THE WHITLEY FUND FOR NATURE

Registered charity 1081455 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q30273317 · also known as WFN

Promotes, through the giving of grants, the conservation, preservation and restoration for the public benefit of the world's animal, bird, fish and plant life and of its environments/habitats.To seek out and support the best grass roots conservation projects in developing countries, including projects which serve the needs of local people as well as achieving conservation outcomes.

Objects

(1) PROMOTE THE CONSERVATION, PRESERVATION AND RESTORATION FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT OF THE WORLD'S ANIMAL, BIRD, FISH AND PLANT LIFE, AND ITS INDUSTRIAL, URBAN, RURAL, NATURAL AND MARINE ENVIRONMENTS OF ECOLOGICAL OR SCIENTIFIC IMPORTANCE, AND ITS NATURAL RESOURCES; (11) ADVANCE THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC IN NATURAL HISTORY, ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES, ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION IN INDUSTRIAL, URBAN, RURAL AND MARINE ENVIRONMENTS; (111) RELIEVE THE SUFFERING OF ANIMALS OF ANY SPECIES WHICH ARE IN NEED OF CARE AND ATTENTION AND IN PARTICULAR ASSIST IN THE PROVISION OF IMPROVED FACILITIES FOR THE CARE OF ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY AND THE PROVISION OF VETERINARY SERVICES FOR ANIMALS WHETHER IN CAPTIVITY OR OTHERWISE; AND (IV) PROVIDE AND ASSIST IN THE PROVISION AND DEVELOPMENT OF OPPORTUNITIES AND RESOURCES FOR PUBLIC BENEFIT ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD IN CONNECTION WITH THE WITH THE RELIEF OF POVERTY, SICKNESS OR DISTRESS, THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION AND SUCH OTHER PURPOSES AS ARE EXCLUSIVELY CHARITABLE UNDER THE LAW OF ENGLAND AND WALES FROM TIME TO TIME AS THE COMPANY MAY DECIDE.

Area of benefit: WORLDWIDE

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Animals · Environment/conservation/heritage · Economic/community Development/employment · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Kensington and Chelsea, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that total unrestricted funds stood at £2,664,912, which exceeds the identified reserves requirement of £1,375,175, satisfying the Trustees that the Charity holds sufficient reserves to operate efficiently. The charity reported a net income surplus of £40,138 for the year, with total funds increasing to £3,043,251. The Trustees confirmed that the assets and reserves are adequate to support on-going activities, though they noted a dependency on continued donation income to maintain current grant levels.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Calders (1883) LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
• 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
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 03968699

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Whitley Fund for Nature (matched by registered charity number).

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• WHITLEY, Honor Perdita — director, appointed 04/08/2025on trustee list
• VISITACAO, Joseph Martins — director, appointed 26/03/2021on trustee list
• LAZARUS, Ian Kenneth — director, appointed 01/09/2016on trustee list
• SULLIVAN, Francis John — director, appointed 18/07/2012on trustee list
• FAULKS, Catherine Frances, Lady — director, appointed 02/12/2004on trustee list
• WHITLEY, Edward John — director, appointed 10/04/2000not on trustee list

Official officers record.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 30/06/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~6.4 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (96% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 9.6% of total income — above the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• EDWARD JOHN WHITLEY OBEchair · trustee of 2 other charities
• Catherine Faulks · trustee of 1 other charity
• Dr Joseph Martins Visitacao
• Francis Sullivan · trustee of 2 other charities
• Honor Perdita Whitley
• IAN KENNETH LAZARUS

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Argentina · Armenia · Bangladesh · Belize · Bolivia · Brazil · British Indian Ocean Territory · Bulgaria · Cameroon · Central African Republic · Chile · China

Income and spending

Common questions

Shared trustees with funders

Register facts shown side by side: a person serves as trustee of both this charity and a funder whose accounts record grants to it. Shared trusteeship is lawful and common; well-run charities manage it through declared-interest procedures.

• EDWARD JOHN WHITLEY OBE — trustee here and at WHITLEY ANIMAL PROTECTION TRUST

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Grants marked “Unverified read” were flagged by automated checks as possibly misread from the funder’s filed accounts. They are listed, but left out of the totals, counts and funder relationships this site computes.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with HAMPSHIRE AND ISLE OF WIGHT WILDLIFE TRUST.

• HAMPSHIRE AND ISLE OF WIGHT WILDLIFE TRUST income £9.9m
• THE WILDLIFE AID FOUNDATION income £2.1m
• THE NATURE RECOVERY PROJECT income £661k
• WHITBY WILDLIFE SANCTUARY income £245k
• THE COTSWOLD WILDLIFE PARK CONSERVATION TRUST income £239k
• THE WILDLIFE FOR ALL TRUST income £47k

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.