillary and support its journey to recovery.
We delivered:
- >5km of fencing at three sites to facilitate conservation grazing
- 1.5 ha of scrub clearance at three sites
- 5.6 ha improved breeding habitat by planting out over 500 Common-dog Violets and sowing over 6,000 seeds on three separate sites
- 69 ha of enhanced grassland/bracken habitat through grazing, scrub clearance and bracken management
- 5 ha of enhanced native woodland by coppicing and pollarding, improving connectivity between breeding habitat patches
- 33 volunteer work parties, surveys, and outreach events, engaging 347 people
## **PhD student projects** - **Building a Butterfly Conservation research network**
Research has long been an important part of Butterfly Conservation’s work – it's vital that our action and advice is based on sound scientific evidence. Over the past year, six new students started PhD projects developed with Butterfly Conservation.
Based at universities across the UK from Kent to Aberdeen, and supported by our scientists, these new researchers are exploring diverse topics covering ecology, conservation, genetics, and statistics, to help tackle the ongoing declines of butterflies and moths. Along the way they will learn scientific skills and grow in confidence to become the successful future researchers needed to help bring about nature recovery.
The new PhD projects seek answers that will have practical applications in our work, including:
- a better understanding of the impacts of agricultural pesticides, moorland burning and nitrogen pollution on moths
- improved techniques to analyse citizen-science records
- the best ways to mitigate light pollution and manage limestone grasslands.
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Report of the Council (including Strategic Report) Year to 31 March 2025
Several projects continue previous research, such as examining the genetics of the recently established Chequered Skipper population in Northamptonshire to increase the success of future insect reintroductions.
Supported by Butterfly Conservation’s Heather Corrie Fund, this thriving network of new researchers will help deliver evidence-based solutions to conserve the UK’s butterflies and moths.
## **Goal 2: Improve the condition of 100 of the most important landscapes for butterflies and moths**
## **Introduction**
Our landscape-scale partnership work spans an enormous range of habitats and species in every corner of the UK. We were active in at least 64 landscapes in 2024-25, and although historically our effort has been skewed towards England (due in part to funding availability), our pipeline of projects in development is increasing our impact in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland too. BC’s approach is built on sound evidence, following the ‘Lawton principles’ to make habitat networks bigger, better and more connected and using butterfly and moth populations as indicators of success.
## **Borderlands project in Scotland – finding new solutions for the Northern Brown Argus**
The south of Scotland is a UK stronghold for Northern Brown Argus, home to around 40% of the UK population and around half the Scottish population. In 2016, Barry Prater, the then chair of Butterfly Conservation’s East Scotland Branch, co-ordinated volunteers to determine the status of the butterfly in the Scottish Borders.
Between 2016 and 2022, 326 surveys were conducted by 44 volunteers to 167 colonies. These surveys covered 93% of all known sites and identified that half of them were under threat due to encroachment of bracken or scrub, overgrazing, and particularly new afforestation schemes incentivised through green finance initiatives. It was clear the Northern Brown Argus needed our help.
A pilot project, ‘Farmers, Landowners, Northern Brown Argus and Species-rich Grassland’, was put forward to the Natural Capital Scotland Programme, part of the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal. Following three years of preparation, the pilot was approved with £727,000 of funding and, in February 2025, a Species-rich Grassland Project Officer, Apithanny Bourne was appointed to deliver the six-year project.
The project will trial techniques to manage and restore the species-rich grassland in which the Northern Brown Argus thrives. It will also investigate sources of green funding, including Biodiversity Net Gain initiatives, and explore ways of reshaping the incentives that drive land use across the region. We will continue monitoring the fortunes of the butterfly as the project progresses.
Butterfly Conservation is the lead partner of this exciting project, working alongside Scottish Borders Council, farmers, volunteers and several interested organisations.
## **Northamptonshire species recovery work**
Funded by Natural England, we've worked at 17 sites across two landscapes in the Midlands, Rockingham Forest and South Northamptonshire. This work has improved habitats for a whole host of butterfly species, including Wood White, Dingy Skipper and Grizzled Skipper as well as the rare moths Concolorous and Liquorice Piercer.
Over 16 hectares and 18 kilometres of woodland edge and grassland habitat has been managed since the project began in autumn 2023.
These specialist butterflies and moths can only be found in places where all of their particular needs are met. They require specific configurations of sunny, sheltered habitat on the edge of woodland or in clearings, or light grassland rich in their preferred nectar sources and plants to lay eggs on. By carrying out forestry work and scrub clearance on grassland, we help to protect vulnerable
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Report of the Council (including Strategic Report) Year to 31 March 2025
populations of these butterflies and moths from local extinction. We have also sought to create habitat ‘stepping stones’ through the landscape, allowing species to more easily expand their range.
Habitat work came to an end in March 2025. However, this simply marks completion of the construction phase, when machinery moves out of woodlands and nature comes back in. In the coming years, our new features will regenerate and mature, and the benefits of this work will be fully realised.
Beyond our target species, a wide array of invertebrates, animals further up the food chain, reptiles, and plants will also benefit from Butterfly Conservation’s work as we seek to leave a lasting legacy in the Midlands at a time when nature needs us most.
## **New initiatives**
## **Northern Ireland species recovery partnership**
The Northern Ireland Species Recovery Partnership (NISRP) brings together environmental organisations with statutory agencies to address both the conservation and policy issues affecting high-priority species.
The partnership represents extensive expertise in species conservation, nature policy, legislation, data and evidence, and will engage with a wider group to create a clear understanding of what’s needed to deliver species recovery in Northern Ireland. Critically, it will be able to pull on policy and funding levers, alongside conservation action, to enable the recovery of high-priority species.
Butterfly Conservation is the expert partner representing butterflies and moths. Our approach will be informed by the priority landscapes identified within our Northern Ireland Conservation Strategy. This priority landscape mapping represents a detailed evidence-based assessment of risks and priorities. It’s very useful for local planning and flagging priority species, and ties in perfectly with the approach of the new partnership.
Action plans will form the basis of a bid to deliver critical action for species recovery, similar to projects already underway in Scotland (Species on the Edge), Wales (Natur am Byth), and the completed project in England (Back from the Brink)
## **Branch success stories**
Branches play an integral role in delivering Landscape Recovery. Since the launch of Butterfly Conservation's Strategy, Branches have formulated landscape plans detailing essential actions and have identified partners and landowners essential to delivering those actions. These plans are invaluable to our fundraising teams who can take steps to bring in income that underpins that work.
Branches make invaluable contributions to our funded, landscape-scale projects, e.g. surveying, monitoring, assessing habitats and undertaking management for High Brown Fritillaries in the Alun Valley; managing sites across West Midlands, East Midlands and Warwickshire for species including Wood White and Grizzled Skipper; or enhancing Scottish and Irish mires to benefit Large Heath. Equally important, they also evidence their impact upon these species.
Better still, management work by Butterfly Conservation Branches is not only restricted to landscapes covered by funded projects. For example, management work by our Branches across the UK has helped to enhance prospects of Pearl-bordered Fritillary in the Border Hills and maintained thriving Duke of Burgundy populations in Yorkshire. And there are many other examples.
Branch experts prove valuable for partners requesting direction on how best to address butterfly and moth needs on sites they own or manage. This too enhances Butterfly Conservation’s “footprint” in our priority landscapes.
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Report of the Council (including Strategic Report) Year to 31 March 2025
## **Goal 3: Transform 100,000 wild spaces in the UK for people butterflies and moths**
## **Introduction**
The goal to create Wild Spaces across the UK to help butterflies and moths thrive has enabled us to build a growing programme of engagement work reaching people and communities new to Butterfly Conservation. Through projects in London, Bristol, Leeds and Perth and Stirling, we have created spaces in partnership with councils, community groups and schools that have been accessed and enjoyed by many thousands of people living in areas of green space deprivation.
We have more than 4,500 Wild Spaces registered at wild-spaces.co.uk, whilst our wider work connecting people with nature reached 3,400 individuals in 2024. Here are some examples of this work.
## **Celebrating Long-standing Volunteers**
In 2024/25 we celebrated Mike Slater’s 50-year volunteering anniversary. Mike began with us as a Transect Surveyor, and has had a significant impact on butterflies in Warwickshire by working with many landowners and running practical conservation groups. He still surveys up to 15 transects, has written a book and helps to evidence the impact of volunteer work in the county. He’s improved around 300 sites and because of his work with fellow volunteers, priority species such as Small Blue, Dark Green Fritillary and Brown Hairstreak have increased in range in Warwickshire. Widespread species have benefitted too, including Marbled White, Small Copper and Red Admiral.
## **The impact of Big City Butterflies**
Our Big City Butterflies project was delivered over four years across 17 central London Boroughs. The project supported communities to discover butterflies and moths and connected people to nature and their local green spaces.
Two project officers delivered an ambitious programme of events, workshops and training across the project’s three work streams – habitat improvements for community green spaces, increased recording and monitoring activity, and school and community engagement. Achievements included:
- 98 community events were enjoyed by 2,285 people
- 96 workshops inspired 1,950 primary school children
- 742 people learned new skills through 68 identification and recording workshops
- 232 people improved their knowledge through 21 habitat management workshops
- 78 sites were improved for butterflies and moths, totalling 27,375ha of habitat
The project has demonstrated how positive outcomes for butterflies, moths and people can be achieved in an urban landscape by working collaboratively with local authorities, volunteer groups and communities.
## **Big City Butterflies: Volunteer Impact**
Big City Butterflies provided an incredible 259 opportunities for people to volunteer, resulting in 3,574 hours of additional support for the project.
One volunteer said “I think the minute you start getting interested in moths and butterflies, you then realise that they're very endangered. You become interested, and then you realise we're facing a bit of an emergency, and so you want to help. A lot of people have said they are going to look out for them more, and a lot of people have learned about Butterfly Conservation, people that maybe wouldn’t have heard of them before.”
## **Empowering Communities**
Volunteers in Bristol have helped to transform 4 unloved and overgrown beds at a local primary school into a varied and vibrant Wild Space, packed with herbs, nectar-rich plants and wildflowers.
The school is one of 47 to be taking part in our Bristol and Weston Wild Spaces project, which is all about connecting people to nature and empowering communities to take action for butterflies and moths in urban locations.
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Report of the Council (including Strategic Report) Year to 31 March 2025
The beds had been untouched for years, so whilst it was hard work, the effort invested has created a calm space for teachers and pupils to enjoy and hopefully see some butterflies.
## **Connecting people to nature**
When people care about and feel connected to nature, they act for nature. That’s the simple premise behind our work to provide people with opportunities to connect to nature through delivery of our Wild Spaces and wider engagement projects and activities. With every Wild Space created, new pathways to nature connection are opened.
“The wildflower meadow has become a beautiful focal point for our community. Visitors have enjoyed sitting here on sunny days, enjoying the natural, relaxing environment in a highly urban area.”
“I’m a full-time carer. Creating habitats in my garden and recording are things I can do at home which integrates with my caring role. I enjoy seeing and recording the butterflies and noting where they are headed and which plants they like and I'm getting better at telling the difference between some species.”
This year we have continued to facilitate nature connection through our online learning offer, Discover and Learn, with over 57,000 unique visitors accessing our learning resources and activity guides.
## **Wild Spaces – Working with schools and young people**
“This is nice because I love plants and insects, but I’ve never really done anything like this before.” – Quote from a young participant
On a sunny day in September, at Walliscote Primary in Weston-Super-Mare, we worked with their ‘Green Team’ to create a Wild Space where butterflies and moths can thrive in their small playground.
As we planted bulbs and wildflower seeds in some new planters, one of the children wanted to tell us how much she was enjoying the experience. In one sentence (see above), she perfectly encapsulated the need for projects like ours in Bristol and Weston primary schools, and the huge impact the sessions have for children living in greenspace deprived areas.
So many of the children we have worked with have said similar things to us about how infrequently they get to connect with nature. How can we expect the next generation to care for nature if they don’t get to experience it?
Since it began last year, the Bristol and Weston project has engaged over 1,700 children in 70 workshops, as well as empowering 114 teachers and volunteers to look after and get the most out of them for the benefit of the whole school community, and butterflies and moths too.
## **Brown Hairstreak returns to Hertfordshire for the first time in 25 years**
Diligent egg hunting by volunteers in the Hertfordshire & Middlesex Branch has resulted in the first records of this species in the county for 25 years. The butterfly has been spreading rapidly across Middlesex since the first record in 2015.
The Branch are now in touch with the Woodland Trust, who manage the site where eggs have been found, and are advising on suitable management for the butterfly.
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Report of the Council (including Strategic Report) Year to 31 March 2025
## **Delivering Impact**
## **Introduction**
In a year marked by both urgency and action, Butterfly Conservation stepped up in powerful ways to respond to the alarming decline in butterflies and moths. From declaring a UK-wide Butterfly Emergency to influencing government policy, our work continues to create real change. This report also marks the exciting launch of our Youth Panel, as we build a movement that empowers the next generation to support us in championing butterflies and moths.
## **Butterfly Emergency**
In September Butterfly Conservation announced a UK-wide Butterfly Emergency. Sparked by the results of the Big Butterfly Count, which recorded the worst year for butterflies in its 14-year history, and in recognition of the long-term decline of many of the UK’s butterfly species.
A campaign was launched to bring about an end to the use of toxic neonicotinoid pesticides on crops. Despite the known impact these chemicals have on butterflies, bees and other wildlife, the UK Government has repeatedly permitted their ‘emergency’ use on sugar beet. Butterfly Conservation wrote an open letter to Steve Reed, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, calling for a complete ban without exceptions and it was signed by an impressive 42,601 supporters.
In January 2025 the Government announced it would not be authorising the emergency use of neonicotinoids for that year. While a complete ban has yet to be implemented, the Government has committed to implementing one and it is possible we may have seen the last of these toxic chemicals on UK crops.
It’s a great example of how Butterfly Conservation uses its expert voice to highlight the decline in butterflies and generate action to change policy at the highest level.
## **Youth Panel launch**
It has been an exciting year for our Youth Engagement work with the launch of our first Youth Panel. Ten young people aged between 16 and 25 from all corners of the UK have come together to help us connect and engage with a new generation of supporters and volunteers.
What a year they’ve had. Two panel members took the lead at the Restore Nature Now protest in June, giving a heartfelt speech to the crowds as they gathered. In July, they came together for a residential in Dorset with the aim of connecting as a group, learning more about the work of Butterfly Conservation and enjoying some fieldtrips and visits from staff, volunteers and local experts.
Following their official launch later in the year, the Panel spoke to members at our AGM and took part in numerous television and radio interviews. Most recently, the first edition of the Youth Panel Zine (an informal, mini magazine), Chattypillar was circulated to a mailing list of young people interested in our work. And that’s just a few of their highlights! We’re delighted to have them with us and look forward to seeing their work develop and progress.
## **Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count 2024**
Butterflies appeared to be in short supply during the summer of 2024. That was what supporters were contacting Butterfly Conservation to tell us, and it is also what the results of Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count revealed.
Despite it being the worst summer in the history of the Big Butterfly Count for butterflies, people took part in their thousands. A whopping 85,927 participants recorded a total of 143,241 Big Butterfly Counts during the three-week counting period.
The Big Butterfly Count 2024 was launched at our Manor Yard office with a frenzy of media activity and a live broadcast across our social media channels hosted by Chris Packham CBE, Indy Kiemel Greene and Leanna Fernandez.
We generated over 2,000 pieces of media coverage and had more than 158,000 unique visitors to our website.
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Report of the Council (including Strategic Report) Year to 31 March 2025
With it being such a poor year for butterflies we were able to use the results of the 2024 Big Butterfly Count to highlight the long-term decline in butterfly numbers and declare a nationwide Butterfly Emergency.
## **Restore Nature Now**
We attended the Restore Nature Now demonstration in London in June 2024, marching alongside colleagues, supporters, volunteers and other likeminded organisations to call on the government to take action to Restore Nature Now.
In the lead up to the General Election, we produced a Manifesto for Butterflies and Moths, asking the next UK Government to take important action to halt and reverse the decline in species.
## **Future priorities**
## **2025-26**
## **Nature recovery**
We will develop a Nature Recovery Strategy to demonstrate the unique contribution the expertise of Butterfly Conservation can make to nature recovery across the UK, working collaboratively in partnership with other organisations. We will maintain the strength of our biological data and share evidence of our impact on species and landscapes.
## **Inspire people to act**
We will continue to develop new opportunities for people from under-represented groups, including people from ethnic and mixed ethnic backgrounds and people living in areas of green space deprivation, to connect to nature through engagement with butterflies and moths. This will help create a new generation of supporters and volunteers for Butterfly Conservation.
## **2026-28**
## **Build a sustainable funding model**
We will develop and deliver a Fundraising Strategy to help increase and diversify income. This will be supported by a strengthened brand and case for support. We will seek new income opportunities, including corporate partnerships and exploring green finance.
## **Create an inclusive & resilient organisation**
To help build inclusivity and resilience within Butterfly Conservation we will develop new learning and development opportunities for staff, Trustees and volunteers, deliver a Sustainability Action Plan, and ensure equality, diversity and inclusivity in all aspects of our work.
## **Beyond 2028**
## **Deliver our new strategy**
Following consultation with staff, volunteers and external stakeholders (and approval from our Council), we will commence delivery of a new strategy and develop a business plan to achieve the high-level conservation and engagement objectives it contains.
## **Risk management**
The Senior Leadership Team works closely with our Trustees and staff to coordinate a robust approach to risk management. Business planning processes incorporate thorough risk management, with all major risks identified and mitigation measures recorded in a Risk Register.
The Risk Register is regularly reviewed by the Audit & Risk Sub-committee, which in turn updates Council on the most significant risks identified and the actions to help address them agreed. The Audit
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Report of the Council (including Strategic Report) Year to 31 March 2025
& Risk Sub-committee also undertakes an annual in-depth review to identify the principal risks facing the organisation and report these to Council.
This process helps to ensure all major risks are identified and appropriate mitigations agreed. Whilst the most significant risks cannot be eliminated, with suitable actions in place the potential impact can be reduced. Our risk management procedures remain under annual review to help ensure ongoing improvement in this important area of work.
## **Principal risks and uncertainties**
## **Fundraising**
The external fundraising environment has been extremely challenging for charities across the voluntary sector for quite some time. There is no sign this will change in the short or medium term. Future budget projections for Butterfly Conservation have therefore been set accordingly, with prudent income targets and planned reductions in expenditure. Work is also underway to diversify income streams, avoid over-reliance on any one income source and maximise contributions to general funds.
## **Staffing**
Recruitment to some key roles remains challenging, including fundraising, finance and people services. Given the need to reduce overall expenditure, all recruitment over the last year has required Senior Leadership Team approval in advance, based on the provision of a strong business case. Where restricted funds have been secured for a project-specific role, such roles have joined on a fixed-term contract aligned to the duration of the funding.
## **Organisational Change Programme**
Despite tight cost controls in place across Butterfly Conservation, a reduced level of income has meant it has been necessary to also reduce expenditure accordingly. Given the organisation’s highest cost is staffing, this resulted in a compulsory redundancy process in early 2025. Such a process is always highly regrettable and stressful for both the staff directly affected and their colleagues. External support was made available to all staff during the process. As a result of both tight control of recruitment throughout the year and the redundancy process, Butterfly Conservation was around 25% smaller in terms of staff numbers on 1[st] April 2025 compared to twelve months earlier.
## **Sector Positioning & Impact Delivery**
The past year has seen ongoing shifts in policy priorities and statutory funding opportunities with a direct impact on Butterfly Conservation. These include a shift away from support for threatened species, less funding for species recovery and weak government land-use policies. Many partner organisations and funding bodies have also experienced similar financial pressures. This has required the organisation to adapt and find new ways to ensure the relevance of our work and impact we deliver on the ground – for butterflies, moths and people.
## **Health and safety**
Butterfly Conservation commissioned a Health and Safety (H&S) Audit in 2024. Recommendations from this audit have been reviewed and shared with the Audit and Risk Sub-committee, who are responsible for reviewing H&S incidents on a quarterly basis. The Audit made recommendations for continuing improvements, and these are being rolled out on the basis of level of risk. The H&S policy is reviewed annually and codes of practice and risk assessments have been refreshed and continue to be reviewed on a regular basis. The need for H&S training is assessed regularly and implemented for staff and volunteers. For the latter we are sharing further training through our volunteer portal, Assemble.
## **Safeguarding**
Butterfly Conservation has both a moral obligation and a legal duty of care to ensure that all children and vulnerable adults are safe and protected from harm whilst on Butterfly Conservation premises or participating in any Butterfly Conservation-led work and/or activity. We ensure our staff, volunteers
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Report of the Council (including Strategic Report) Year to 31 March 2025
and contractors comply with best practice and regulatory requirements across all the physical and virtual spaces where we operate. A Safeguarding update is reviewed quarterly by the Audit & Risk Sub-committee. We have clear procedures in place for reporting, recording and acting upon any safeguarding allegations, concerns or queries. Our Safeguarding Policy is published on our website along with contact details for our Designated Safeguarding Lead and Officer.
## **Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)**
Our work on equality, diversity and inclusion progressed further during 2024-25 and remains an important priority for the organisation. This year we published an EDI Strategy on our website, the delivery of which is supported by an Action Plan that identifies further steps we will take to improve equality, diversity and inclusion across all aspects of our work.
We have also continued to collaborate with other organisations through Wildlife and Countryside Link and published a RACE report for the third consecutive year highlighting progress made and areas for continued improvement.
Having established Butterfly Conservation’s first Youth Panel in 2024, we have also consulted the panel members on our approach to equality, diversity and inclusion as part of the development of a Youth Involvement Action Plan.
With funding from the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), we have also developed a GIS mapping tool of our engagement activity across the UK, allowing us to measure and report the distribution of our work with communities in areas of green space deprivation for the first time.
## **Sustainability policy**
The implementation of Butterfly Conservation’s new Sustainability Policy and Action Plan was not progressed in the year. With the shift from half our staff based in offices pre-Covid 19 to staff predominately home working, we are to move our Head Office to much smaller and more energy efficient premises, once suitable premises can be found. This will mean a reset in the planned development of our Sustainability Strategy so it better reflects our new ways of flexible working.
## **Financial review**
Income decreased by 8% to £6.06m (2024: £6.62m). Income from donations and legacies decreased by 23% to £2.32m (2024: £3.00m). Legacy income saw a reduction following an exceptional year in 2024. However we were fortunate that despite the challenging financial and political climate, we continued to have a good response to all our individual appeals and general donations (including Gift Aid). Along with membership subscription income which increased by 8% to £1.34m (2024: £1.24m). Grant funding also increased by 10% to £1.51m (2024: £1.37m).
Expenditure increased by 1%, to £6.90m (2024: £6.82m). During the year we increased our average headcount by 3, focussing effort on our charitable activities.
The result was a net expenditure of £0.96m (2024: net income of £0.13m) and the closing total net assets were £11.87m (2024: £12.83m).
The balance on our endowment fund decreased by £113k to £5.49m (2024: £5.61m) due to falling investment markets.
## **Fundraising policy**
We are registered with the Fundraising Regulator and comply with the key principles embodied in their Code of Fundraising, as set out in our Fundraising Promise (available on our website).
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## Report of the Council (including Strategic Report) Year to 31 March 2025
Several safeguards are in place for our supporters. We include data protection permission options and a three-point ‘Our promise to you’ on all fundraising materials. A detailed Supporter Guarantee can be found on our website.
All fundraising is conducted in-house and we monitor activity to ensure it adheres to our strict guidelines. No external professional fundraiser or third-party organisation is engaged in fundraising activities on behalf of the charity.
Corporate businesses have agreements in place to use Butterfly Conservation’s logo for promotional purposes. All agreements can be terminated with immediate effect if the commercial partners do anything that could bring our reputation into disrepute.
Butterfly Conservation operates a strict opt-in policy for all direct marketing in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). All direct mail fundraising communications sent out are covered by active, informed and specific permission by the individual. Supporters are offered the opportunity to revise consent preferences in each communication. We also monitor the level of asks sent out to ensure unreasonable requests are not made to any individual.
All staff adhere to our Policy for Supporters in Vulnerable Circumstances, which provides guidance to help identify vulnerable individuals and ensure that all supporters are treated fairly.
Butterfly Conservation did not receive any complaints regarding aspects of our fundraising during the 2024/25 financial year. We received one notification from the Fundraising Preference Service and this was dealt with immediately.
## **Investment policy**
Our investment income is derived from an Endowment Fund intended to provide the charity with a permanent source of income. We are bound to invest this to seek a balanced return from income and capital growth. We aim to grow in line with inflation (CPI) over the long term. To achieve an appropriate balance between risk and return, we invest in a diversified portfolio of equities, bonds and alternative assets – a breakdown of investment holdings is given in Note 15. We invest through pooled funds and third-party managers.
On 31 March 2025 our Endowment Fund had a market value of £5.49m (2024: £5.61m). The Trustees have appointed Cazenove Capital Management as professional investment managers to manage the Endowment Fund in accordance with the investment policies.
At their meeting on 10 June 2020, Council passed a resolution to invest on a Total Return basis. The initial value of the trust for investment and the initial value of the Unapplied Total Return were established on 31 March 2020. The initial value of the Trust for investment was determined at £3.09m by reference to our records – the Unapplied Total Return was calculated as the difference between that value and the portfolio value at 31 March 2020. To ensure that we meet our obligations to balance the needs of current and future beneficiaries, trustees agreed a policy annually to allocate 3.25%, after fees, of the portfolio value to income and any remaining balance of the Total Return to be reinvested in the Endowment Fund. The percentage allocated to income is agreed each year with the investment managers, Cazenove Capital Management.
Council has further resolved that we should follow the principles of socially responsible investment. We will do so by holding sustainable assets, in particular those that support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We seek to engage, through our investment managers, with companies to encourage changing behaviours to reduce consumption and emissions. We have no direct and de minimis indirect exposure to companies with fossil fuel reserves (0% at 31 March 2025). We identified both ethical and financial reasons for taking this approach. A further consequence of this policy is a significant reduction in the carbon footprint of our portfolio.
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Report of the Council (including Strategic Report) Year to 31 March 2025
## **Financial reserves policy**
At 31 March 2025 Butterfly Conservation had total funds of £11.87m (2024: £12.83m), which is made up of:
- Permanent Endowment fund at 31 March 2025 of £5.49m (2024: £5.61m) which was given to be retained for the benefit of Butterfly Conservation as a capital fund and to provide income for the Charity.
- Restricted funds at 31 March 2025 of £0.44m (2024: £0.40m) to be applied to the specific purpose(s) intended by the donor.
- Unrestricted reserves at 31 March 2025 of £5.94m (2024: £6.82m) available to be applied at the discretion of the Trustees to any of Butterfly Conservation’s charitable purposes, made up of:
- General funds i.e. free financial reserves of £3.78m (2024: £4.37m).
- Fixed assets of £1.46m (2024: £1.37m) and Retained profits from Butterfly Conservation Trading of £20,000 (2024: £20,000). Both funds are central to Butterfly Conservation’s charitable activities and not available to meet immediate future contingencies should they arise.
- Designated funds of £0.68m (2024: £1.06m) to enhance our science and research work.
General funds i.e. free financial reserves are held to ensure that Butterfly Conservation:
- maintains sufficient levels of working capital to allow for seasonal fluctuations of our natural patterns of activity
- protects its essential conservation activities in the event of shortfalls in grant and general income within the next financial year
- maintains funds to respond to conservation opportunities.
These funds equate to approximately six months’ operating costs. Council has reviewed the charity’s Financial Reserves Policy with the designation of this money and has also taken into consideration the continued reduction in statutory agency funding, costs of inflation including the employer’s national insurance contributions and the need to invest financial resources into achieving our 2026 Strategy. Considering these factors, Council has calculated that the amount of financial reserves it needs to hold is six months, equivalent to £3.5m (2024: £3.5m). The members of Council are therefore satisfied with the year-end reserves position. In 2025/26 we will continue to implement our Fundraising Strategy and look at diversifying income to maintain our conservation effort and financial reserves to the target level. However, ongoing uncertainties may have some negative impact on our finances during the next few years. Positive action is planned to mitigate potential reduction in income during this period.
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Report of the Council (including Strategic Report) Year to 31 March 2025
## **Structure, governance and management**
## **Members of Council**
Council members constitute directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006 and trustees of the charity for the purposes of charity legislation. Each member of Council has responsibility for monitoring the charity’s activities in specific operational areas. Constant regard is paid to refreshing the experience mix of members to ensure that Council continually develops the skills required to contribute fully to the charity’s advancement.
The following Council members were in office during the year to 31 March 2025 and served throughout that year (and up to the date of approval of this report) except where shown:
|**Council Members**|**Elected/re-elected/resigned**|
|---|---|
|Martin Spray - Chair||
|Simon Saville – Vice Chair|Re-elected in November 2024|
|||
|Hugh Ellerton – Honorary Treasurer||
|Steve Almond|Elected in November 2024|
|||
|Apithanny Bourne|Resigned in November 2024|
|Catrin Evans||
|||
|Prof Laurence Harwood|
Elected in November 2024
Re-elected in November 2024
Co-opted in November 2024
Elected in November 2024|
|Carrie Hume||
|||
|Dr Elaine King||
|Lynnette Leeson||
|||
|Shaun Thomas||
|Dr Ruth Waters|Co-opted in November 2024|
|||
|Chris Winnick|Retired in November 2024|
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Report of the Council (including Strategic Report) Year to 31 March 2025
All members of Butterfly Conservation are eligible to seek election to Council at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). One-third of Council members (also known as trustees) stand down each year on rotation and new Council members are elected at Butterfly Conservation’s AGM in November. New Council members receive comprehensive information to understand their roles and responsibilities to the charity. A detailed induction is arranged to provide new Council members with a strategic and operational overview of Butterfly Conservation.
A Board Buddy system was introduced in 2021 to assist new trustees joining Council to be paired with an existing trustee as a mentor. This system has been incorporated into the trustee cycle and forms part of the annual review process. To familiarise themselves with the work of the charity, Council members are invited to attend key meetings and events, and all Council members are encouraged to undertake training seminars from external professionals and subscriptions to relevant governance resources are available.
A trustee skills audit is undertaken each year to identify any gaps in expertise and highlight future requirements to ensure that Council has sufficient skills to operate as a diverse and effective Board. During this year’s trustee recruitment, emphasis was applied to attempt to increase the diversity amongst new Council members, and to attract potential applicants with skills in advocacy/lobbying, fundraising and marketing, environmental leadership, and financial experience, particularly in the charitable sector. Various methods were used including widespread advertising through national recruitment platforms and social media, as well as in Butterfly magazine, BC’s website, and the Branch email updates
The AGM was held in Bristol and online in November 2024. Eligible members were able to vote on the Resolutions and Trustee Elections by proxy in advance of the AGM, and 90 members were recorded as present in person, while 85 members joined online Our next AGM in November 2025 will be held online.
Council members declare all relevant interests and register them with the Company Secretary and, in accordance with Butterfly Conservation’s Code of Conduct Policy, withdraw from decisions where a conflict of interest arises. Details of any relevant transactions can be found in Notes 11 and 24 of the accounts.
Council continues to adopt the Charity Governance Code (CGC), which assists charities to develop and maintain a high level of governance through continuous development.
## **Responsibilities of Council**
The members of Council (who are also directors of Butterfly Conservation for the purposes of company law and trustees for the purposes of charity law) are responsible for preparing the annual report and financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). Company law requires the members of Council to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under company law the members of Council must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and the group and of the income and expenditure of the group for that period.
In preparing these financial statements, the members of Council are required to:
- Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently
- Observe the methods and principles in Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable to the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)
- Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
- State whether applicable United Kingdom Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements
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Report of the Council (including Strategic Report) Year to 31 March 2025
- Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in operation.
Council members are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose, with reasonable accuracy at any time, the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and applicable Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and the group and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Each member of Council confirms that:
- So far as the Council member is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditor is unaware
- He/she has taken all the steps that Council members ought to have taken in order to make himself/herself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the charitable company’s auditor is aware of that information.
This confirmation is given and should be interpreted in accordance with the provisions of s418 of the Companies Act 2006.
The members of Council are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information contained on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the UK governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
## **Strategy and policy setting**
Council determines the overall strategy and policy of Butterfly Conservation.
Council meets at least four times a year. During 2024/25 Council met six times – one of these meetings was held online, and five meetings were held in person. Council delegates some of its responsibilities to three committees which report back to Council with recommendations – Audit & Risk, Governance, and Investment. From time to time the Chief Executive initiates individual Task and Finish Groups designed to work on specific areas. These groups report directly to the Chief Executive and are made up of a mixture of members of staff, Council members and external individuals depending on the topic and their expertise.
## **Staff, branches and volunteers**
The Chief Executive, assisted by the Senior Leadership Team, is responsible for the day-to-day management of Butterfly Conservation, acting under authority delegated to CEO by Council. During the year, we employed on average 109 members of staff (106 in 2023/24) who are grouped into five main work areas:
- Business & Research
- Chief Executive’s Office
- Engagement & Volunteering
- Fundraising & Communications
- • Nature Recovery
Our local action is co-ordinated by a UK-wide network of 31 Branches, the European Butterfly Group and volunteers. Each Branch is managed by a volunteer committee. Our dedicated Branch Committee members are true ambassadors for Butterfly Conservation and our work. We are indebted to all the enthusiastic volunteers who contribute to making Butterfly Conservation so strong and successful.
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Report of the Council (including Strategic Report) Year to 31 March 2025
## **Pay and remuneration policy**
We are committed to ensuring that our pay and benefits are competitive to attract and retain the right skills to have the greatest impact in delivering our charitable objectives. The same benefits arrangements, including pensions, and terms and conditions apply to all employees, including the Senior Leadership Team. Pay bands and salary increments are reviewed annually against several other NGOs and using benchmarking tools widely available in the voluntary sector. We continue to be an accredited Living Wage employer. In 2024/25 we began a full pay and grading review and further work on the final salary structures and implementation will now take place during 2025/26.
Further salary banding information on the Senior Leadership Team’s remuneration is included in Note 11. Council members are not remunerated but are reimbursed for reasonable out-of-pocket expenses (as stated in Note 11).
Butterfly Conservation conducts a fair recruitment process, with clear person specifications for each role to ensure objective criteria are used to shortlist and interview applicants. This includes valuesbased interviewing to support our commitment to our values of Excellence, Passionate, Inspiring, and Collaborative. Individuals are recruited based on their commitment and alignment to our values, as well as their skills and technical expertise. This helps to reduce unconscious bias, creates a positive work environment, and enhances staff engagement and morale.
The results of the gender pay gap calculations for 2024/25 show that the full time equivalent mean weekly earnings for men are 6% more than women. This demonstrates a widening of the gap since 2023/24, when the mean weekly earnings for men were 3% more than women. The 2024/25 full-time equivalent median weekly earnings for men are 12% more than women (compared to 9% in 2023/24). This is the first time since 2018/19 that we have seen a widening of the gap after a year-on-year improvement.
In 2024/25, whilst we have seen a continued move towards equality in the upper pay quarter and the lower middle pay quarters, we have seen an increase in men being paid in the upper middle pay quarter and fewer men in the lower pay quarter. This is where the difference lies. 68% of our workforce are women but more men hold senior positions within the organisation (64% of the men at BC fall within the top two pay quarters).
## **Trading**
Butterfly Conservation Trading Limited was incorporated in February 2010 to conduct trading activities in support of Butterfly Conservation’s charitable activities. The company is registered in England and
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Report of the Council (including Strategic Report) Year to 31 March 2025
Wales under company number 07166835 and is a wholly owned trading subsidiary. The directors of the trading company have elected to donate, in accordance with an agreed deed of covenant, all of its annual taxable profit to its parent charity, Butterfly Conservation, under Gift Aid. For the year ended 31 March 2025, the donation amounted to £13,084 (2024: £21,365).
## **Thank you**
We are extremely grateful to all our members, supporters and funders and the organisations that have generously continued to support the charity in 2024/25, including all donors who wish to remain anonymous.
On behalf of Butterfly Conservation, thank you to everyone who supported our work. Unfortunately, we do not have space to individually name all funders but would like to acknowledge the following, who provided support of £1,000 or more:
## **Grant funders**
Cairngorms National Park Authority Carmarthenshire County Council Ceredigion Country Council Chapman Charitable Trust Cornwall Council Cranborne Chase National Landscape Office Dacorum Borough Council De Vlinderstichting Dorset County Council Forestry England Hampshire County Council National Heritage Lottery Fund Natural England Natural Resources Wales NatureScot North York Moors National Park Authority Northern Ireland Environment Agency Peter Sowerby Foundation Rural Payments Agency Scottish Borders Council South Downs National Park Authority SSE Renewables The Botanist Foundation The Highland Council The John Swire 1989 Charitable Trust Valencia Communities Fund
## **Charitable trusts and foundations**
D G Albright Charitable Trust Hamamelis Trust Henocq Law Trust J & J R Wilson Trust Kathleen Beryl Sleigh Charitable Trust Mrs M A Lascelles Charitable Trust Sabina Sutherland Charitable Trust The Barratt Foundation The Gaynor Cemlyn-Jones Trust The John William Hay Charitable Trust The Marlow Trust The Marsh Christian Trust The Michael Marks Charitable Trust The Oakdale Trust The Reed Foundation The Torrs Charitable Trust
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Report of the Council (including Strategic Report) Year to 31 March 2025
The Valerie Ayton Charitable Trust The William Haddon Charitable Trust
## **Corporate partners and supporters**
Amber River Group Limited Glastonbury Festivals Limited Habitat First Group Hooke Farm Murton Grange Limited Origin Enterprises SLR Consulting Limited Sula Innovation Limited Yeo Valley Organic Farms
## **Corporate members**
Breedon Group British Flora CJ Wildlife Limited Ground Control Limited Hallgarten & Novum Wines LawnSmith Limited Integrated Utility Supplies Landscaping Solutions Limited Mariposa Nature Tours Meadfleet Limited Nurture Landscapes Group Stowe Family Law LLP TES Limited The Botanist Foundation The Friendly Seed Company Limited
## **Legacy gifts**
Much of our successful conservation work is underpinned by the generosity of supporters who have left a gift in their Will. All gifts, whatever their size, are hugely valuable, making a lasting difference to butterfly and moth conservation. We would like to thank our generous benefactors for these important gifts:
Martyn Clement Anderson Antonia Therese Bagley Susan Black Robin Ashdown Carr John Alexander Cochrane Frances Catherine Cooke Ceil Lochead Davidson John Gent Terrence Giles Joan Gillian Gostick Stephen Robert Hatch Stephen Hibbard Anthony Jones Ellen Cora Kelsall Peter Larner Patrick Martin Booe Malague Maureen Sheila Moulton Barbara Linda Overton John Oxenford Patricia Elizabeth Parker
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Report of the Council (including Strategic Report) Year to 31 March 2025
Sally Elizabeth Ann Quarterman Michael Rattey John Rickett Dr George Satchwell Anne Patricia Shapter Rodney Clyde Silk Michael Stuart Spittal William Anthony Straker Alma Tingle-Francis Anne Heather Walshaw Elizabeth Anne Webb Michael Francis Wildish Robert John Woodward
If you would like to find out more about leaving a gift in your will, please email the team at legacy@butterfly-conservation.org.
## **REPORT OF THE COUNCIL APPROVED FOR ON AND BEHALF OF COUNCIL**
**Martin Spray, Chair**
## **Julie Williams, Secretary**
**Approved by Council on:** 30[th] July 2025
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Independent auditor’s report on the financial statements 31 March 2025
## **Independent auditor’s report to the members of Council and members of Butterfly Conservation**
## **Opinion**
We have audited the financial statements of Butterfly Conservation (the ‘charitable parent company’) and its subsidiary company (collectively the ‘group’) for the year ended 31 March 2025, which comprise the consolidated statement of financial activities, the group comparative statement of financial activities, the group and charitable parent company balance sheets, the consolidated statement of cash flows, the principal accounting policies and notes to the financial statements. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland’ (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion, the financial statements:
- give true and fair view of the state of the group’s and of the charitable parent company’s affairs as at 31 March 2025 and of the group’s income and expenditure for the year then ended;
- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
- have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulation 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended).
## **Basis for opinion**
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the group in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
## **Conclusions relating to going concern**
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the members of Council’s (i.e. the trustees’) use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the group and charitable parent company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the members of Council (i.e. the trustees) with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
## **Other information**
The members of Council (who are the trustees of the charitable parent company for the purposes of charity law and the directors of the charitable parent company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report and Financial Statements, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.
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Independent auditor’s report on the financial statements 31 March 2025
In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements, or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information; we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
## **Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006**
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:
- the information given in the Report of the Council, which is also the directors’ report for the purposes of company law and includes the strategic report, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
- the Report of the Council, which is also the directors’ report for the purposes of company law and includes the strategic report, has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
## **Matters on which we are required to report by exception**
In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and the charitable parent company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Report of the Council (including the strategic report).
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
- proper and adequate accounting records have not been kept by the charitable parent company, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from Branches not visited by us; or
- the charitable parent company financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
- certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
- we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
## **Responsibilities of Council**
As explained more fully in the Responsibilities of Council statement included within the Report of the Council, the members of Council (who are also the directors of the charitable parent company for the purposes of company law and trustees of the charitable parent company for the purposes of charity law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the members of Council determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the members of Council are responsible for assessing the group’s and the charitable parent company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the members of Council either intend to liquidate the group or the charitable parent company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
## **Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements**
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists.
27
Independent auditor’s report on the financial statements 31 March 2025
Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:
Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, was as follows:
- the Senior Statutory Auditor ensured that the engagement team collectively had the appropriate competence, capabilities and skills to identify or recognise non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
- we identified the laws and regulations applicable to the charitable company through discussions with management, and from our commercial knowledge and experience of the sector;
- the identified laws and regulations were communicated within the audit team regularly and the team remained alert to instances of non-compliance throughout the audit;
- we focused on specific laws and regulations which we considered may have a direct material effect on the accounts or the activities of the group. These included but were not limited to the Charites Act 2011, Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended), and the Companies Act 2006.
- we assessed the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations identified above through making enquiries of management, inspecting legal correspondence, and reviewing Member of Council meeting minutes.
We assessed the susceptibility of the group’s financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:
- making enquiries of management and those charged with governance as to where they considered there was susceptibility to fraud, their knowledge of actual, suspected and alleged fraud; and
- considering the internal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations
To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we:
- performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships;
- reviewed journal entries to identify unusual transactions;
- tested the authorisation of expenditure as part of our substantive testing thereon;
- assessed whether judgements and assumptions made in determining the accounting estimates set out in the accounting policies were indicative of potential bias; and
- used data analytics to identify any significant or unusual transactions and identify the rationale for them.
## **Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements**
In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to:
- agreeing financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation;
- reviewing the minutes of member of Council meetings and
- enquiring of management and those charged with governance as to actual and potential litigation and claims.
28
Independent auditor’s report on the financial statements 31 March 2025
There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of noncompliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the trustees and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.
Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.
## **Use of our report**
This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 and to the charity’s members of Council (the trustees and directors of the charitable company) as a body, in accordance with Section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and Regulation 10 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
Gumayel Miah (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of Buzzacott Audit LLP, Statutory Auditor 130 Wood Street London EC2V 6DL
Date: 15 October 2025
29
Consolidated statement of financial activities Year to 31 March 2025
|Notes|
Unrestricted
funds
£’000|Restricted
funds
£’000|Endowment
funds
£’000
—
—
184
—
—
—
—
184
11
—
—
11
173
(116)
57
(170)
(113)
5,607
5,494|**2025**
**Total**
**funds**
**£’000**|
2024
Total
funds
£’000|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
**Income from:**
Donations and legacies
1
Other trading activities
2
Investments & interest
receivable
3
Charitable activities
. Conservation activities –
grants receivable
4
. Contracts and Royalties
. Primary purpose trading
. Membership subscriptions
**Total income**
**Expenditure on:**
Raising funds
5,18
Charitable activities
. Conservation
6
. Membership services
7
**Total expenditure**
**Net (expenditure) income**
**before investment gains**
**(losses)**
Net investment (losses) gains
15,18
**Net (expenditure) income**
10
Transfer between funds
18,19
**Net movement in funds**
**Reconciliation**
Total funds brought forward at 1
April 2024
**Total funds carried forward at**
**31 March 2025**
|
2,285
84
145
352
405
37
1,340|
30
—
8
1,159
30
1
—||
**2,315**
**84**
**337**
**1,511**
**435**
**38**
**1,340**|
2,998
105
307
1,365
463
136
1,242|
||
4,648|
1,228||**6,060**|
6,616|
||
435
4,412
543|
—
1,501
—||
**446**
**5,913**
**543**|
391
5,893
540|
||
5,390|1,501||**6,902**|
6,824|
||
(742)
—|
(273)
—||
(842)
(116)|
(208)
338|
||
(742)
(137)|(273)
307||(958)
—|
130
—|
||
(879)
6,817|34
402||(958)
**12,826**|
130
12,696|
||
5,938|436||11,868|
12,826|
All of the group’s activities derived from continuing operations during the above financial periods.
The group has no recognised gains and losses other than those shown in the consolidated statement of financial activities.
No summary income and expenditure account has been produced as the only difference to the statement of financial activities would be the omission of endowed income of £184,000 (2024: £183,000) and endowed expenditure of £11,000 (2024: £11,000).
30
## Balance Sheet 31 March 2025
|
Notes
**Fixed assets**
Intangible fixed assets
13
Tangible fixed assets
14
. Freehold land
. Other tangible fixed assets
Investments
15
**Current assets**
Stocks
Debtors
16
Cash
. Short term deposits and
interest bearing accounts
. Money market accounts
. Current accounts
**Liabilities**
Creditors: amounts falling due
within one year
17
**Net current assets**
**Total net assets**
**Funds of the charity**
Capital funds
. Endowment funds
18
Income funds
. Restricted funds
19
. Unrestricted funds
.. General fund
.. Non-charitable trading
funds
.. Tangible and intangible
assets (including freehold
nature reserves) fund
20
.. Designated fund
21
**Total funds**
|Group
**2025**
**£’000**
2024
£’000
**95**
20
**1,343**
1,343
**24**
8
**5,494**
5,607
**6,956**
6,978
**16**
8
**1,700**
2,408
**778**
1,189
**2,286**
1,797
**607**
969
**5,387**
6,371
**(475)**
(523)
**4,912**
5,848
**11,868**
12,826
**5,494**
5,607
**436**
402
**3,780**
4,371
**20**
20
**1,462**
1,371
**676**
1,055
**11,868**
12,826
|Charity|Charity|
|---|---|---|---|
||**2025**
**£’000**
**95**
**1,343**
**24**
**5,494**
**6,956**
**16**
**1,700**
**778**
**2,286**
**607**
**5,387**
**(475)**
**4,912**
**11,868**
**5,494**
**436**
**3,780**
**20**
**1,462**
**676**
**11,868**
|**2025**
**£’000**
**95**
**1,343**
**24**
**5,494**
**6,956**
**16**
**1,714**
**778**
**2,286**
**570**
**5,364**
**(472)**
**4,892**
**11,848**
**5,494**
**436**
**3,780**
**—**
**1,462**
**676**
**11,848**
|2024
£’000|
||||
20
1,343
8
5,607|
||||6,978|
||||
8
2,455
1,189
1,797
903|
||||6,352
(524)
|
||||5,828|
||||
12,806|
||||
5,607
402
4,371
—
1,371
1,055|
||||12,806|
Approved by the Council of Butterfly Conservation, Company Registration Number 02206468 (England and Wales) and signed on its behalf by:
Martin Spray Chair
Date: 30 July 2025
31
Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows Year to 31 March 2025
|||
**2025**|
2024|
|---|---|---|---|
||Notes|**£’000**|£’000|
|
**Cash flows from operating activities**|
|
|
|
|Net cash used in operating activities|A|
**(500)**|
(1,644)|
|**Cash flows from investing activities**||||
|Investment income and interest received||
**337**|
305|
|Net withdrawal from short term deposits||**411**|1,725|
|Proceeds from the disposal of investments||**—**|15|
|Purchase of intangible fixed assets||**(95)**|—|
|Purchase of tangible fixed assets||
**(23)**|
(10)|
|**Net cash provided by investing activities**||
**630**|
2,035|
|**Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year**||
**130**|
391|
|**Change in cash equivalents at 1 April 2024**|B|
**2,767**|
2,376|
|**Change in cash equivalents at 31 March 2025**|B|
**2,897**|
2,767|
## **Notes to the statement of cash flows for the year to 31 March 2025**
## **A. Reconciliation of net expenditure to net flows from operating activities**
|**Net income (as per the statement of financial activities)**
**Adjusted for:**
Depreciation and amortisation charge
Losses (gains) on investments
Investment income and interest receivable
Increase in stocks
Decrease (increase) in debtors
Decrease in creditors
**Net cash used in operating activities**
**B.** **Analysis of cash and cash equivalents**
Current accounts
Money market accounts
Cash held by investment managers
**Total cash and cash equivalents**
|**2025**
**£’000**
**(958)**
**27**
**116**
**(337)**
**(8)**
**708**
**(48)**
**(500)**
**2025**
**£’000**
**607**
**2,286**
**4**
**2,897**
|2024
£’000|
|---|---|---|
|||130
32
(338)
(308)
(2)
(1,045)
(113)|
|||(1,644)|
|||2024
£’000
969
1,797
1
2,767|
No separate reconciliation of net debt has been prepared as there is no difference between the net cash (debt) of the charity and the above cash and cash equivalents
32
Principal accounting policies
The principal accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the accounts are laid out below.
## **Basis of preparation**
The financial statements have been prepared for the year to 31 March 2025 with comparative information provided in respect of the accounts are laid out below.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention with items recognised at cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policies below or the notes to these financial statements.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (Charities SORP FRS 102), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Charities Act 2011.
The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102. The financial statements are presented in sterling and are rounded to the nearest one thousand.
## **Basis of consolidation**
The consolidated statement of financial activities and group balance sheet consolidate the financial statements of Butterfly Conservation and its wholly owned subsidiary company, Butterfly Conservation Trading Limited, made up at the balance sheet date. The results of the subsidiary undertaking are consolidated on a line-by-line basis. No separate statement of financial activities has been presented for the charity alone as permitted by Section 408 of the Companies Act 2006.
## **Critical accounting estimates and areas of judgement**
Preparation of the financial statements requires the members of Council and management to make significant judgements and estimates. The items in the financial statements where these judgements and estimates have been made include:
- the estimates of the useful economic lives of both tangible and intangible fixed assets used to determine the annual depreciation and amortisation charges respectively;
- the assumptions adopted by the members of Council and management in determining the value of any designations required from the charity’s general unrestricted funds;
- the basis on which support costs have been allocated across expenditure headings;
- the probability of the receipt by the charity of legacy income of which it has been notified of its entitlement; and
- the estimation of future income and expenditure flows for the purpose of assessing the charity’s and group’s going concern.
## **Assessment of going concern**
Council members have assessed whether the use of the going concern assumption is appropriate in preparing these financial statements. Council members have made this assessment in respect to a period of at least one year from the date of approval of these financial statements.
The members of Council have considered the impact of the high levels of inflation currently being experienced in the UK on the charity in their assessment of future income streams, expenditure levels, and the level of free reserves.
Following this review, the members of Council are of the opinion that the charity will have sufficient resources to meet its liabilities as they fall due. The most significant areas of judgement that affect items in the financial statements are detailed above. With regard to the next accounting period, the year ending 31 March 2026, the most significant areas that affect the carrying value of the assets held by the charity are the level of investment return and the performance of the investment markets (see the investment policy set out in the Report of the Council for more information).
33
Principal accounting policies
## **Income**
Income is recognised in the period in which the charity has entitlement to the income, the amount of income can be measured reliably, and it is probable that the income will be received. Income is deferred only when the charity must fulfil conditions before becoming entitled to it or where the donor or funder has specified that the income is to be expended in a future accounting period.
Income comprises:
- Donations
- Legacies
- income from fundraising events, royalties, and trading activities
- investment income and interest receivable
- and income from charitable activities including grants receivable, contracts for services, primary purpose trading and membership subscriptions.
Donations are recognised when the charity has confirmation of both the amount and settlement date. In the event of donations pledged but not received, the amount is accrued for where the receipt is considered probable. In the event that a donation is subject to conditions that require a level of performance before the charity is entitled to the funds, the income is deferred and not recognised until either those conditions are fully met, or the fulfilment of those conditions is wholly within the control of the charity, and it is probable that those conditions will be fulfilled in the reporting period.
Donated goods are recognised at fair value unless it is impractical to measure this reliably, in which case a derived value, being the cost of the item to the donor, is used. An equivalent amount is included as expenditure except where the donated good is a fixed asset, in which case the corresponding amount is included in the appropriate fixed asset category and depreciated over the useful economic life in accordance with the charity’s accounting policies. In accordance with the Charities SORP FRS 102, volunteer time is not recognised.
Legacies are included in the statement of financial activities when the charity is entitled to the legacy, the executors have established that there are sufficient surplus assets in the estate to pay the legacy, and any conditions attached to the legacy are within the control of the charity.
Entitlement is taken as the earlier of the date on which either: the charity is aware that probate has been granted, the estate has been finalised and notification has been made by the executor to the charity that a distribution will be made, or when a distribution is received from the estate. Receipt of a legacy, in whole or in part, is only considered probable when the amount can be measured reliably, and the charity has been notified of the executor’s intention to make a distribution. Where legacies have been notified to the charity, or the charity is aware of the granting of probate, but the criteria for income recognition have not been met, then the legacy is treated as a contingent asset and disclosed if material.
In the event that the gift is in the form of an asset other than cash, or a financial asset traded on a recognised stock exchange, recognition is subject to the value of the gift being reliably measurable with a degree of reasonable accuracy and the title of the asset having been transferred to the charity.
In April 2020 Council passed a resolution to transfer the balance held in the designated Legacy Fund to the general fund and additionally any income arising from new legacies received in the year to be allocated directly to the general fund. Previously, an amount equivalent to the unrestricted legacies credited to the statement of financial activities was transferred to the Legacy Fund, a designated fund.
Income from trading activities includes the income from corporate sponsorship and the sale of products of the charity’s trading subsidiary. Such income is recognised to the extent that it is probable that the economic benefits will flow to the company and the revenue can be reliably measured. It is measured as the fair value of the consideration received or receivable, excluding discounts, rebates, value added tax and other sales taxes.
34
Principal accounting policies
Income from fundraising events and income from royalties is recognised when it is probable that the economic benefits will flow to the charity and the revenue can be reliably measured. It is measured as the fair value of the consideration received or receivable. Dividends are recognised once the dividend has been declared and notification has been received of the dividend due. Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.
Grants from government and other agencies are included as income from charitable activities where these amount to a contract for services or where the money is given in response to a specific appeal or for a particular purpose. Grants from government and other agencies are included as donations where they are given with greater freedom of use, for example monies for core funding.
Income from primary purpose trading is recognised to the extent that it is probable that the economic benefits will flow to the charity and the revenue can be reliably measured. It is measured as the fair value of the consideration received or receivable, excluding discounts, rebates, value added tax and other sales taxes.
Annual membership subscriptions are credited to the statement of financial activities on a receipts basis. This approach avoids any complexity that might be encountered if an accruals basis were applied and, in the opinion of the members of Council, results in a figure that is not materially different from that which would be achieved by using an accruals basis.
## **Expenditure**
Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. All expenditure is stated inclusive of irrecoverable VAT.
Expenditure comprises direct costs and support costs. All expenses, including support costs, are allocated or apportioned to the applicable expenditure headings.
The classification between activities is as follows:
- Expenditure on raising funds includes all expenditure associated with raising funds for the charity. This includes investment management fees, staff costs associated with fundraising, the direct cost of fundraising activities, expenditure of the charity’s subsidiary company and an allocation of support costs.
- Expenditure on charitable activities comprises expenditure on the charity’s primary charitable purposes as described in the Report of Council i.e. conservation and membership services. This includes both costs that can be allocated directly to such activities and an allocation of support costs.
## **Allocation of support and governance costs**
Support costs represent indirect charitable expenditure. In order to carry out the primary purposes of the charity it is necessary to provide support in the form of a finance function, human resources function, property management and information technology support. Governance costs comprise the costs involving the public accountability of the charity (including audit costs) and costs in respect to its compliance with regulation and good practice.
Support staff costs are allocated to the above expenditure headings based on the time expended by the support staff in the relevant areas. Other support and governance costs are allocated to expenditure in the same ratio as the direct costs.
## **Intangible fixed assets**
All assets costing more than £2,000 and with an expected useful life exceeding one year are capitalised.
35
Principal accounting policies
Amortisation is provided on cost at the following annual rates in order to write off each asset over its estimated useful life:
- Computer software 20% straight-line
Assets under the course of construction, including software under development, are not amortised until they are available for use.
## **Tangible fixed assets**
All assets costing more than £2,000 and with an expected useful life exceeding one year are capitalised.
Depreciation is provided on cost at the following annual rates in order to write off each asset over its estimated useful life:
- Office equipment, vehicles, plant and machinery 20-25% straight-line
No depreciation is provided on freehold land.
## **Investments**
Investments are a form of basic financial instrument and are initially recognised at their transaction value and subsequently measured at their fair value as at the balance sheet date using the closing quoted market price. The charity does not acquire put options, derivatives, or other complex financial instruments.
The Council of Butterfly Conservation voted in July 2020 to adopt a policy of Total Return in the management of this fund as permitted by the Act and a special Charity Commission scheme. Under this policy, investment managers are given the flexibility to achieve maximum returns on investments whether this is through generating interest and dividends or through capital growth. Charities operating a Total Return policy can apply some of the capital growth on investments for charitable purposes, thereby enabling the Trustees to balance the current and future needs of charitable beneficiaries.
Realised gains (or losses) on investment assets are calculated as the difference between disposal proceeds and their opening carrying value or their purchase value where the investment is acquired after the first day of the financial year. Unrealised gains and losses are calculated as the difference between the fair value at the year end and their carrying value at that date. Realised and unrealised investment gains (or losses) are combined in the statement of financial activities and are credited (or debited) in the year in which they arise.
## **Stocks**
Stock for resale are valued at the lower of cost and estimated net realisable value.
## **Debtors**
Debtors are recognised at their settlement amount, less any provision for non-recoverability. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid.
They have been discounted to the present value of the future cash receipt where such discounting is material.
## **Cash at bank and in hand**
Cash at bank and in hand represents such accounts and instruments that are available on demand or have a maturity of less than three months from the date of acquisition. Deposits for more than three months but less than one year have been disclosed as short-term deposits. Cash placed on deposit for more than one year is disclosed as a fixed asset investment.
## **Creditors and provisions**
Creditors and provisions are recognised when there is an obligation at the balance sheet date as a result of a past event, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefit will be required in settlement,
36
Principal accounting policies
and the amount of the settlement can be estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are recognised at the amount the charity anticipates it will pay to settle the debt. They have been discounted to the present value of the future cash payment where such discounting is material.
## **Funds accounting**
The endowment fund comprises monies that must be held as capital indefinitely.
Until 30 June 2020, the investment income therefrom (which was available for use for charity’s general purposes) was credited directly to unrestricted funds, whilst any gains (or losses) on the original capital was credited (or debited) to (or from) the endowment fund.
Following a resolution of the members of Council on 10 June 2020, with effect from 1 July 2020, the charity has implemented a Total Return approach in respect of its endowment funds. The initial value of the trust for investment and the initial value of the Unapplied Total Return were established on 31 March 2020. The initial amount of the trust for investment was determined at £3.09m by reference to the charity’s records: the Unapplied Total Return was calculated as the difference between that value and the portfolio value at 31 March 2020.
All investment income, gains and losses are taken to the part of the fund representing the accumulated Unapplied Total Return in the first instance. The members of Council have agreed a policy to allocate 3.25% of the portfolio value, after investment management fees, from the Unapplied Total Return to the charity’s unrestricted funds each year, and this is shown as a transfer between funds on the statement of financial activities.
## **Fund structure**
The restricted funds are monies raised for, and their use restricted to, a specific purpose, or donations subject to donor-imposed conditions. Transfers between restricted funds and the tangible fixed assets fund are explained below. Transfers between restricted and other unrestricted funds are explained in Note 20 to the financial statements.
The non-charitable trading funds comprise the profits retained in the trading subsidiary; Butterfly Conservation Trading Limited.
The tangible and intangible fixed assets fund represents the net book value of those tangible and intangible fixed assets that are not part of the endowment or restricted funds of the charity. Each year one tenth of the cost of all land purchased from restricted funds will be transferred to the tangible fixed assets fund unless there is a specific deed/covenant in place to de-restrict the asset. The charity has adopted a formal policy of assessing all assets donated, other than cash, and valuing for account purposes only those with material value to the charitable work of the organisation.
The designated funds are monies set aside out of the general fund and designated for specific purposes by Council. The policies for transfers to and from designated funds are explained above under “income and transfers to/from designated funds” or in Note 22 to the financial statements. The general fund comprises those monies that may be used towards meeting the charitable objectives of the charity and may be applied at the discretion of Council.
## **Contributory third party (CTP) and landfill community funds**
Funds collected as third-party contributions towards projects, which are funded by Landfill Community Funds, are not regarded as income but are shown as a liability on the balance sheet. They will be transferred in due course to the Landfill Operators to release further funds under the Landfill Community Funds scheme.
## **Leased assets**
Rentals applicable to operating leases where substantially all the benefits and risks of ownership remain with the lessor are charged to the statement of financial activities in equal annual amounts over the lease term.
37
Principal accounting policies
## **Pension costs**
Contributions by the charity in respect of employees’ personal pension plans and defined contribution schemes are charged to the statement of financial activities in the year in which the expenditure is incurred.
38
Notes to the accounts
## **1. Income from donations and legacies**
|**1. Income from donations and legacies**|||
|---|---|---|
|Group|Unrestricted
funds
£’000
Restricted
funds
£’000|**2025**
**Total**
**£’000**|
|Donations
Legacies|783
30
1,502
—|**813**
**1,502 **|
||2,285
30|**2,315**|
|_Group_|_Unrestricted_
_funds_
_£’000_
_Restricted_
_funds_
_£’000_|_2024_
_Total_
_£’000_|
|_Donations_
_Legacies_|_684_
_50_
_2,264_
—|_734_
_2,264_|
||_2,948_
_50_|_2,998_|
## **2. Income from other trading activities**
|**2. Income from other trading activities**||
|---|---|
|Group|Unrestricted
funds
£’000
**2025**
**Total**
**£’000**
_Unrestricted_
_funds_
_£’000_
_2024_
_Total_
_£’000_|
|Sales of goods/services - non-charitable material
Royalties and sponsorship – non-primary purpose
Fundraising|8
**8**
_29_
_29_
30
**30**
_21_
_21_
46
**46**
_55_
_55_|
||84
**84**
_105_
_105_|
## **3. Income from investments and interest receivable**
|Group|Unrestricted
funds
£’000
Restricted
funds
£’000
Endowment
funds
£’000|**2025**
**Total**
**£’000**|
|---|---|---|
|UK pooled investment funds and unit trusts
Bank interest|—
—
184
145
8
—|**184**
**153**|
||145
8
184|**337**|
|_Group_|_Unrestricted_
_funds_
_£’000_
_Restricted_
_funds_
_£’000_
_Endowment_
_funds_
_£’000_|_2024_
_Total_
_£’000_|
|_UK pooled investment funds and unit trusts_
_Bank interest_|_14_
—
_182_
_95_
_15_
_1_|_196_
_111_|
||_109_
_15_
_183_|_307_|
39
Notes to the accounts
## **4. Income from charitable activities: conservation activities – grants receivable**
|**Group**|Unrestricted
funds
£’000
Restricted
funds
£’000
**2025**
**Total**
**£’000**
_Unrestricted_
_funds_
_£’000_
_Restricted_
_funds_
_£’000_
_2024_
_Total_
_£’000_|
|---|---|
|Natural Lottery Heritage Fund
Natural England
Natural Resources for Wales
Naturescot
Northern Ireland Environment
Agency
Severn Trent Water Limited
The Hiscox Foundation
The Swire Charitable Trust
Grants received < £25,000|—
551
551
—
_349_
_349_
210
203
413
—
_501_
_501_
18
85
103
_5_
_45_
_50_
—
178
178
—
_166_
_166_
—
59
59
—
_54_
_54_
—
—
—
—
_35_
_35_
—
—
—
—
_34_
_34_
25
—
25
_25_
—
_25_
99
83
182
_71_
_80_
_151_|
||352
1,159
1,511
_101_
_1,264_
_1,365_|
## **5. Expenditure on raising funds**
|**5. Expenditure on raising funds**||
|---|---|
|Group|Unrestricted
funds
£’000
Endowment
funds
£’000
**2025**
**Total**
**£’000**|
|Staff costs (including support) (note 11)
Fundraising costs
Trading costs
Investment management charges
Other support costs (note 8)|331
—
**331**
70
—
**70**
18
—
**18**
—
11
**11**
16
—
**16**|
||435
11
**446**|
|_Group_|_Unrestricted_
_funds_
_£’000_
_Endowment_
_funds_
_£’000_
_2024_
_Total_
_£’000_|
|---|---|
|Staff costs (including support) (note 11)
Fundraising costs
Trading costs
Investment management charges
Other support costs (note 8)|_265_
—
_265_
_81_
—
_81_
_24_
—
_24_
—
_11_
_11_
_10_
—
_10_|
||_380_
_11_
_391_|
40
Notes to the accounts
## **6. Expenditure on charitable activities: conservation**
|**6. Expenditure on charitable activities: conservation**||
|---|---|
|Group|Unrestricted
funds
£’000
Restricted
funds
£’000
**2025**
**Total**
**£’000**|
|Staff costs (including support) (note 11)
Marketing and publicity
Management conservation
Information and education
Legal and professional
Other support costs (note 8)|3,263
585
**3,848**
37
10
**47**
542
439
**981**
130
19
**149**
4
—
**4**
436
448
**884**|
||4,412
1,501
**5,913**|
|_Group_|_Unrestricted_
_funds_
_£’000_
_Restricted_
_funds_
_£’000_
_2024_
_Total_
_£’000_|
|---|---|
|_Staff costs (including support) (note 11)_
_Marketing and publicity_
_Management conservation_
_Information and education_
_Legal and professional_
_Other support costs (note 8)_|_2,923_
_521_
_3,444_
_109_
_3_
_112_
_618_
_394_
_1,012_
_264_
_34_
_298_
_2_
—
_2_
_605_
_420_
_1,025_|
||_4,521_
_1,372_
_5,893_|
## **7. Expenditure on charitable activities: membership services**
|Group|Unrestricted
funds
£’000
**2025**
**Total**
**£’000**
_Unrestricted_
_funds_
_£’000_
_2024_
_Total_
_£’000_|
|---|---|
|Staff costs
Membership recruitment
Newsletter production and distribution
Membership servicing
Other support costs (note 8)|271
**271**
_247_
_247_
6
**6**
_7_
_7_
196
**196**
_207_
_207_
50
**50**
_65_
_65_
20
**20**
_14_
_14_|
||543
**543**
_540_
_540_|
41
Notes to the accounts
## **8. Support costs**
|**8. Support costs**|||
|---|---|---|
||Staff
costs £’000
Other
Support
Costs
£’000|**2025**
**Total**
**£’000**|
|Staff costs
Governance costs (note 9)
Other|1,809
—
—
190
—
730|1,809
190
730|
||1,809
920|**2,729**|
|Attributed to:
Expenditure on raising funds (note 5)
Expenditure on charitable activities
•
Conservation (note 6)
•
Membership services (note 7)|331
16
1,347
884
131
20|**347**
**2,231**
**151**|
||1,809
920|**2,729**|
||_Staff_
_costs £’000_
_Other_
_Support_
_Costs_
_£’000_|_2024_
_Total_
_£’000_|
|---|---|---|
|_Staff costs_
_Governance costs (note 9)_
_Other_|_1,571_
—
—
_127_
—
_922_|_1,571_
_127_
_922_|
||_1,571_
_1,049_|_2,620_|
|_Attributed to:_
_Expenditure on raising funds (note 5)_
_Expenditure on charitable activities_
•
_Conservation (note 6)_
•
_Membership services (note 7)_|_265_
_10_
_1,188_
_1,025_
_118_
_14_|_275_
_2,213_
_132_|
||_1,571_
_1,049_|_2,620_|
Support staff costs are allocated to expenditure based on the time expended by support staff in the relevant areas of charitable activities.
Our support costs are allocated to expenditure on the same ratio as the direct costs associated with the relevant areas of charitable activity.
## **9. Governance costs**
|**9. Governance costs**||
|---|---|
||**2025**
**Total**
**£’000**
_2024_
_Total_
_£’000_|
|Information and education
Legal and professional fees
Other governance expenses|**47**
_36_
**126**
_76_
**17**
_15_|
||**190**
_127_|
42
Notes to the accounts
## **10. Net income (expenditure)**
This is stated after charging:
|This is stated after charging:|||
|---|---|---|
||**2025**|_2024_|
||**Total**|_Total_|
|Group|**£’000**|_£’000_|
|Staff costs (note 11)|**4,450**|_3,956_|
|Auditor’s remuneration|||
|. Statutory audit services|**21**|_20_|
|.. Tax compliance|**5**|_3_|
|.. HR consultancy|**44**|_57_|
|Depreciation and amortisation|**27**|_30_|
|Operating lease rentals|**81**|_66_|
## **11. Employees, staff costs and remuneration of key management personnel**
Staff costs during the period are as follows:
|Group|**2025**
**Total**
**£’000**
_2024_
_Total_
_£’000_|
|---|---|
|Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Other pension costs
Agency staff costs
Total staff costs
Staff costs by function (after the allocation of those deemed support costs) were as follows:
Raising funds
Conservation
Membership services|**3,791**
_3,374_
**343**
_306_
**296**
_271_|
||**4,430**
_3,951_
**20**
_5_|
||**4,450**
_3,956_|
||**331**
_265_
**3,848**
_3,444_
**271**
_247_|
||**4,450**
_3,956_|
A total of £92,037 was paid in redundancy payments (2024: £nil) and this amount is included within wages and salaries above. Most redundancies took place towards the year-end and are included in the head count numbers reported below.
The number of employees whose emoluments exceeded £60,000 (including employer pension contributions) was:
|||**2025**|_2024_|
|---|---|---|---|
|||**Number**|_Number_|
|£60,001|- £70,000|**2**|_—_|
|£80,001|- £90,000|_—_|_1_|
|£90,001|- £100,000|**1**|_—_|
Pension contributions of £17,231 (2024: £6,720) were paid into personal pension schemes in respect of these individuals during the year.
43
Notes to the accounts
## **11. Employees, staff costs and remuneration of key management personnel (continued)**
The average number of employees, analysed by function after allocating support costs, was as follows:
|Group|**2025**
**Total**
**£’000**
_2024_
_Total_
_£’000_|
|---|---|
|Raising funds
Conservation
Membership services|**11**
_12_
**91**
_87_
**7**
_7_|
||**109**
_106_|
The key management personnel of the charity comprises the members of Council and the Senior Leadership Team. The total remuneration (including taxable benefits and employer’s pension contributions) of the key management personnel for the year was £431,370 (2024: £443,471).
No Council member received any remuneration in respect of his or her services as members of Council during the year (2024: £nil). However:
- A total of £6,702 (2024: £279) was reimbursed to (or paid by the charity on behalf of) 13 (2024: 11) Council members for expenditure incurred on behalf of the charity.
- No members of Council had any beneficial interest in any contract with the charity during the year (2024: none).
## **12. Taxation**
Butterfly Conservation is a registered charity and, therefore, is not liable to income tax or corporation tax on income derived from its charitable activities, as it falls within various exemptions available to registered charities.
## **13. Intangible fixed assets**
|Group and charity
**Cost**
At 1 April 2024
Additions
At 31 March 2025
**Amortisation**
At 1 April 2024
Charge for year
At 31 March 2025
**Net book values**
At 31 March 2025
At 31 March 2024|Software
£’000
100
95|**_Total_**
**_£’000_**|
|---|---|---|
|||**100**
**95**|
||195
80
20
100
95
20|**195**|
|||**80**
**20**|
|||**100**|
|||**95**|
|||**20**|
44
Notes to the accounts
## **14. Tangible fixed assets**
|**14. Tangible fixed assets**||||
|---|---|---|---|
|Group and charity|Freehold
land
£’000
1,343
—
1,343
—
—
—
1,343
1,343|Office
equipment
, plant and
machinery
£’000
67
23
90
59
7
66
24
8|**Total**
**£’000**|
|**Cost**
At 1 April 2024
Additions
At 31 March 2025
**Depreciation**
At 1 April 2024
Charge for year
At 31 March 2025
Net book values
At 31 March 2025
At 31 March 2024|||**1,410**
**23**|
||||**1,433**|
||||**59**
**7**|
||||**66**|
||||**1,367**|
||||**1,351**|
Freehold land comprises a number of nature reserves managed by the charity. The disposal of a number of these reserves is subject to restrictive covenants.
45
Notes to the accounts
## **15. Fixed asset investments**
|**15. Fixed asset investments**||
|---|---|
||Group
Charity|
||**2025**
**£’000**
_2024_
_£’000_
**2025**
**£’000**
_2024_
_£’000_|
|Pooled investments (note a)
Investment in subsidiary company (note b)|**5,494**
_5,607_
**5,494**
_5,607_
—
—
—
—|
||**5,494**
_5,607_
**5,494**
_5,607_|
## **a) Pooled investments and cash held for re-investment**
|**a) Pooled investments and cash held for re-investment**||
|---|---|
|Group and charity|**2025**
**Total**
**£’000**
_2024_
_Total_
_£’000_|
|Market value at 1 April 2024
Disposals
Net (losses) / gains
**Market value at 31 March 2025**
Cash held by investment managers for re-investment
Costs of listed investments at 31 March|**5,606**
_5,283_
—
_(15)_
**(116)**
_338_|
||**5,490**
_5,606_
**4**
_1_|
||**5,494**
_5,607_|
||**5,311**
_5,342_|
Investments held at 31 March 2025 wholly comprised holdings in pooled investments funds as follows:
|Group and charity|**Market**
**value**
**£’000**
Proportion
%|
|---|---|
|Cazenove Charity Responsible Multi Asset Fund Accumulation units
Cazenove Charity Responsible Multi Asset Fund Distribution units|**1,180**
21
**4,310**
79|
||**5,490**
100|
46
Notes to the accounts
## **b) Investment in subsidiary company**
The charity holds 100% share of the issued share capital of Butterfly Conservation Trading Limited (£1). This holding was acquired on incorporation of the company on 23 February 2010.
The following is a summary of the financial statements of Butterfly Conservation Trading Limited for the year ended 31 March 2025, which have been included in the consolidated financial statements.
||**2025**
**Total**
**£’000**
_2024_
_Total_
_£’000_|
|---|---|
|Turnover
Cost of sales
**Gross profit**
Operating costs
**Net profit for the year before Gift Aid and taxation**
Donation under a Gift Aid compliant Deed of Covenant
Taxation
Profit for the financial period
Retained earnings at 31 March 2024
**Retained earnings at 31 March 2025**|**31**
_44_
**—**
_(5)_|
||**31**
_39_
**(18)**
_(18)_|
||**13**
_21_
**(13)**
_(21)_
**—**
—|
||**—**
—
**20**
_20_|
||**20**
_20_|
## **16. Debtors**
|**16. Debtors**||
|---|---|
||Group
Charity|
||**2025**
**£’000**
_2024_
_£’000_
**2025**
**£’000**
_2024_
_£’000_|
|Grants and other funding receivable
Prepayments and other accrued income
Legacies receivable
VAT recoverable
Amounts due from Butterfly Conservation Trading Limited
Gift Aid recoverable
Sundry debtors|**461**
_585_
**461**
_585_
**154**
_76_
**142**
_75_
**1,010**
_1,648_
**1,010**
_1,648_
**34**
_50_
**34**
_52_
—
—
**26**
_46_
**26**
_35_
**26**
_35_
**15**
_14_
**15**
_14_|
||**1,700**
_2,408_
**1,714**
_2,455_|
47
Notes to the accounts
## **17. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year**
||Group
Charity|
|---|---|
||**2025**
**£’000**
_2024_
_£’000_
**2025**
**£’000**
_2024_
_£’000_|
|Social Security and other taxes
Expense creditors
Accruals and deferred income|**88**
_82_
**88**
_82_
**264**
_229_
**264**
_233_
**123**
_212_
**120**
_209_|
||**475**
_523_
**472**
_524_|
Movements on deferred income during the year was as follows:
||Group
Charity|
|---|---|
||**2025**
**£’000**
_2024_
_£’000_
**2025**
**£’000**
_2024_
_£’000_|
|Opening deferred income balance
Cash received in the year
Amounts released to income
Closing deferring income balance|**5**
_92_
**5**
_92_
**1**
_5_
**1**
_5_
**(5)**
_(92)_
**(5)**
_(92)_|
||**1**
_5_
**1**
_5_|
## **18. Endowment funds**
|**18. Endowment funds**||
|---|---|
||**2025**
**Total**
**£’000**
_2024_
_Total_
_£’000_|
|At 1 April 2024
Less: value of endowment at 30 June 2020
**Opening value of unapplied total return at 1 July 2021**
Add: investment income
**Add: investment return: realised and unrealised gains (losses)**
Less: investment management costs
Total return before transfer to income
Less: total return applied
Unapplied total return at 31 March 2025
Add: value of endowment at 30 June 2020
Permanent endowment including unapplied total return as at 31 March 2025|**5,607**
_5,283_
**(3,086)**
_(3,086)_|
||**2,521**
_2,197_
**184**
_183_
**(116)**
_338_
**(11)**
_(11)_|
||**2,578**
_2,707_
**(170)**
_(186)_|
||**2,408**
_2,521_
**3,086**
_3,086_|
||**5,494**
_5,607_|
The Council of Butterfly Conservation voted in July 2020 to adopt a policy of Total Return in the management of this fund as permitted by the Act and a special Charity Commission scheme. Under this policy, investment managers are given the flexibility to achieve maximum returns on investments whether this is through generating interest and dividends or through capital growth. Charities operating a Total Return policy are able to apply some of the capital growth on investments for charitable purposes, thereby enabling the Trustees to balance the current and future needs of charitable beneficiaries.
48
Notes to the accounts
## **19. Restricted funds**
The income funds of the charity include restricted funds comprising the following to be applied for specific purposes:
|Group and charity|At 1 April
2024
£’000
Income
£’000
Expenditure
£’000
Funds
Transfers
£’000
**At 31**
**March**
**2025**
**£’000**|
|---|---|
|Environparks Marsh Fritillary Mitigation
Innovation Fund
Large Heath Recovery
Leeds Wild Spaces
Reserve Acquisition & Management Fund
Restricted Legacies
Head Office Restricted balances where closing balance
<£25,000
Branch Restricted Funds where closing balance <£25k|108
4
(23)
—
**89**
5
123
(62)
—
**66**
—
144
(1)
—
**143**
34
27
(24)
10
**47**
68
—
(38)
(10)
**20**
43
2
(1)
—
**44**
120
902
(1,322)
291
**7**
24
26
(30)
—
**20**|
||402
1,228
(1,501)
307
**436**|
|_Group and charit_**_y_**|_At 1 April_
_2023_
_£’000_
_Income_
_£’000_
_Expenditure_
_£’000_
_Funds_
_Transfers_
_£’000_
_At 31_
_March_
_2024_
_£’000_|
|---|---|
|_Butterfly Mosiacs_
_Environparks Marsh Fritillary Mitigation_
_Leeds Wild Spaces_
_Reserve Acquisition & Management Fund_
_Restricted Legacies_
_Head Office Restricted balances where closing balance_
_<£25,000_
_Branch Restricted Funds where closing balance <£25k_|_93_
_38_
_(61)_
_—_
_70_
_116_
_3_
_(11)_
_—_
_108_
_—_
_34_
_—_
_—_
_34_
_52_
_46_
_(20)_
_(10)_
_68_
_189_
_4_
_—_
_(150)_
_43_
_240_
_1,228_
_(1,275)_
_(138)_
_55_
_28_
_3_
_(5)_
_(2)_
_24_|
||_718_
_1,356_
_(1,372)_
_(300)_
_402_|
The specific purposes for which the significant fund balances (>£25,000) are to be applied are as follows:
## _**Environparks Marsh Fritillary mitigation**_
To restore and maintain marshy grassland for the Marsh Fritillary Butterfly in Wales.
## _**Innovation Fund**_
To boost the representation of young people in our volunteer workforce.
## _**Large Heath Recovery**_
To test and strength the evidence base of the use of Large Heath as an indicator of successful bog restoration and provide best practice guidance for species recovery.
## _**Leeds Wildspaces**_
To inspire people in an urban setting to develop wild spaces across Leeds for the benefit of butterflies and moths.
## _**Reserve Acquisition and Management Fund**_
To purchase and manage nature reserves.
49
Notes to the accounts
## _**Restricted Legacies Fund**_
Legacies reserved for a specific purpose.
## _**Head Office Restricted Funds <£25,000**_
All Head Office Restricted Funds with a balance less than £25,000
## _**Branch Restricted Funds <£25,000.**_
All Branch Restricted Funds with a balance less than £25,000.
Transfers between restricted and unrestricted arise for various reasons. The most common reasons are:
- A transfer from unrestricted to restricted funds is made where costs exceed the income received towards a specific project;
- A transfer from unrestricted to restricted funds is made where the charity has made a commitment to a specific project as part of a funding agreement; and
- A transfer from restricted to unrestricted funds is made when a restriction has been removed.
## **20. Tangible and intangible fixed assets (including freehold and nature reserves) fund**
This fund represents the net book value of those tangible and intangible fixed assets (including freehold nature reserves) forming part of the unrestricted funds. The fund exists in order to emphasise that such assets are essential in enabling the charity to fulfil its charitable objectives. The value of such assets, therefore, should not be regarded as expendable in order to meet the day to day liabilities of the charity. The fund balance changes each period by an amount equal to the movement in the net book value of the relevant tangible fixed assets.
## **21. Designated funds**
The income funds of the charity include the following designated funds that have been set aside out of unrestricted funds by Council for specific purposes:
|Group and charity|At 1 April
2024
£’000
New
Designations
£’000
Utilised
£’000
**At 31**
**March**
**2025**
**£’000**|
|---|---|
|Branch fund
Heather Corrie Lepidoptera Research
Diarsia fund|221
—
(221)
—
808
1
(154)
**655**
26
—
(5)
**21**|
||1,055
1
(380)
**676**|
|_Group and charity _|_At 1 April_
_2023_
_£’000_
_New_
_Designations_
_£’000_
_Utilised_
_£’000_|_At 31_
_March_
_2024_
_£’000_|
|---|---|---|
|_Branch fund_
_Heather Corrie Lepidoptera Research_
_Diarsia fund_|_288_
_57_
_(124)_
_984_
—
_(176)_
_27_
—
_(1)_|_221_
_808_
_26_|
||_1,299_
_57_
_(301)_|_1,055_|
## _**Branch Fund**_
The Branch Fund comprises monies that Council has committed for work undertaken by the charity’s Branches.
50
Notes to the accounts
## _**Heather Corrie Lepidoptera Fund**_
To support research that will help the needs of butterflies and moths and make an impact of their conservation.
## _**Diarsia Fund**_
The Diarsia Fund supports young Lepidoptera scientists at the start of their careers.
## **22. Analysis of net assets between funds**
|**22. Analysis of net assets between funds**|||
|---|---|---|
|Group|Unrestricted
funds
£’000
Restricted
funds
£’000
Endowment
funds
£’000|**2025**
**Total**
**£’000**|
|**Funds balances at 31 March 2025 are represented by:**
Intangible assets
Tangible fixed assets
Fixed asset investment
Net current asset|95
—
—
1,362
5
—
—
—
5,494
4,481
431
—|**95**
**1,367**
**5,494**
**4,912**|
||5,938
436
5,494|**11,868**|
|_Group _|_Unrestricted_
_funds_
_£’000_
_Restricted_
_funds_
_£’000_
_Endowment_
_funds_
_£’000_|_2024_
Total
_£’000_|
|_Funds balances at 31 March 2024 are represented by:_
_Intangible assets_
_Tangible fixed assets_
_Fixed asset investment_
_Net current asset_|_20_
—
—
_1,334_
_17_
—
—
—
_5,607_
_5,463_
_385_
—|_20_
_1,351_
_5,607_
_5.848_|
||6,817
_402_
_5,607_|_12,826_|
|Charity|Unrestricted
funds
£’000
Restricted
funds
£’000
Endowment
funds
£’000|**2025**
**Total**
**£’000**|
|**Funds balances at 31 March 2025 are represented by:**
Intangible assets
Tangible fixed assets
Fixed asset investment
Net current asset|95
—
—
1,362
5
—
—
—
5,494
4,461
431
—|**95**
**1,367**
**5,494**
**4,892**|
||5,918
436
5,494|**11,848**|
|_Charity_|_Unrestricted_
_funds_
_£’000_
_Restricted_
_funds_
_£’000_
_Endowment_
_funds_
_£’000_|_2024_
_Total_
_£’000_|
|_Funds balances at 31 March 2024 are represented by:_
_Intangible assets_
_Tangible fixed assets_
_Fixed asset investment_
_Net current asset_|_20_
—
—
_1,334_
_17_
—
—
—
_5,607_
_5,443_
_385_
—|_20_
_1,351_
_5,607_
_5,828_|
||_6,797_
_402_
_5,607_|_12,806_|
51
Notes to the accounts
|Group and Charity
Reconciliation of movements in unrealised gains (losses) on
investments
Unrealised gain at 1 April 2024
Less: net unrealised (losses) / gains in period and gains
released on disposal
Unrealised gains at 31 March 2025|Endowment
funds
£’000
**2025**
**Total**
**£’000**
_Endowment_
_funds_
_£’000_
_2024_
_Total_
_£’000_
264
**264**
_(62)_
_(62)_
(116)
**(116)**
_326_
_326_|
|---|---|
||148
**148**
_264_
_264_|
## **23. Leasing commitments**
At 31 March 2025 the group and charity had total future minimum lease payments under noncancellable operating leases as follows:
||Land and buildings
Other|
|---|---|
||**2025**
**£’000**
_2024_
_£’000_
**2025**
**£’000**
_2024_
_£’000_|
|Within one year
Within two to five years
After five years|**53**
_62_
**36**
_50_
**35**
_54_
**20**
_15_
**32**
_12_
—
—|
||**121**
_128_
**56**
65|
The search for a new registered office remains ongoing.
## **24. Related party transactions**
During the year ended 31 March 2025, the charity received subscriptions from Council members and the Senior Leadership Team totalling £578 (2024: £380).
During the year ended 31 March 2025, the charity received unrestricted donations from Council members and the Senior Leadership Team totalling £1,300 (2024: £788) including gift in kind £nil (2024: £nil) and restricted donations totalling £nil (2024: £nil).
Beyond these, there were no other related party transactions during the financial year which require disclosure (2024: none).
## **25. Members liability**
The charity is constituted as a company limited by guarantee. In the event of the charity being wound up, members are required to contribute an amount not exceeding £1.
52
Notes to the accounts
## **26. Comparative consolidated statement of financial activities: Year to 31 March 2024**
|Notes
**Income from:**
Donations and legacies
1
Other trading activities
2
Investments & interest receivable
3
Charitable activities
. Conservation activities –
grants receivable
4
. Contracts and Royalties
. Primary purpose trading
. Membership subscriptions
**Total income**
**Expenditure on:**
Raising funds
5, 18
Charitable activities
. Conservation
6
. Membership services
7
**Total expenditure**
**Net income (expenditure)**
**before investment gains**
**(losses)**
Net investment (losses) gains
15,18
**Net income (expenditure)**
10
Transfer between funds
18,19
**Net movement in funds**
**Reconciliation**
Total funds brought forward at 1
April 2023
**Total funds carried forward at**
**31 March 2024**
|_Unrestricted_
_funds_
_£’000_
_2,948_
_105_
_109_
_101_
_437_
_135_
_1,242_
_5,077_
_380_
_4,521_
_540_
_5,441_
_(364)_
_—_
_(364)_
_486_
_122_
_6,695_
_6,817_|_Restricted_
_funds_
_£’000_
_50_
_—_
_15_
_1,264_
_26_
_1_
_—_
_1,356_
_—_
_1,372_
_—_
_1,372_
_(16)_
_—_
_(16)_
_(300)_
_(316)_
_718_
_402_|_Endowment_
_funds_
_£’000_
_—_
_—_
_183_
_—_
_—_
_—_
_—_
_183_
_11_
_—_
_—_
_11_
_172_
_338_
_510_
_(186)_
_324_
_5,283_
_5,607_|_2024_
_Total_
_funds_
_£’000_|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||
_2,998_
_105_
_307_
_1,365_
_463_
_136_
_1,242_|
|||||_6,616_|
|||||
_391_
_5,893_
_540_|
|||||_6,824_|
|||||
_(208)_
_338_|
|||||_130_
_—_|
|||||_130_
_12,696_|
|||||_12,826_|
53
## **Get involved**
There are lots of ways you can get involved to help save butterflies, moths and the environment.
## **Donate**
Support our conservation work to secure the future for butterflies and moths. Every penny counts.
## **Join**
Become a member and join our community of people passionate about protecting butterflies and moths.
## **Remember butterflies in your will**
Help us make sure future generations can experience the joy of seeing butterflies and moths in the wild.
## **Make space for nature**
Create and register a Wild Space to help transform the UK into a haven for these beautiful creatures.
## **Monitor**
Take part in the Big Butterfly Count or volunteer with your local branch to help us track the health of butterfly and moth populations.
## **Volunteer**
Give the gift of your time. We need volunteers of all ages and abilities.
## **Fundraise**
Open your garden to visitors, join in with our fundraising activities, or help us promote our appeals.
## **Follow us**
We’re on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X at @savebutterflies.
## **Find out more**
For more information, visit butterfly-conservation.org.
54