Our financial summary 2023-2024
Dorset Wildlife Trust has had a successful year purchasing three new land acquisitions at Lyscombe, West Holme and Kingcombe funded through capital grants from Natural England (£5 million), Dorset Council (£240,000) and BCP Council (£360,000) as well as major donors (£1.24 million). A capital grant of £895,000 was also received from Dorset Council for the Wild Woodbury SANG project. This capital sum is granted to manage the SANG for a period of 80 years and is invested to provide total return on investment to meet the costs of management over that period. In addition The National Lottery Heritage Fund has provided £303,000 of capital grants towards the construction of The Lookout on Brownsea together with capital donations of £270,000. These all contribute to the large restricted fund surplus for the year as the capital costs are recorded on the balance sheet increasing the net assets of the charity.
Dorset Wildlife Trust is in a strong position at the year end with unrestricted funds of £5.95 million of which £2.82 million are held as investments and £942,000 as net current working assets.
Dorset Wildlife Trust
The Income and Expenditure for Dorset Wildlife Trust for the year ended 31 March 2024 are set out in Charts 2 and 3. The information is taken from the audited consolidated accounts of Dorset Wildlife Trust which were prepared under the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (FRS 102).
Dorset Wildlife Trust
Overall income for the year is up by £7.60 million to £12.69 million (2023: £5.10 million) boosted by the receipt of capital grants and donations totalling £8.31 million all of which are restricted. Underlying restricted revenue income is down by £191,000 but a new two- year restricted grant of £1.1 million for Species Survival has been secured from Defra to commence in April 2024. Unrestricted income is down by £519,000 mostly reflected in the drop in legacy income.
Dorset Wildlife Trust
Total expenditure in the year amounted to £4.39 million (2023: £4.17 million), of which 75% (2023: 75%) was expended on Dorset Wildlife Trust's direct charitable objects.
Dorset Wildlife Trust
| This chart shows the types of assets that constitute the £25.15 million net assets of Dorset Wildlife Trust and also how those assets are distributed between Unrestricted, Designated, Restricted and Endowment Funds. The largest fund with net assets of £17.85 million is the Restricted Fund which can only be used for specific purposes. Approximately 70% of the Restricted Fund (£14.49 million) represents Heritage Assets; these are our nature reserves. A further £2.65 million of the Restricted Fund is represented by Fixed Assets such as buildings and equipment funded by restricted donations and grants. Endowment Funds of £1.35 million of which £1.09 million is invested in heritage assets. Unrestricted Funds, which are of a more general nature, amounted to £5.95 million of which £669,000 has been designated for future projects. Approximately £1.38 million of these Unrestricted Funds relates to Tangible Fixed Assets such as office buildings and other items of a capital nature which enable Dorset Wildlife Trust to function. A further £815,000 represents Heritage Assets. The remainder of the assets are held in the form of investments and working capital i.e bank balances and monies due to Dorset Wildlife Trust, less monies owed by Dorset Wildlife Trust to its creditors. The level of free reserves held by the charity at the balance sheet date is £2.86 million representing six months of budgeted annual costs which is in line with Dorset Wildlife Trust's Financial Reserves policy. |
The financial summary does not contain sufficient information to allow for a full understanding of the financial affairs of the charitable company. For further information, the full financial statements, the auditors' report on those financial statements and the Directors' Annual Report should be consulted. Copies of these can be obtained from Brooklands Farm, Forston, Dorchester, Dorset DT2 7AA. The Directors' Report and Financial Statements are filed annually with both the Charity Commission (Registration number 200222) and Companies House (Registration Number 688439).
