THE BRITISH TRUST FOR ORNITHOLOGY

Registered charity 216652 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q2925763 · Wikipedia · also known as B T O · also registered in Scotland as SC039193 (OSCR)

Ornithological research

Objects

TO PROMOTE, ORGANISE, CARRY ON AND ENCOURAGE STUDY AND RESEARCH AND PARTICULARLY FIELD WORK FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF KNOWLEDGE IN ALL BRANCHES OF THE SCIENCE OF ORNITHOLOGY. PERMANENTLY TO PRESERVE AND PROTECT LANDS AND OBJECTS WHICH BY THEIR NATURAL FEATURES ARE SUITABLE FOR THE PRESERVATION AND STUDY OF BIRD LIFE AND OF FAUNA AND FLORA GENERALLY.

Area of benefit: NATIONAL

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

Causes: Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts

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

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net income deficit of £307k for the year, driven by a significant drop in legacy income. The Board maintains free reserves of £2,670k, which it considers equivalent to 4.4 months' running costs, within its stated policy target of three to four months. The defined benefit pension scheme deficit has reduced to £180k, described by the trustees as a 'comfortably manageable level'.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Ensors Accountants LLP. 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.

In the news

Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).

• Puffins could disappear from Yorkshire’s east coast, warns new study by the British Trust for Ornithology yorkshirepost.co.uk · 09/11/2021

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — BTO - British Trust for Ornithology (matched by registered charity number).

Property (HM Land Registry)

3 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (2 freehold); recorded price paid £811k. 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)

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

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 19.9% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.3%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Dominic Edward Buscall
• Dr Geeta Ludhra · trustee of 1 other charity
• Dr Rachel Clara Thomas
• Emma Dresser
• Emma Jane Thornton
• Iain Coucher
• Jamie Dunning
• Jane Elizabeth Miller
• Joel Meade Ziff
• Prof Zoe Georgina Davies
• Professor Stephen Geoffrey Willis · trustee of 1 other charity
• Simon Marquis
• Stephen Jonathan Metcalfe

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

Operates in: Northern Ireland · Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

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 BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION.

• THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION income £220k
• BRITISH DRAGONFLY SOCIETY income £183k
• BRIXTON CHAMBER ORCHESTRA income £483k
• BRITISH HEN WELFARE TRUST income £1.1m
• BCH TRUST income £237k
• THE BRITISH SOCIETY FOR ORAL AND DENTAL RESEARCH income £68k

Side by side with its peers

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