SYLVA FOUNDATION

Registered charity 1128516 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also registered in Scotland as SC041892 (OSCR)

The Sylva Foundation is working to bring trees and people closer together, following sustainable development principles. The charity works across Britain caring for forests to ensure they thrive for people and for nature, and supporting innovation in home-grown wood. We conduct our work through four main programmes, reflecting our charitable objects, namely: Science, Education, Forestry, and Wood.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£864k

Latest spending

£832k

Registered

2009

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that total income increased to £910,310 from £608,973 in the previous year, resulting in a net surplus of £71,787. The charity holds unrestricted reserves of £213,102, which the trustees consider sufficient to continue as a going concern for the next 12 months.

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

What the accounts disclose

Highest-paid employee band: £60,001 - £70,000 — above the median for charities its size (£60k)

“Two employees received employee benefits of between £60,000 and £70,000 during the year” — page 24

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Employees paid over £60,000: 2

“Two employees received employee benefits of between £60,000 and £70,000 during the year” — page 24

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Largest income source: Charitable activities (66% of income)

“Incoming resources from charitable activities was £605,308 or 66%”

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Reserves policy: maximum of 50% of budgeted annual expenditure (held: £213k)

“it was agreed that a reserves target aiming for a maximum of 50% of budgeted annual expenditure remained prudent.”

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Payments to trustees: One trustee received remuneration of £773 during the year for work as an external tutor.

“One trustee received remuneration of £773 during the year for work as an external tutor (2024: £Nil).” — page 24

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 6 of 6 completeness components.

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2026)

Total income

£864k

Total spending

£832k

Reserves (reported)

£208k

Employees

12

Reported reserves equal ~3.0 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (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: 0.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (4.9%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

SARAH JANE TAYLORchair · trustee of 3 other charities
Amanda Jayne Bryan
Dr Eleanor Rosemary Tew
Dr James Ivo Lindsay Morison
James Waterson MICFor
LUCIUS CARY OBE
Phoebe Tabitha Madison Oldfield
Robin Buxton MBE
Sebastian Cox

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

Operates in: Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/03/2026	£864k	£832k
31/03/2025	£910k	£839k
31/03/2024	£609k	£673k
31/03/2023	£590k	£650k
31/03/2022	£500k	£542k

Common questions

Is SYLVA FOUNDATION financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that total income increased to £910,310 from £608,973 in the previous year, resulting in a net surplus of £71,787. The charity holds unrestricted reserves of £213,102, which the trustees consider sufficient to continue as a going concern for the next 12 months. Its FY2025 accounts were independently examined.

What does the highest-paid employee of SYLVA FOUNDATION earn?

Per its FY2025 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the £60,001 - £70,000 band, and 2 employees earned over £60,000.

Who funds SYLVA FOUNDATION?

Funders whose own accounts filings name SYLVA FOUNDATION as a grant recipient include ASPEN TRUST, THE DULVERTON TRUST, MIDDLE WAY TRUST, CHAPMAN CHARITABLE TRUST, THE GUNTER CHARITABLE TRUST.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
ASPEN TRUST	FY2022	£119k	grant made as part of the donation received in 2021 from Mingulay Prewell Trust
ASPEN TRUST	FY2024	£106k	Product Manager
THE DULVERTON TRUST	FY2025	£105k	Core funding
ASPEN TRUST	FY2024	£94k	Product Manager
ASPEN TRUST	FY2024	£94k	Product Manager
ASPEN TRUST	FY2023	£22k	Grant for salary of a part-time administrator (2 of 3)
ASPEN TRUST	FY2023	£22k	Grant for salary of a part-time administrator (1 of 3)
ASPEN TRUST	FY2023	£22k	Grant for salary of a part-time administrator (3 of 3)
ASPEN TRUST	FY2021	£21k	Second and final instalment of a grant approved to fund the salary of the wood school tutor.
MIDDLE WAY TRUST	FY2024	£5k
MIDDLE WAY TRUST	FY2025	£5k
CHAPMAN CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2025	£3k
THE GUNTER CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2025	£3k

Government & lottery funding

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

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	09/05/2024	£240k	"Woodworking and Gender Project"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	27/07/2020	£8k	"COVID19 Sylva Foundation"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	13/03/2018	£98k	"House of Wessex - celebrating the birth of the Kingdom of England"

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.

Funder	Similar charities funded	Amount to them
THE NORTHWICK TRUST	3	£92k
THE BANISTER CHARITABLE TRUST	2	£752k
THE ADRIAN SWIRE CHARITABLE TRUST	2	£28k
SANDRA CHARITABLE TRUST	2	£16k
THE LORD FARINGDON CHARITABLE TRUST	2	£10k
THE DAVID FAMILY FOUNDATION	2	£9k
THE OAKDALE TRUST	2	£4k
THE MILLENNIUM OAK TRUST	1	—

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE JOSEPH AND LILIAN SULLY FOUNDATION.

THE JOSEPH AND LILIAN SULLY FOUNDATION income £433k
INTERNATIONAL TREE FOUNDATION income £1.4m
WOODLAND HERITAGE LIMITED income £1.5m
WILL WOODLANDS income £602k
TREEANGLE FOUNDATION income £239k
THE ROYAL FORESTRY SOCIETY income £1.0m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
SYLVA FOUNDATION	£864k	£60,001 - £70,000	2	unclear	—	no doubt
THE JOSEPH AND LILIAN SULLY FOUNDATION FY2025	£433k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
INTERNATIONAL TREE FOUNDATION FY2024	£1.4m	—	0	above	8.2%	no doubt
WOODLAND HERITAGE LIMITED FY2024	£1.5m	—	0	unclear	—	material uncertainty
WILL WOODLANDS FY2025	£602k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
TREEANGLE FOUNDATION FY2026	£239k	—	0	below	—	no doubt

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