Growing support

We will give people more opportunities to get involved and support our work.

Nature, beauty and history are integral to our everyday lives. They create the backdrop for our memories, places to enjoy time on our own or time together. They play a vital role in climate change and helping people manage in an ever-changing world. The fact you care enough to donate, join, visit and volunteer means that we’ll be here for generations to come and we’re so grateful for your support.

Sharon Pickford, Director of Support and Revenue

We built strong foundations to increase efficiency, with two major highlights:

we launched a new supporter management system, which will help supporters engage with us in new ways; and
we increased our fundraising capability, so that we can be more ambitious in the years ahead.

Our Performance

Membership remained steady in 2022–23, opening the year with 5.71 million members (2.69 memberships) and closing at 5.73 million members (2.72 memberships). This was less than the target of 5.9 million, but against a backdrop of pressure on disposable income due to the rising cost of living.

A total of 408,026 new memberships were started and 83.4% of our existing memberships renewed, just below our target of 84.9%.

We exceeded our fundraising target of £95.4 million, raising £110.4 million.⁴

4 An additional £6.7 million of fundraising income was generated through our trading subsidiary The National Trust (Enterprises) Ltd, bringing the total fundraising income across all sources to £117.1 million.

Membership

We have increased our digital offer, adding more behind-the-scenes videos and exclusive content. In January, we trialled our first digital edition of the magazine, following feedback from our members, and we’ll be doing more tests in 2023 alongside the print version.

A highlight this year was a members’ exclusive competition for a private tour of Paul McCartney’s childhood home, 20 Forthlin Road in Liverpool.

Fundraising

We raised £110.4 million from individual donors, charitable trusts, grant funders, corporate partners and gifts in wills. This is a record level of income, boosted most significantly by legacies exceeding £70 million for the first time.

On-site fundraising grew, thanks to the success of one-off donations and sales at our second-hand bookshops, with donations totalling more than £7 million.

Online giving dipped this year, but our ‘Plant a Tree Appeal’ contributed more than £690,000 of income. Since it launched in 2020, the appeal has funded the future planting of more than 500,000 trees on Trust land.

We invited 2,500 donors and wider stakeholders to fundraising events. New events included a pre-AGM drinks reception, a summer reception at Fenton House in London and the inaugural Octavia Hill lecture hosted by Neil MacGregor, British art historian and broadcaster on Times Radio.

We raised more than £25 million in grant income, funding a variety of projects including:

buying land at Divis in County Antrim, thanks to more than £944,000 from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), Northern Ireland.
eight projects supported by £2.8 million from DEFRA’s Green Recovery Challenge Fund.
projects including Runnymede Explored and Our Common Cause, thanks to £2.7 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
restoring peatland as part of the Cumbria and Forest of Bowland partnership project, thanks to £1.7 million from DEFRA.

We are also grateful to DEFRA, National Highways, Sport England and Natural England for significant funding for other projects.

We were delighted to receive a philanthropic award of £6.2 million to fund the Hamish Ogston Foundation Heritage Crafts Apprenticeship Programme, which you can read more here.

Thanks to our corporate partnerships, we have raised more than £3 million to:

Support woodland creation establishing 670 hectares (1,656 acres) of woodland and wood pasture, and 21 miles of hedgerows, through our partnership with HSBC UK;

Help woodlands recover from storm damage in the North East, in partnership with Barbour;

Increase accessibility to the outdoors through our partnership with Cotswold Outdoor;

Install cup recycling stations in partnership with Ecotone; and

Make places more dog-friendly through our partnership with Forthglade.

Supporters continue to generously remember the Trust in their wills, and we were grateful to receive £70.3 million in support of our work.

Second-hand bookshop at Mount

Stewart, County Down

In November 2009, my wife Marion volunteered to look after the second-hand bookshop at Mount Stewart. Marion always had a great interest in books and thrived in the role. Sadly, Marion had a cancer diagnosis in December 2016 and succumbed to the illness in August 2017. During this period, I helped Marion with the bookshop and since her death I have continued to look after it. The best bit of the role is when I am chatting with supporters, other members of staff and volunteers.

It’s great to report that our sales this year are the highest ever and this income will continue to be spent entirely at Mount Stewart. I’d like to extend a very big thank you to those members and supporters who have donated and bought books.

Alan Drysdale, Volunteer

Commercial

Our commercial businesses generated income of more than £152 million, £20 million higher than last year. Commercial activities include our cafés and tea-rooms, shops, holiday cottages and campsites. We also raise funds through brand licensing and film and photo shoots.

We joined the UK Plastics Pact, pledging to eliminate problematic plastics and develop new ways to reuse and recycle across our supply chain and on site.

Cafés and tea-rooms

A challenging external environment saw a significant rise in food and energy costs. Like others in the hospitality industry, our supply chain was interrupted, and we continued to face staff shortages. Despite higher income levels, rising costs saw our overall income drop to £19.8 million, £11.6 million lower than last year.

Retail

We focused on selling products that reflect the stories of places and broaden our range. This has resulted in a strong performance generating almost £38 million in income.

Holidays

Holiday cottages and campsites remain popular, generating over £22.5 million in income combined.

We won the National Geographic Traveller ‘Special Stays: UK’ category of their Reader Awards 2022.

Brownsea Island Campsite, Dorset

Every stay in our holiday cottages and campsites generates funds that support our work. On Brownsea Island, guests leave their cars behind, enjoy a boat trip and woodland walk before spending the night under the stars. Experiences like this contribute to the conservation of the area, improving its heathland and woodland and supporting nature.

Brand licensing partner: Little Greene

Our brand licensing collaboration with Little Greene saw the launch of our fifth collection of National Trust-inspired products. National Trust Papers III features eight adapted and recoloured historic wallpaper designs inspired by Oxburgh Hall and Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk and Newark Park in Gloucestershire.

Looking ahead

We want our members to be able to choose how they interact with the Trust. Our work on a digital magazine will continue as well as looking at membership card options. We are investing in our cafés to improve facilities and increase choice. We will also be developing new relationships with donors and corporations.

Our commitment to fundraising best practice

As a charity, fundraising is essential to meet our core purpose and deliver public benefit. We are committed to a transparent and ethical approach to all our fundraising activity. We are registered with the Fundraising Regulator and abide by the Code of Fundraising Practice and the Fundraising Promise. We are also organisational members of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising and support the professional development of our staff in relation to excellent fundraising practice.

We do:

send appeal letters, raffle tickets and other fundraising communications to selected supporters who have opted-in to marketing;
engage in fundraising activity at properties, in which staff and volunteers signpost supporters to giving mechanisms such as Donate Online, Text-to-Give and Tap-to-Give and promote the importance of gifts in wills to our work;

encourage supporters to fundraise in aid of our conservation work and research and invest in new mechanisms for supporters to engage with us;
seek philanthropic support from major donors, trusts and foundations;
respond to enquiries from corporate donors who wish to support our work through donations, and working with a number of corporate partners and commercial participators whose brand and values align with our own;
acknowledge and send thank-you communications for any donations or pledged legacies that are gifted; and
invite donations via our website, third-party giving platforms and collection boxes.

We do not:

sell or pass on supporter or customer details to any other organisation, or buy lists of donors who might have pledged or given to other charities;
use external agencies to fundraise on our behalf; nor

engage in street or door-to-door fundraising or make unsolicited calls to supporters asking for donations.

We uphold the standards of the Fundraising Regulator, by making every effort to ensure that our fundraising activity never feels unreasonably intrusive and persistent but focuses on inspiring support and celebrating the impact of fundraised income. We provide regular, mandatory training to all fundraising staff on key aspects of fundraising compliance across all areas of our work. This ensures we always interact with supporters in a way that not only respects the regulatory frameworks in which we operate but also supports our activity and growth.

When communicating with supporters, we operate in line with the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation 2018. All supporters who share their details with us will be shown a privacy policy, clearly stating how we will use their data. We operate a robust data retention policy, ensuring control over the amount and type of data we store.

All our fundraising mass marketing appeals are on an opt-in only basis and arranged by our Supporter Service Centre (SSC). Following platform upgrades, supporters will, once again, be able to manage their permissions and preferences online. We also operate a rigorous contact planning process that limits the number and type of communications a supporter might receive. We also respect the wishes of supporters who do not wish to receive fundraising communications, including those who have registered with the Fundraising Preference Service.

In line with the Charity Commission and Chartered Institute of Fundraising recommendations, we have a robust policy and accompanying guidance to support all fundraisers on engaging with people who are potentially in vulnerable circumstances. The guidance is reviewed regularly and shared with staff, including new starters, as part of the mandatory training mentioned above.

Processes have been implemented to ensure all supporters are able to engage with the National Trust in the way that is appropriate for them, without experiencing undue pressure or intrusion into their privacy. Our ethical approach to fundraising is reflected in the low number of fundraising complaints that we receive (11 in 2022). If we do receive a complaint, we respond in accordance with our agreed complaint guidelines. We welcome feedback from supporters about how we can improve our fundraising practice in future.