Board of Trustees’ report for 22-23

The Trustees are pleased to present the 2022–23 Annual Report and Accounts of the National Trust.

The Trustees are pleased to present the 2022–23 Annual Report and Accounts of the National Trust.

As you have read in the introduction, this year has been a time of renewal but against a challenging backdrop of high inflation and a cost-of-living crisis. This has affected our supporters and put pressure on our staff and volunteers. Throughout this report you can read about the actions we’ve taken to mitigate this.

Our performance has also been affected by external factors. Though we are slightly below target in some areas, record fundraising and an increase in visitor numbers means we are confident in our recovery from the Covid pandemic. You can read more about our performance later in the report.

In line with our strategy, this has been a record year for spending on conservation. Alongside this we continued to focus on climate action, nature loss and ‘everyone welcome’.

We have also invested heavily in upgrading our IT infrastructure, delivering a new website and implementing a much-improved fundraising and supporter platform. This will help future-proof the Trust and make it easier for people to engage with us in new ways.

Strategy

Our current strategy runs until 2025, and this year we started to explore what the next 10 years might look like. This milestone presents us with the opportunity to step back and consider our direction of travel, our ambitions for the future and what shifts we need to make to realise those ambitions.

Investing in conservation

This year we spent a record £179.6 million on conservation.

We opened the ‘Garden in the ruins’ at Nymans, Sussex, the first ever Children’s Country House at Sudbury, Derbyshire, and Crook Hall Gardens, County Durham became the 221st garden in our care.

We completed the four-year restoration of Glendurgan’s historic maze in Cornwall and the ambitious £7.4 million conservation project at Seaton Delaval Hall, Northumberland.

Thanks to generous funding, we have launched a new programme to train apprentices in key heritage skills, and we welcomed our first horticultural scholar at Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Kent.

We also upgraded the Royal Oak Foundation Conservation Studio in Kent, so that we can start to offer in-house conservation of paintings and picture frames.

We agreed a renewed approach to conserve and renew Clandon Park which will see it returned to full public use after the devastating fire in 2015. The ambition is for Clandon to inspire as a home to important works of art, cultural activity and social events.

at Sudbury, Derbyshire, and Crook Hall Gardens, County Durham became the 221st garden in our care.

We completed the four-year restoration of Glendurgan’s historic maze in Cornwall and the ambitious £7.4 million conservation project at Seaton Delaval Hall, Northumberland.

Thanks to generous funding, we have launched a new programme to train apprentices in key heritage skills, and we welcomed our first horticultural scholar at Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Kent.

We also upgraded the Royal Oak Foundation Conservation Studio in Kent, so that we can start to offer in-house conservation of paintings and picture frames.

Climate action and nature loss

We are responding to changes we can see resulting from climate change and addressing the UK’s depleted biodiversity. We do this through the ways in which we manage land, source energy, protect wildlife and look after historic buildings and collections.

We have directly engaged with the Government, promoting nature-friendly farming and inspiring action on climate. We joined with the charities RSPB and WWF as co-sponsors of the first UK-wide citizens’ assembly for nature, bringing together people from every corner of the UK to discuss the shocking declines in nature and what action should be taken to reverse this. Out of this, the assembly created the People’s Plan for Nature, which calls for action by all parts of society. You can read more about this later in the report.

Everyone welcome

The Trust was set up to benefit the whole nation. We are working hard to break down barriers to those that feel that it’s not relevant to them, while continuing to look after our existing supporters.

Our ambition is for a broader diversity of people represented in the demographics of our staff and volunteers and for everyone to have an equally positive experience, whatever their interaction with us.

This year we have:

invested £3 million in accessibility improvements at the places we care for

overhauled our recruitment processes to reach a wider diversity of job applicants

made 1.7 million single-use free passes available to families and launched a ‘kids eat for free’ scheme

expanded our urban work and collaborated with others to create community green spaces, such as the Castlefield Viaduct sky park in Manchester.

These and other examples in this report demonstrate that the Trust remains clear about its charitable purpose and is fulfilling it in ways that are relevant to our time.

Membership

We are pleased that, despite economic challenges, membership has remained stable. We closed the year with 5.73 million members (2.72 million memberships), just above the 5.71 million members (2.69 million memberships) in 2021–22.

We took the difficult decision to increase membership costs for 2023–24 by 9.4% mainly due to inflationary pressures which means it now costs us significantly more to look after places and open them for our visitors. We are extremely grateful to all our members who continue to support us and enjoy our places.

Annual General Meeting (AGM)

The 2022 AGM took place at the Bath Assembly Rooms in Somerset. It was the Trust’s first hybrid AGM with electronic voting on the day. We were delighted that, in addition to those present in the room, 680 members joined the event online.

Looking forward

Over the next year we will continue developing our new strategy, listening to what our staff, volunteers, members, supporters and partners want from a 21st-century National Trust.

We will continue our joint campaign with charities RSPB and WWF, calling for more action for nature and responding to the outcomes of the People’s Plan for Nature. We will also continue to care for the treasured buildings, collections, gardens and landscapes we look after.

Thank you

It is our members and supporters who enable us to carry out our work and we thank you for your commitment and passion for conservation. Thank you also to our staff and our volunteers whose dedication is essential to our success.