The National Trust protects and cares for places so that people and nature can thrive. We look after hundreds of historic houses, gardens, monuments and vernacular buildings, close to a million objects as well as vast areas of coastline, countryside, woodland and parks – for everyone’s benefit. This makes us the biggest conservation charity in Europe.
As a charity completely independent of Government we rely on income from membership fees, fundraising, donations and legacies, and revenue raised from our commercial operations. The income generated is re-invested in our conservation work and in a normal year we would spend around £250m on projects.
We could not do what we do without our millions of members, volunteers, staff, supporters, partners and funders. Together we care for more than 250,000 hectares of land, more than 500 historic houses, castles, parks and gardens, over 780 miles of coastline and in excess of one million works of art.
We operate across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. We are constituted under a number of Acts of Parliament and regulated by the Charity Commission.
The National Trust’s strategic priorities
The Trust’s core purpose, to care for nature, beauty and history throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland, continues to guide us as it has for the past 127 years. Our overall strategy remains the same, but our organisation has changed. Last year was challenging but we are more flexible and ready to focus our efforts on our biggest priorities: caring for places and giving them a sustainable future, improving the state of nature in the UK, addressing unequal access to nature, beauty and history where people live, making sure our places keep evolving – attracting people to care for them and inspiring them, giving people more opportunities to get involved and support our work, and being an inclusive, welcoming and sustainable organisation.
You can read more about our strategy here.
The Trust’s current strategy runs to the end of 2024 and the Advisory Groups have been part of discussions for the next strategy that launches in 2025, a process which the new members will join. This is an exciting time to join the Trust as we review and develop the new strategy post-2025.
Specialist Advice Network and Advisory Groups
The Trust welcomes the added value that high-level advice from independent, external, and authoritative sources can provide. The Trust has three Advisory Groups: Historic Environment, Natural Environment and Collections & Interpretation, each consist of a chair and 11-15 members who have varied skills, knowledge and experience.
The groups are part of a wider system co-ordinated by the Specialist Network Manager which allows the Trust to access the right advice, internally or externally, at the right time. Alongside the central specialist staff, this network of Volunteer Specialists and specialist contractors, gives the Trust access to technical advice relating to particular specialisms (for example, water reservoirs or jewellery identification), often ‘on-site’.
Expert advisory groups bring external approaches and new perspectives; acting as expert critical friends to help create better solutions. The groups have a key role to advise senior leaders on strategy. They support Trust staff in make fully informed decisions and provide a broad overview of professional standards. Members of the groups also act as advocates for the Trust in their respective professional areas.