A surge in memberships and donations resulted in total income at the conservation charity WWF-UK increasing by more than £14m last year, new figures show.
Total income rose to £80.8m in the year to 30 June 2020, according to the charity’s latest accounts.
This was driven mostly by income from individuals, which increased by more than £7m year on year to £42.2m.
The number of people who gave by direct debit jumped from 415,000 to 451,000 over the course of the year, WWF-UK said.
The charity also cited two emergency appeals in response to last year’s wildfires in Australia and the Amazon rainforest, which raised more than £4m.
It is the third year in a row the charity has reported a rise in income, up from £67.6m in 2017/18.
Income from lottery promotions in 2019/20 increased by more than £3m compared with the previous year, up to £4.3m.
Legacy income was up by £2m to almost £17m, including a £4.2m legacy from a family trust, the second-biggest such gift the charity has received.
Expenditure rose by more than £10m to £78m, leaving the charity with a surplus of almost £3m.
The total number of full-time employees at the charity increased by 25 over the course of the year to 346, and the number of staff whose pay exceeded £60,000 a year went up from 30 to 36.
But chief executive Tanya Steele’s pay fell slightly, to just under £140,000.
In her foreword to the accounts, Steele said the level of income generated in the accounts was above the level the charity had budgeted for.
“This helped us to increase our charitable spend by £5m,” she said.
“The extra income has enabled us to adapt our future plans, which have also been adjusted to take account of activities that had to be postponed owing to the coronavirus outbreak.”