Make your charitable giving count this tax year

As a UK taxpayer, could your support help the Woodland Trust advance its ambitious mission to protect nature?

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Near Hawes in the North Yorkshire Dales, Snaizeholme valley remains one of the British red squirrel's last genuine strongholds. The squirrels have lived there since the 1970s, sheltered by the valley's isolation and a grey squirrel exclusion zone monitored by the National Park.

Their future hinges on how much habitat remains. The Woodland Trust aims to raise 4.86 million to expand and restore the Snaizeholme Estate, tripling the red squirrels' available habitat and creating a refuge where they and other endangered species can survive.

The Trust wants to raise the money to acquire another 141 hectares in the Yorkshire Dales. That would expand its current 561-hectare holding and create a refuge for rare species while absorbing large amounts of carbon.

With the tax year drawing to a close, investors may want to consider this natural investment.

Tax efficiency

Charitable donations can bring substantial tax relief in the UK, especially for higher-rate taxpayers. During the 2025/26 tax year, people taxed at 40% or 45% may reclaim the gap between the basic rate and their highest applicable rate, calculated on the donation's gross value.

You can claim this relief on a self-assessment tax return, or call HMRC and ask them to change your tax code. A 45% taxpayer who makes a donation can claim a 25% tax credit based on the donation's gross value.

This approach can make your donation go further while preserving the available tax savings, which makes it an efficient way to fund large-scale conservation. It is not professional financial or legal advice, but it does explain why late March is such a busy period for major charitable gifts.

Act now, before the fiscal year ends, so your capital can support your estate while also protecting the natural world.

Urgent acquisition

Woodland Trust

The Woodland Trust has a chance to buy three strategically important parcels of land in the Snaizeholme valley, two of them large commercial conifer plantations. Time matters: the plantations already shelter the rare red squirrel.

The Trust has planted 290 hectares of new woodland, but those trees will need years to mature. Buying the existing conifer blocks, along with another stretch of open fell, immediately places 140 additional hectares under conservation management - the "missing jigsaw piece" for the valley's wildlife.

The red squirrel anchors the appeal, but the Trust's work reaches well beyond that one species. Restoring the valley gives black grouse - whose numbers have fallen sharply because of habitat loss - a chance to recover. It also creates better nesting conditions for ground-nesting birds such as curlews and supports barn, little, and tawny owls.

The streams are reviving. Rare native white-clawed crayfish already live in the becks, and kingfishers and wading birds are expected to return to the valley soon.

Lasting legacy

Snaizeholme offers high-net-worth individuals a legacy that can outlast their own lives. Through the Woodland Trust, a landscape shaped over 500 years is being restored to something closer to its primordial state.

This is an ambitious project, and it needs donors who see conservation as an investment lasting across generations. Founded in 1972, the Trust has spent decades managing more than 1,000 woods across the country, all open to the public free of charge. That experience gives your donation the backing of an organisation able to care for Snaizeholme over the long term and pursue its 500-year vision.

The tax year and purchase deadline are fast approaching. Make a major gift today to begin a lasting relationship with the Trust and gain the opportunity to take part in future "transformational" projects at the highest level.

Tax rates and regulations can change, so the information below is accurate as of December 2025 only. It is not professional advice on tax, legal, or financial matters. Consult a qualified tax advisor before acting.

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