FOREST OF AVON TRUST
Registered charity 1122314 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register
Tree & woodland charity for Bristol, Avon & around. Runs woodland activities for adults with learning disabilities, people with mental health needs & people with dementia; works with schools to support outdoor learning; offers accredited Forest School training & Inset Days; advises on and supports woodland planting & management. The Trust also directly manages a community woodland.
Causes: Education/training · Disability · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Environment/conservation/heritage · Economic/community Development/employment · Recreation · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that total income increased to £2,265,432 with total expenditure at £2,209,682, resulting in a net surplus for the year. The charity holds unrestricted reserves of £471,001, which the Trustees consider adequate to meet objectives for the foreseeable future. The auditors confirmed that the financial statements give a true and fair view and identified no material uncertainties regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Largest income source: Charitable activities (95% of income)
“Charitable activities 4 10,045 2,140,889 2,150,934” — page 10
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Fundraising cost ratio: 1.4% of fundraised income, as disclosed
“Raising funds 6 ( 30,798 ) - ( 30,798 )” — page 10
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves policy: six months' operational expenditure (held: £471k)
“The Trustees propose to maintain the charity's unrestricted reserves at a level which is at least equivalent to six months' operational expenditure and have done so having regard to its manner of operation of likely funding streams. The Trust will maintain a minimum unrestricted funding reserve equivalent to 6 months’ average monthly running costs of £44,000 plus a maximum sum of £80,000 providing for procurement of equipment and accommodation.”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by Gravita Audit Western Limited. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.
Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Forest of Avon Trust (matched by registered charity number).
Leadership, per the charity’s website
- Ped Asgarian — Chief Executive Officer (source)
- Alister Rankine — Chair (source)
- Stephen Dallimore — Chief Financial Officer (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).
- DEFRA — “Forest of Avon, through the DEFRA funded Trees for Climate fund provide finance, guidance, and support” (source page)
Property (HM Land Registry)
4 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (3 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 31/03/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£31k
Reported reserves equal ~2.6 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (95% 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: 1.4% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).
- Alister Rankine
- Andrew Martin McLaughlin
- Charles Davies
- James Joseph Mayer
- MATTHEW RICHARD JOSEPH JONES
- Pamela Margaret Gilder
- Robert Bernays · trustee of 6 other charities
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Bath And North East Somerset · Bristol City · Gloucestershire · North Somerset · Somerset · South Gloucestershire · Wiltshire
Income and spending
Common questions
Is FOREST OF AVON TRUST financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that total income increased to £2,265,432 with total expenditure at £2,209,682, resulting in a net surplus for the year. The charity holds unrestricted reserves of £471,001, which the Trustees consider adequate to meet objectives for the foreseeable future. The auditors confirmed that the financial statements give a true and fair view and identified no material uncertainties regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Gravita Audit Western Limited.
Who funds FOREST OF AVON TRUST?
Funders whose own accounts filings name FOREST OF AVON TRUST as a grant recipient include THE GEOFF & FIONA SQUIRE FOUNDATION, The Patricia Routledge Foundation, LORD BARNBY'S FOUNDATION, M J CAMP CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, THE OAKDALE TRUST.
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 AVON NEEDS TREES.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.