How we spend your money

Money Flies

Every penny you donate helps towards our conservation work, but what exactly do we do with it?

Pie ChartHere are last years highlights that were made possible by our supporters kind donations;

  • Several of our most threatened butterflies and moths are showing good signs of recovery in some regions thanks to our landscape scale projects. Successes include the Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Duke of Burgundy, Wood White, Heath Fritillary, Marsh Fritillary, Small Blue and Grey Carpet.
  • Started acquisition of Rough Bank, a flagship reserve in the Cotswolds where we hope to restore populations of the threatened Large Blue and Duke of Burgundy.
  •  Raised funds to continue landscape scale projects in key areas: Morecambe Bay Nature Improvement Area, Wyre Forest ‘Pearl-bordered Fritillary’, Polden Hills ‘Large Blue’, South Downs ‘Duke of Burgundy’, and Northamptonshire ‘Wood White’.
  • Raised funds to continue our work to save threatened species in Scotland through a major new grant from Scottish Natural Heritage and in Northern Ireland thanks to a grant from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.
  • Began a Farmland Butterfly Initiative with Natural England, aimed at saving highly threatened grassland butterflies.
  • Completed phase one of a new education project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, aimed at teaching children about the fascinating life-cycles of butterflies and moths. Based on this success, we submitted a full application for a 3-year project.
  •  Published a book of the proceedings from our Sixth International Symposium held in Reading 2010.
  • Sustained a high level of coverage in the media and used the social media (Twitter and Facebook) to spread our message to a wider audience.
  • Expanded our membership to 18,600, our highest ever, and maintained our excellent retention rate of 94%.
  • Butterfly Conservation volunteers contributed work worth £9.6 million during the year, equivalent to 698 full-time staff. Our Branches organised over 1,800 educational events across the UK, attended by over 20,000 people.

Full details can be seen in our annual reports, reviews and accounts.