The Worgan Trust
Charity 252062
Overview
Summary
The Worgan Trust appears to be a place-based charitable asset-holder whose distinctive contribution is to turn protected rural land and buildings into learning environments. Rather than operating around a tightly defined beneficiary group or single issue, it combines environmental stewardship, educational access and outdoor activity for children and young people, while retaining broad discretion to support other charitable purposes. Its role may therefore sit between conservation, experiential education and local civic infrastructure.
Operational geography
Coverage: Regional
Operational areas:
Evidence and reasoning
Supporting evidence
Remaining uncertainties
- No current evidence identifies a Worgan Trust service site within a Birmingham ward or the supplied City Centre place. Its principal current educational facility, Mount Pleasant School Farm, is on the Birmingham/Worcestershire fringe; available evidence indicates it is outside Birmingham City Council’s boundary.
- The Charity Commission describes the Trust's school-farm beneficiaries as being mostly from the Birmingham Education Authority and a wider area. This supports a material Birmingham-facing reach, but does not identify particular Birmingham wards and should not be treated as evidence of operations in every ward.
- Mount Pleasant School Farm is an independent CIO, although it is funded and materially supported by the Worgan Trust. The available evidence does not quantify the present extent of the Trust's funding, operational control, or the proportion of current visitors from Birmingham.
- The Trust also holds land and supports outdoor activities in Worcestershire and the Wyre Forest. These activities support a regional overall footprint, but do not evidence an operational area within the supplied Birmingham geography.
Additional evidence needed
- The Worgan Trust's latest trustees' report or a current operational statement identifying its present properties, facilities and management arrangements.
- Current booking or visitor-origin data from Mount Pleasant School Farm showing which Birmingham schools are served.
- Authoritative evidence identifying whether Mount Pleasant School Farm is within the supplied Birmingham geography, if a Birmingham-area assignment is required.
Areas of work
- Education/training
- Environment/conservation/heritage
Who they help
- Children/young People
- The General Public/mankind
How they help
- Makes Grants To Organisations
- Provides Buildings/facilities/open Space
Discoveries involving this organisation
The Atlas has not published any Discoveries involving this organisation yet.
Observations
Land and facilities appear to be the Trust’s core operating assets
The Trust appears to create charitable value primarily through stewardship and use of physical assets: protected land, a working farm and a building in the Wyre Forest. Grant-making is permitted, but the described activity suggests that providing places may be at least as central as distributing funds.
Why it matters
This distinguishes the Trust from a conventional grant-maker. Its long-term influence may depend on how accessible, maintained and connected its sites are, as much as on its financial resources.
Show evidence
“The Trust holds land for protection and preservation.”
Source:Organisation“It gives opportunities for outdoor activities for groups of young people using a building in the Wyre Forest.”
Source:Organisation“Makes Grants To Organisations, Provides Buildings/facilities/open Space.”
Source:Charity Commission
The Trust links conservation to direct childhood experience
Its environmental purpose appears to be active rather than solely protective: conserved land is also used to give primary and infant school children experience of a working farm, livestock and outdoor activity.
Why it matters
This suggests the Trust may contribute to environmental understanding through repeated, practical contact with rural places. It occupies a potentially valuable bridge between heritage or conservation organisations and education providers.
Show evidence
“It provides facilities for primary and infant school children mostly from the Birmingham Education Authority and a wider area to visit a working farm with a range of livestock.”
Source:Organisation“The Trust holds land for protection and preservation.”
Source:Organisation“Education/training, Environment/conservation/heritage.”
Source:Charity Commission
Its beneficiary geography may extend beyond its rural sites
The reference to children mostly from the Birmingham Education Authority, alongside a Wyre Forest building, suggests the Trust may connect an urban population with rural settings. The available evidence does not establish how extensive this relationship is, but it may be a defining feature.
Why it matters
If this connection is substantial, the Trust could be an important piece of cross-boundary civic infrastructure: enabling access to outdoor learning for children who may not live near the sites it protects.
Show evidence
“It provides facilities for primary and infant school children mostly from the Birmingham Education Authority and a wider area to visit a working farm with a range of livestock.”
Source:Organisation“It gives opportunities for outdoor activities for groups of young people using a building in the Wyre Forest.”
Source:Organisation
- It is unclear whether the Trust directly delivers visits and activities or makes its facilities available to partner organisations.
- There is no evidence about the scale, frequency, cost or accessibility of participation.
- The relationship between its broad discretionary grant-making object and its described land-based activities is unknown.
Remaining uncertainties
- Annual reports or trustee reports showing beneficiaries, visitor numbers, grants, expenditure and delivery partners.
- Information on site locations, school referral or booking arrangements, accessibility and safeguarding.
- Evidence of how the Trust balances conservation objectives with public and educational use.
Additional evidence needed
Charity Commission profile
Activities
The Trust holds land for protection and preservation. It provides facilities for primary and infant school children mostly from the Birmingham Education Authority and a wider area to visit a working farm with a range of livestock. It gives opportunities for outdoor activities for groups of young people using a building in the Wyre Forest.
Charity objects
TO PAY OR APPLY THE INCOME OF THE TRUST FUND AND SUCH PARTS OF THE CAPITAL THEREOF AS THE TRUSTEES SHALL FROM TIME TO TIME THINK FIT TO OR FOR SUCH CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS OR CHARITABLE PURPOSES AND IN SUCH SHARES AND PROPORTIONS AS THE TRUSTEES IN THEIR ABSOLUTE DISCRETION DETERMINE.