DORSET WILDLIFE TRUST
Charity overview
Activities - how the charity spends its money
Our mission is to champion wildlife and natural places, to engage and inspire people and to promote sustainable living. We are working to conserve and enhance Dorset's rich and varied wildlife, delivering conservation gains through our network of nature reserves and wildlife sites and by engaging with communities, working with landowners, farmers, local authorities, business and young people.
Income and expenditure
Data for financial year ending 31 March 2025
Total income:
£7,321,729
| Donations and legacies | £4.18m | |
| Charitable activities | £2.73m | |
| Other trading activities | £213.52k | |
| Investments | £165.20k | |
| Other | £29.18k |
Total expenditure:
£5,438,332
| Raising funds | £1.05m | |
| Charitable activities | £4.39m | |
| Other | £0 |
£18,680 investments gains (losses)
Total income includes £111,392 from 11 government contract(s) and £1,582,668 from 26 government grant(s)
Charitable expenditure
Charitable expenditure with investment gains
Charitable expenditure
Some charities generate all, or a substantial part, of their income from investments which may have been donated to the charity as endowment or set aside by the charity from its own resources in the past. Such investments usually take the form of stocks and shares but may include other assets, such as property, that are capable of generating income and/or capital growth.
In managing their spending and investments charities need to strike a balance between the needs of future and current beneficiaries. They also need to take account of spending commitments that may stretch over a number of future years. To do this, charities will normally adopt an investment strategy designed to generate both income and capital growth. To maximise returns trustees may commit to investment strategies for several years.
Investments can experience large swings in value so trustees may, in a particular year, decide to realise and spend part of their charity’s capital or to invest part of its income.
By clicking the investment gains checkbox the charitable spending bar is adjusted to take account of capital growth as well as income. This shows the balance the charity is striking, between spending on current beneficiaries and retaining resources for future beneficiaries.
| Raising funds and other expenditure | £1.05m | |
| Charitable expenditure | £4.39m | |
| Retained for future use | £1.88m |
People
84 Employee(s)
15 Trustee(s)
470 Volunteer(s)
Employees with total benefits over £60,000
| Number of employees | |
|---|---|
| £70k to £80k | 1 |
Fundraising
Trading
Trustee payments
What, who, how, where
- General Charitable Purposes
- Education/training
- Environment/conservation/heritage
- The General Public/mankind
- Provides Human Resources
- Provides Buildings/facilities/open Space
- Provides Advocacy/advice/information
- Other Charitable Activities
- Dorset
Governance
- 26 November 2019: Standard registration
- DORSET WILDLIFE TRUST (Working name)
- THE DORSET NATURALISTS TRUST LTD (Previous name)
- THE DORSET TRUST FOR NATURE CONSERVATION (Previous name)
- Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
- Complaints handling
- Complaints policy and procedures
- Conflicting interests
- Financial reserves policy and procedures
- Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
- Internal risk management policy and procedures
- Investing charity funds policy and procedures
- Investment
- Paying staff
- Risk management
- Safeguarding policy and procedures
- Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
- Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
- Social media policy and procedures
- Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
- Volunteer management
Trustees
Trustees are the people responsible for controlling the work, management and administration of the charity on behalf of its beneficiaries. Generally trustees are treasurer, chair, board member etc. The trustees are responsible for keeping this list up to date and can do this by updating their details as they happen through the online service
15 Trustee(s)
| Name | Role | Date of appointment | Other trusteeships | Reporting status of other trusteeships | ||||
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| Lisa Upchurch | Trustee | 01 December 2025 |
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| Akshay Sanghrajka | Trustee | 01 December 2025 |
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| Andrew Littler | Trustee | 02 December 2024 |
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| Dr Philip Sterling | Trustee | 02 December 2024 |
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| Richard Hulf | Trustee | 02 December 2024 |
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| Leo Julian Henley Lock | Trustee | 04 December 2023 |
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| Ian Alexander | Trustee | 04 December 2023 |
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| Lisbet Sherlock | Trustee | 04 December 2023 |
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| Simon Goldsack | Trustee | 05 December 2022 |
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| John Allan Stobart | Trustee | 05 December 2022 |
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| Roger Cole | Trustee | 02 March 2020 |
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| ANNE VIVIENNE WHEATCROFT | Trustee | 01 February 2020 |
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| JOSEPHINE DAVIES MBE | Trustee | 01 February 2020 |
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| JAMES ROBERT WHITE | Trustee | 01 February 2020 |
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| GILES PUGH | Trustee | 01 February 2020 |
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Financial history
Financial period end date
| Income / Expenditure | 31/03/2021 | 31/03/2022 | 31/03/2023 | 31/03/2024 | 31/03/2025 | ||
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Total gross income | £3.50m | £7.19m | £5.10m | £12.69m | £7.32m | |
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Total expenditure | £2.70m | £3.23m | £4.17m | £4.36m | £5.44m | |
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Income from government contracts | £10.05k | £9.99k | £24.37k | £5.03m | £111.39k | |
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Income from government grants | £870.74k | £4.08m | £740.12k | £2.56m | £1.58m | |
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Income - Donations and legacies | £2.41m | £5.76m | £3.50m | £10.59m | £4.18m | |
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Income - Other trading activities | £81.82k | £207.33k | £226.98k | £213.83k | £213.52k | |
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Income - Charitable activities | £938.75k | £1.16m | £1.23m | £1.77m | £2.73m | |
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Income - Endowments | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Income - Investment | £36.06k | £37.09k | £57.45k | £91.86k | £165.20k | |
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Income - Other | £34.50k | £35.50k | £78.77k | £27.82k | £29.18k | |
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Income - Legacies | £671.23k | £585.52k | £1.83m | £1.06m | £1.60m | |
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Expenditure - Charitable activities | £1.98m | £2.40m | £3.14m | £3.28m | £4.39m | |
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Expenditure - Raising funds | £717.47k | £834.90k | £1.03m | £1.08m | £1.05m | |
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Expenditure - Governance | £42.75k | £64.37k | £50.42k | £106.40k | £62.70k | |
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Expenditure - Grants institution | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Expenditure - Investment management | £23.46k | £27.75k | £33.55k | £40.83k | £27.71k | |
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Expenditure - Other | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
Assets and liabilities
Definitions for assets and liabilities
These are assets, other than investments, which are held for more than 12 months and used to run and administer the charity such as buildings, offices, exhibits and fixtures and fittings.
Long term InvestmentsInvestments are assets held by the charity with the sole aim of generating income which will be used for their charitable purposes such as deposit accounts, shares, rental property and unit trusts.
Investment assets are re-valued every year and included in the balance sheet at their current market value.
Long term investments are held for more than 12 months.
These are assets held generally for less than 12 months such as cash and bank balances, debtors, investments to be sold within the coming year and trading stock.
Defined benefit pension scheme asset or liabilityThis is a surplus or deficit in any defined benefit pension scheme operated and represents a potential long-term asset or liability.
Total liabilitiesThese are all the amounts owed by the charity at the balance sheet date to third parties such as bills due but not yet paid, bank overdrafts and loans and mortgages.
| Asset / Liability | 31/03/2021 | 31/03/2022 | 31/03/2023 | 31/03/2024 | 31/03/2025 | ||
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Own use assets | £6.93m | £10.76m | £10.72m | £18.52m | £19.44m | |
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Long-term investments | £2.53m | £3.93m | £4.01m | £5.00m | £5.45m | |
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Other assets | £6.48m | £2.18m | £3.11m | £4.58m | £3.80m | |
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Defined benefit pension scheme asset or liability | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Total liabilities | £4.18m | £1.05m | £1.22m | £2.96m | £1.65m |
Accounts and annual returns
| Title | Reporting year | Date received | Received | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual return | 31 March 2025 | 19 November 2025 | On time | |
| Accounts and TAR | 31 March 2025 | 19 November 2025 | On time | Download Open in new window |
| Annual return | 31 March 2024 | 10 December 2024 | On time | |
| Accounts and TAR | 31 March 2024 | 10 December 2024 | On time | Download Open in new window |
| Annual return | 31 March 2023 | 24 January 2024 | On time | |
| Accounts and TAR | 31 March 2023 | 24 January 2024 | On time | Download Open in new window |
| Annual return | 31 March 2022 | 15 December 2022 | On time | |
| Accounts and TAR | 31 March 2022 | 15 December 2022 | On time | Download Open in new window |
| Annual return | 31 March 2021 | 09 December 2021 | On time | |
| Accounts and TAR | 31 March 2021 | 09 December 2021 | On time | Download Open in new window |