BUGLIFE THE INVERTEBRATE CONSERVATION TRUST

Registered charity 1092293 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q4986221 · Wikipedia · also known as BUGLIFE · also registered in Scotland as SC040004 (OSCR)

We aim to conserve invertebrates and their habitats, with current emphasis on surveys to assess the status of species in specific habitat-types, such as brownfields, soft rock cliffs and freshwater. Dissemination of our survey data, public education and the raising of awareness of the need to conserve invertebrates are also key activities. We also work to protect sites of special importance.

Objects

(A) THE STUDY, PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION FROM EXTINCTION OF NATURAL INVERTEBRATE FAUNA BY CONSERVING THEM IN THE WILD BU SUCH MEANS AS ARE AVAILABLE(B) TO PROMOTE AND SPONSOR SCIENTIFIC STUDY AND RESEARCH INTO THE HABITS DISEASES AND LIFE-CYCLES OF SUCH INVERTEBRATE FAUNA AND IN RELATION TO MODERN AGRICULTURAL, HORTICULTURAL, INDUSTRIAL AND HUMAN PRACTICES AND ACTIVITIES, AND TO DISSEMINATE THE RESULTS OF SUCH RESEARCH AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE(C) TO PROMOTE THE PERMANENT PRESERVATION AND SOUND MANAGEMENT FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PUBLIC GENERALLY OF LANDS OF ECOLOGICAL OR OTHER SCIENTIFIC IMPORTANCE WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO INVERTEBRATE FAUNA(D) TO FOSTER INTEREST IN GOVERNMENTAL AND VOLUNTARY BODIES, EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS AND THE PUBLIC GENERALLY CONCERNING THE CONSERVATION OR NATURAL INVERTEBRATE FAUNA

Area of benefit: NOT DEFINED. IN PRACTICE NATIONAL

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 · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Peterborough, East of England, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity generated a net income of £854,787 for the year ended 31 December 2025, with total funds carried forward reaching £2,770,222. Per the trustees' report, free reserves stood at £1,286,650, providing approximately 5.9 months of cover against core expenditure, which is within the stated policy target of 3 to 6 months. The auditors confirmed that the use of the going concern basis of accounting is appropriate and identified no material uncertainties regarding the charity's ability to continue.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by GMP Audit Limited. 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
• 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
• 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.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Buglife (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Sarah Dawkins — Chair (source)
• Nina Seale — Vice Chair (source)
• Katharine Szamuely — Treasurer (source)
• Paul Hetherington — Director of Fundraising and Communications (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

• Garfield Weston Foundation — “Garfield Weston Foundation” (source page)
• The Golden Bottle Trust — “The Golden Bottle Trust” (source page)

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~5.4 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 3.1% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (18/11/2022) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Abigail Hart
• Dave Hedges
• Emma Wood
• Katharine Szamuely
• Nina Seale
• Rebecca Grattage
• Sarah Dawkins

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

Operates in: Northern Ireland · Saint Helena · Scotland

Income and spending

Common questions

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 AMPHIBIAN AND REPTILE CONSERVATION TRUST.

• AMPHIBIAN AND REPTILE CONSERVATION TRUST income £2.3m
• BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION income £6.1m
• EARTH TRUST income £2.6m
• SHROPSHIRE WILDLIFE TRUST income £3.4m
• BUXTON CONSERVATION TRUST income £47k
• SUSSEX WILDLIFE TRUST income £7.2m

Side by side with its peers

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