THE BATSFORD FOUNDATION

Registered charity 1090796 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as BATSFORD ARBORETUM, BATSFORD GARDEN CENTRE

The conservation and improvement of the Arboretum and Japanese garden at Batsford, keeping them open to the public and school and professional parties. Grants are occasionally made to others in support of the Foundation's objectives and educational facilities provided.

Objects

THE GENERAL PURPOSES OF SUCH CHARITABLE BODIES OR FOR SUCH OTHER PURPOSES AS SHALL BE EXCLUSIVELY CHARITABLE AS THE TRUSTEES MAY FROM TIME TO TIME DECIDE PARTICULARLY:-1. THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC IN THE KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF ALL FORMS OF CULTIVATION AND THE STUDY OF HISTORIC BUILDINGS AND THEIR CONTENTS AND SURROUNDINGS INCLUDING GARDENS, ARBORETUMS AND HISTORIC LANDSCAPES AND THE PROMOTION OF RESEARCH THEREIN.2. THE PROMOTION OF THE CONSERVATION, PROTECTION AND IMPROVEMENTS OF THE PHYSICAL AND NATURAL ENVIRONMENT.

Area of benefit: NOT DEFINED. IN PRACTICE GLOUCESTERSHIRE

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

Causes: Education/training · Environment/conservation/heritage · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Forest of Dean, South West, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net unrestricted income surplus of £243,051 for the year ended 31 January 2025, with total unrestricted funds increasing to £5,706,408. The trustees confirm that reserves are sufficient to cover approximately 4.4 times their stated policy target of 10% of incoming resources, indicating a strong financial position with no material uncertainties regarding going concern.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Hazlewoods LLP. Discloses 5 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 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
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures

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.

Annual return filing dates (Charity Commission record)

Of its last 5 annual returns with a recorded received date, 5 were received after the due date: year ending 31/01/2025 (received 03/12/2025, 3 days after the 30/11/2025 due date); year ending 31/01/2024 (received 06/03/2025, 96 days after the 30/11/2024 due date); year ending 31/01/2023 (received 05/04/2024, 127 days after the 30/11/2023 due date); year ending 31/01/2022 (received 23/02/2023, 85 days after the 30/11/2022 due date); year ending 31/01/2021 (received 20/12/2021, 20 days after the 30/11/2021 due date).

Due and received dates as recorded in the Commission’s annual-return data; the data does not say whether an extension was agreed. Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Property (HM Land Registry)

2 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (2 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/01/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~3.5 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Other trading activities (52% 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: 55.0% of total income — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median 5.3%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• SIR JAMES HENRY EDWARD CHICHESTER BTchair
• HON IAN WILLS · trustee of 1 other charity
• NICHOLAS DUNN
• Nicholas Williams-Ellis

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

Operates in: Gloucestershire

Income and spending

Common questions

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 SHEFFIELD BOTANICAL GARDENS TRUST.

• SHEFFIELD BOTANICAL GARDENS TRUST income £131k
• BEDFORD HOUSE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION income £295k
• BEDFORDSHIRE AND LUTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION income £5.3m
• BURFORD SCHOOL FUND (MARLOW BOTTOM) income £48k
• KNUTSFORD HERITAGE CENTRE income £50k
• THE FOUNDATION FOUNDATION income £177k

Side by side with its peers

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