Where every pound went in 2025

Our 2025 accounts are published in full on the site for anyone who wants the detail. The headline we lead with is that 87p of every pound of public donations reached the field. This is the breakdown behind that figure, including the parts that are less comfortable to print.

The largest single share went to planting and the protection of sites once planted, which for us means ranger wages as much as seedlings. Monitoring and verification came next, because a tree we cannot prove is alive is a tree we should not be claiming. Nursery costs and community wages made up most of the rest.

Core office costs, the salaries in London, the audits, the insurance, are funded by a separate set of restricted grants. That is the structural reason public donations can go almost entirely to the ground rather than to keeping the lights on here.

Across the whole charity in 2025 the work added up to 3.8 million trees in the ground, 412 kilotonnes of CO2 measured across our sites, and 1,240 local jobs paid. Donations were up 58% on the year before, which is why we could say yes to communities we had previously had to put off.

The awkward part is the 13p in every pound that does not reach the field. Some of it is bank charges and the cost of moving money into seven countries and several currencies, which we cannot make disappear however we route it. Some is fundraising cost, the price of bringing in the next pound.

We could present that 13p more flatteringly by carving it up differently, and plenty of charities do. We would rather show you the number plainly and let you judge it. If it ever climbs, we will tell you why.