THE NATIONAL GARDEN SCHEME
Registered charity 1112664 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as THE NATIONAL GARDENS SCHEME
The NGS raises money for national nursing caring and gardening charities by receiving donations and other support as a result of opening gardens of quality, character and interest to the public. County teams raise funds primarily from donations from garden openings which are sent to Head Office. Gardens are promoted by the annual publication - The Yellow Book; the NGS website and County booklets.
Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The charity reported total income of £5,803,863 and total expenditure of £5,538,546 for the year ended 31 December 2025, resulting in a net movement in funds of £330,766. Unrestricted reserves increased to £630,289, which the Trustees stated were appropriate and consistent with their policy of not falling below 25% of current annual operating costs. The accounts were prepared on a going concern basis with no material uncertainties identified by the auditors.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Reserves policy: 25% of current annual operating costs (held: £630k)
“Unrestricted reserves should not ordinarily fall below 25% of current annual operating costs.”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by Not stated. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.
In the news
Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).
Corporate structure
Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — The National Garden Scheme (matched by registered charity number).
Leadership, per the charity’s website
- Dr Richard Claxton — Chief Executive (source)
- Alan Titchmarsh CBE — President (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.
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.
- BERRIDGE, Vannessa — director, appointed 27/11/2025not on trustee list
- CURTIS-MACHIN, Raol — director, appointed 27/11/2025not on trustee list
- NEWTON, John Norman, Professor — director, appointed 23/11/2023on trustee list
- THOMSON, Deborah Mary — director, appointed 27/09/2023on trustee list
- HALL, Lucy — director, appointed 18/04/2023on trustee list
- ANDERSON, Arit — director, appointed 17/03/2021on trustee list
- SANDERSON, Vernon — director, appointed 23/03/2020on trustee list
- PAYNTON, Susan Anne — director, appointed 20/11/2019on trustee list
- BEOR-ROBERTS, Alastair Guy White — director, appointed 26/09/2018on trustee list
- KESTEVEN, Maureen Anne — director, appointed 22/11/2017on trustee list
- RATCLIFFE, Andrew Nicholas — director, appointed 01/04/2015on trustee list
- TYLER, Rupert David — director, appointed 01/06/2014on trustee list
- PHIPPS, Susan Margaret — director, appointed 04/05/2011on trustee list
- MONAGHAN, Karen, Company Secretary — secretary, appointed 14/12/2021
Official officers record.
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£1.2m
Reported reserves equal ~2.4 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (47% 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: 91.7% of total income — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median 5.2%) (benchmarks).
- Rupert David Tylerchair · trustee of 2 other charities
- Alastair Guy White Beor-Roberts
- Alexandra Denman · trustee of 1 other charity
- Andrew Ratcliffe
- Arit Anderson
- Deborah Mary Thomson
- Heather Skinner
- John Norman Newton
- Lucy Anne Hall
- MAUREEN KESTEVEN
- Raoul Curtis-Machin
- SUSAN PHIPPS
- Susan Anne Paynton
- Vanessa Berridge
- Vernon Sanderson
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Guernsey · Jersey · Northern Ireland · Throughout England And Wales
Income and spending
Common questions
Is THE NATIONAL GARDEN SCHEME financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The charity reported total income of £5,803,863 and total expenditure of £5,538,546 for the year ended 31 December 2025, resulting in a net movement in funds of £330,766. Unrestricted reserves increased to £630,289, which the Trustees stated were appropriate and consistent with their policy of not falling below 25% of current annual operating costs. The accounts were prepared on a going concern basis with no material uncertainties identified by the auditors. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Not stated.
Who funds THE NATIONAL GARDEN SCHEME?
Funders whose own accounts filings name THE NATIONAL GARDEN SCHEME as a grant recipient include THE JULIA RAUSING TRUST, PROJECT GIVING BACK, THE MASTER CHARITABLE TRUST, LORD LEVERHULME'S CHARITABLE TRUST, THE SCHRODER FOUNDATION.
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.
Known funders
Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.
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 THE NATIONAL FUNDING SCHEME.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.