Woodland Heritage is both a registered charity (1041611) and a company limited by guarantee (02938997), so the Trustees of the charity are also directors of the company.

The Trustees normally meet on a quarterly basis, but have delegated some of their functions in-between meetings to a variety of committees covering areas of operations such as communications, membership, events, HR, finance and grants.  Much of the day-to-day work of the charity is delegated to the staff to undertake, led by the Chief Executive.

Woodland Heritage is also the holding company for its wholly-owned trading subsidiary, W H Timber Limited, which runs Whitney Sawmills.  The directors of W H Timber Limited generally meet quarterly, with some of those directors also Trustees of the charity.

As a membership organisation, Woodland Heritage has an Annual General Meeting to which all of its members are invited.  The AGM is held during the charity’s annual Field Weekend (normally in June) and according to the rules laid down in the charity’s Articles of Association.

The Trustees are responsible for Woodland Heritage’s long-term strategy and for making sure that the charity is run according to rules, regulations and guidance provided by the Charity Commission and other regulators.

In addition to external regulations, the Trustees of Woodland Heritage have created a small number of bye-laws and policies to help run its business, to be transparent and to follow best practice.  The bye-laws and some of the policies appear on this website with others appearing in the annual report and accounts, the most recent copies of which can also be found on this website; a small number of other policies exist that can be obtained by e-mailing office@woodlandheritage.org.

An example of best practice is for a charity to disclose whether it carries out any cash collections, whether in the street, house-to-house or at third-party locations, so that donors can feel confident that any cash handed over is to a legitimate cause.  Other than having a single collection box at events that it runs, or on a stand that it takes at events run by others, Woodland Heritage does not undertake any other cash collections.