BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION

Registered charity 254937 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as THE BRITISH BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION SOCIETY LIMITED · also registered in Scotland as SC039268 (OSCR)

The conservation of butterflies, moths and our environment

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

Latest income
£6.1m
Latest spending
£6.9m
Registered
1968
Accounts read
FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that total net assets decreased to £11.87m from £12.83m in the prior year, driven by a net expenditure of £0.96m against income of £6.06m. The trustees confirm that unrestricted free financial reserves of £3.78m are sufficient to cover approximately six months of operating costs, meeting their stated policy target of £3.5m. Despite a challenging fundraising environment and staff reductions, the trustees and auditors confirm the charity has adequate resources to continue as a going concern.

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

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: six months, equivalent to £3.5m (held: £3.8m)
“Council has calculated that the amount of financial reserves it needs to hold is six months, equivalent to £3.5m” — page 20
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Council members and Senior Leadership Team received subscriptions totalling £578.
“During the year ended 31 March 2025, the charity received subscriptions from Council members and the Senior Leadership Team totalling £578 (2024: £380).” — page 54
“During the year ended 31 March 2025, the charity received unrestricted donations from Council members and the Senior Leadership Team totalling £1,300 (2024: £788)” — page 54
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Council members and Senior Leadership Team made unrestricted donations totalling £1,300.
“During the year ended 31 March 2025, the charity received subscriptions from Council members and the Senior Leadership Team totalling £578 (2024: £380).” — page 54
“During the year ended 31 March 2025, the charity received unrestricted donations from Council members and the Senior Leadership Team totalling £1,300 (2024: £788)” — page 54
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Council members were reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses totalling £6,702.
“During the year ended 31 March 2025, the charity received subscriptions from Council members and the Senior Leadership Team totalling £578 (2024: £380).” — page 54
“During the year ended 31 March 2025, the charity received unrestricted donations from Council members and the Senior Leadership Team totalling £1,300 (2024: £788)” — page 54
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Trading subsidiary: Butterfly Conservation Trading Limited
“The consolidated statement of financial activities and group balance sheet consolidate the financial statements of Butterfly Conservation and its wholly owned subsidiary company, Butterfly Conservation Trading Limited” — page 35
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Buzzacott Audit LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Corporate structure

BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION TRADING LIMITED — per its own Companies House accounts
  • Turnover: £31k
  • Donated/gift-aided to the charity: £13k
  • Parent invoiced for employee services and asset use; Note 5 shows £13,733 (2025) / £24,426 (2024) due to parent entity other than Gift Aid.
“£13,084 of the taxable profits generated were Gift Aided to Butterfly Conservation (2024: £21,365) in accordance with a Gift Aid compliant deed of covenant.”

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

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.

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

31 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (26 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)

Total income
£6.1m
Total spending
£6.9m
Cost of raising funds
£446k
Reserves (reported)
£4k
Employees
109

Reported reserves equal ~0.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 7.4% of total income — above the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Register events

Trustees · trustee networks

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

Operates in: Austria · Belarus · Belgium · Bulgaria · Croatia · Czech Republic · Denmark · Estonia · Finland · France · Germany · Hungary

Income and spending

Financial year endIncomeSpending
31/03/2025£6.1m£6.9m
31/03/2024£6.6m£6.8m
31/03/2023£6.2m£5.6m
31/03/2022£4.3m£4.3m
31/03/2021£4.5m£4.3m

Common questions

Is BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that total net assets decreased to £11.87m from £12.83m in the prior year, driven by a net expenditure of £0.96m against income of £6.06m. The trustees confirm that unrestricted free financial reserves of £3.78m are sufficient to cover approximately six months of operating costs, meeting their stated policy target of £3.5m. Despite a challenging fundraising environment and staff reductions, the trustees and auditors confirm the charity has adequate resources to continue as a going concern. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Buzzacott Audit LLP.

Who funds BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION?

Funders whose own accounts filings name BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION as a grant recipient include THE HISCOX FOUNDATION, THE DULVERTON TRUST, JOHN SWIRE 1989 CHARITABLE TRUST, KATHLEEN BERYL SLEIGH CHARITABLE TRUST, THE ORR MACKINTOSH FOUNDATION LIMITED.

Known funders

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

FunderYearAmountPurpose (as stated by the funder)
THE HISCOX FOUNDATIONFY2023£37k
THE DULVERTON TRUSTFY2023£35kCore funding 22/23
JOHN SWIRE 1989 CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2024£25k
KATHLEEN BERYL SLEIGH CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2023£20k
THE ORR MACKINTOSH FOUNDATION LIMITEDFY2024£15k
PETER SOWERBY FOUNDATIONFY2025£12k
THE BRITFORD BRIDGE TRUSTFY2025£10kSecondary
KATHLEEN BERYL SLEIGH CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2024£10k
THE BRITFORD BRIDGE TRUSTFY2024£10kSecondary
KATHLEEN BERYL SLEIGH CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2022£10k
THE HDH WILLS 1965 CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2024£10kMartin Wills Fund - Conservation and wildlife charities
KUSUMA TRUST UKFY2023£9kBig City Butterflies
THE LAWSON TRUST CIOFY2024£8kOther grants
THE REED FOUNDATIONFY2022£6kChristmas Challenge
TOWER HILL TRUSTFY2022£6kto support working to inspire people to discover butterflies and moths, and connect with nature and their local green spaces.
KATHLEEN BERYL SLEIGH CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2025£5k
THE LAWSON TRUST CIOFY2025£3k
THE MICHAEL MARKS CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2025£2k
CHAPMAN CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2024£2k
THE LESLIE MARY CARTER CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2023£2k
CHAPMAN CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2022£2k
CHAPMAN CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2025£2k
CONSERVATION COLLECTIVEFY2022£2kButterfly Survey and habitat assessment
THE HISCOX FOUNDATIONFY2025£2k
JOHN SWIRE 1989 CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2023£1k
THE MARTIN LAING FOUNDATIONFY2023£1kCultural & Environmental (via CAF)
THE EDWARD AND DOROTHY CADBURY TRUSTFY2022£1kConservation and Heritage
THE EDWARD AND DOROTHY CADBURY TRUSTFY2023£1kConservation and the Environment
JOHN SWIRE 1989 CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2021£1k
JOHN SWIRE 1989 CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2021£1k
THE IAN ASKEW CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2025£500Conservation Fund
THE HISCOX FOUNDATIONFY2024£0
THE REED FOUNDATIONFY2021—
THE PHILIP J MILTON AND COMPANY PLC CHARITABLE FOUNDATIONFY2024—Making room and creating wild space for Butterflies and Moths.

Government & lottery funding

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

FunderDateAmountPurpose
The National Lottery Heritage Fund20/08/2025£222k"Glasgow Wild Spaces"
Community Foundation North East22/05/2025£9kGrant to Butterfly Conservation
The National Lottery Heritage Fund11/10/2024£183k"#Grow – Growing Butterfly Conservation’s Youth Workforce"
UK government01/04/2024£23kGCA AME RPA DELINKED PAYMENTS
UK government01/04/2024£24kGCA DEL RPA COUNTRYSIDE STEWARDSHIP FACILITATION FUND
UK government27/02/2024£33k#NNF3 Wales Marsh Fritillary Recovery Partnership
The National Lottery Heritage Fund04/09/2023£138k"Bristol & Weston Wild Spaces – Transforming Habitat for People & Pollinators in Schools"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund17/07/2023£62k"#Innovate: Butterfly Conservation Test Phase Project"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund12/12/2022£24k"Explore: Butterfly Conservation"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund27/09/2022£80k"Perth and Stirling Wild Spaces"
UK government30/03/2022£45kCRESI:Butterfly Conservation
The National Lottery Heritage Fund31/07/2019£74k"Helping Hands for Butterflies"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund29/05/2019£10k"Saving the Northern Brown Argus in the Scottish Borders"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund21/03/2019£62k"Limestone Lepidoptera"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund20/03/2019£94k"Saving the Wood White butterfly in the South East"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund13/03/2019£10k"Conserving the Duke of Burgundy and the Marsh Fritillary in Wiltshire"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund20/11/2018£10k"Small Blue butterfly wildflower bank creation at St JulianÂ’s Meadow, Greenwood Park, Chiswell Green"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund11/09/2018£472k"Big City Butterflies: Discovering London's Butterflies and Moths"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund12/06/2018£10k"Returning the Chalk Hill Blue to Warwickshire"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund29/05/2018£10k"Duke of Burgundy Stepping Stones"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund28/05/2018£57k"Munching Caterpillars Scotland"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund28/02/2018£250k"KentÂ’s Magnificent Moths"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund22/08/2017£75k"Woodland Wings: Conserving the rare butterflies and moths of the East Midlands"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund17/07/2017£10k"Wild in Winchester: Getting Winchester's Children Out on the Downs"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund08/02/2017£68k"The Blues and Browns of Polden Hills: Saving two of the UKÂ’s most threatened butterflies"

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 BRITISH DRAGONFLY SOCIETY.

Side by side with its peers

CharityIncomeTop pay bandStaff >£60kReserves vs policyFundraising costGoing concern
BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION£6.1m——unclear—no doubt
BRITISH DRAGONFLY SOCIETY FY2025£183k—0unclear—no doubt
BUTTERFLIES PRE-SCHOOL DIDCOT CIO FY2024£170k—0unclear—no doubt
BUMBLEBEE CONSERVATION TRUST FY2025£2.5m£60,000 or more1below—no doubt
ROYAL ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON FY2025£1.5m——above—no doubt
BUGLIFE THE INVERTEBRATE CONSERVATION TRUST FY2024£3.4m——within6.3%no doubt

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