Born Free Foundation - Keep Wildlife in the Wild

Download the full version of the Born Free Foundation Trustees' Report + Audited Group Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2006  here > pdf file 706KB

Chairman's Introduction

I am again delighted to write this introduction to this Trustees’ Annual Report, which sets out for our supporters and the general public what our charity has achieved in the past twelve months, and our future plans.

We welcome the Charity Commission’s requirements on the format of these reports because they accord with our own thinking on demonstrating our accountability for the funds contributed by our corporate and individual supporters. Last year we made major presentational changes to the report so this year it is more a case of continuity and improvement.

Our Chief Executive comments in detail on our projects and key achievements on pages 4 to 8 and summarises our animal welfare, conservation and education work. I would like to highlight in particular our work on captivity issues because it is so dear to my heart. The extension of our Zoo Check concept to other EU countries by way of collaborative working with a number of European not-for-profit organisations is a very important move. Our charity was founded originally to campaign in this area. While our efforts have contributed to a number of welfare improvements in the UK, standards elsewhere are nowhere near as good. We are encouraged by the start that has been made, but there is much to be done.

After a number of years with a stable Trustee Board, we now face some significant changes. Terry Adams served as a Trustee for over ten years and contributed his wealth of business and finance experience. We will greatly miss his wise counsel. Richard Arthur has also ceased to be a Trustee. He had served since September 2000 and made a particular contribution to our Ethiopian wolf project. We shall be seeking to recruit at least one new Trustee in 2007.

The Board pays particular attention to the ethical questions associated with the investment of the charity’s reserves. In formulating our policy we sought specialist advice and debated the issues involved. Mindful of our mission, we do not invest in organisations that are involved in animal testing and factory farming. In addition, we avoid investments in organisations that have poor environmental records because of their impact on the natural world. We have decided not to compromise our ethical values by investing in the best companies in excluded categories but where the evidence is marginal we will initially consider using our holding as a basis for trying to persuade the company to change its policy.

We made further improvements in our financial controls. We have for a number of years used as our guide to best practise the Charity Commission’s publication CC8 - Internal Financial Controls. This has been supplemented by advice from our Auditors on specific matters as they have arisen as part of their external audits. This year we up-dated and consolidated our financial procedures into a Finance Manual. We now plan to introduce an internal audit programme that will review and report to the Board on one procedure from the Manual each month, starting from the beginning of the new financial year.

Finally, I would like to thank our staff and our volunteers for their hard work and commitment. Will Travers and his senior team – Alison Hood (Programmes’ Director), Anne Tudor (Marketing Director), Shirley Galligan (PR Director), and Stephen Chandler (Finance Manager) – provide first class leadership, but we are exceptionally fortunate that we have so many long-service employees and that our new recruits have blended in so well. The team photograph (below) has some important omissions – particularly our colleagues in Kenya, where Alice Owen manages the Branch and the USA, where Adam Roberts is providing high-profile leadership as Vice President Born Free USA Inc. We also have some excellent volunteers many of whom have supported us for years. The Board sends its heartfelt thanks to them all.

Virginia McKenna

Chair of Trustees
12 September 2006