Overall GiG Score: 22 ?
Finance Score: 5
Governance Score: 5
Support Score: 12
  • Strong growth: +2
  • Fundraising costs low: +3
  • 12+ Trustees: -1
  • Good trustee age range: +3
  • Gender balanced board: +3
  • Award winner
  • Grant maker support: +12

CLIENTEARTH 

Overview

ClientEarth use legal expertise to strengthen and defend laws that protect people and the planet. A team of more than 200 people working in offices around the world bring together a range of legal expertise covering environmental, human rights, company, and financial law.

They choose strategic targets and actions that set powerful precedents whether it be taking on governments, holding businesses to account or changing financial markets. They work where the greatest impact is possible and go after the worst-offending institutions and industries with major successes including accelerated closure of coal plants in Poland and halting false advertising deemed greenwashing in the UK. Their programmes continue to build in Asia that challenge existing and new fossil fuel infrastructure while training legal professionals in implementation of new environmental laws.

Source: Giving is Great

Mission:

Using the power of law to bring about systemic change that protects life on earth
Analysis by Giving is Great

Positives:

  • The charity has received backing from multiple prominent grant makers recently
  • This charity is a recent Award Winner
  • There has been strong growth in spending over the last 5 years
  • There have been no material income shortfalls in recent years
  • Fundraising costs are low relative to funds raised
  • The Board appears to be well diversified in terms of age and gender

Regulatory & Governance issues to consider:

  • There are 14 trustees whereas the Charities Commission recommends a maximum of 12
Established: 28 years
(30 years as a company)

www.clientearth.org

info@clientearth.org

02077495970

Charity Commission for England and WalesCompanies HouseFacebookInstagramXYouTube
UN SDGs
?
How you can help

Financial Data ?

Income & Spending ?
Sources of Income ?
Y/E Income
£k
Spending
£k
Surplus/
Deficit
Fundraising
Cost £k
Total
Funds £k
Unrestricted
Funds £k
Mths
Rsrvs
Staff Volun-
teers
31/12/22£30,945£28,127£2,818£2,792£36,044£22,6509.72600
31/12/21£28,321£21,636£6,685£1,978£33,370£20,16011.22230
31/12/20£20,791£16,850£3,940£1,169£26,045£17,90112.72000
31/12/19£29,489£14,198£15,290£814£20,882£15,71913.31460
31/12/18£11,212£11,173£40£626£5,592£97411320
31/12/17£11,429£8,941£2,487£780£5,552£1,2681.71030
31/12/16£7,312£7,353£-41£318£3,065£9311.5830
31/12/15£6,654£5,197£1,457£318£3,106£5681.3720
31/12/14£4,746£3,812£933£195£1,649£2720.9540
31/12/13£4,046£3,811£235£189£716£1050.3520
31/12/12£3,276£3,172£104£190£481£1020.4430
31/12/11*£2,624£2,483£142£231£376£1490.7370
31/12/10£1,639£1,796£-156£97£234£1200.8250
31/12/09£885£737£147£17£391£1332.290
31/12/08?£447£346£101£0£0£0n/a00
31/03/07*£68£26£42£0£0£0n/a00
31/03/06*£0£0£0n/an/an/an/an/a0
31/03/05*£0£0£0n/an/an/an/an/a0
31/03/04*£0£0£0£0£0£0NAN00

Financial Ratios
Fundraising Costs/Relevant Income: 9.5%
Fundraising Costs/Total Spending: 9.9%
Senior Staff Costs/Total Spending: 16%
Highest pay band: £200,000-£250,000
Liabilities/Assets: 12%
Liabilities/Income: 16%
Unrestricted Funds/Total Funds: 63%
Reserves/Spending: 9.7 months
Net Current Assets/Spending: 10 months
Quick Ratio: 5.7
Asset Split ?
What it does
  • Environment/Conservation/Heritage
  • Human Rights/Religious Or Racial Harmony/Equality Or Diversity
ClientEarth apply their expertise in EU law, international law, common, and civil law to combat climate change and pollution, secure people's environmental rights and protect and restore habitats, wildlife and natural resources. They do this by driving strong action from governments; shifting financial flow; changing markets, trade and business practices; and empowering citizens and communities.
Who works here?
  • 260 employees
Who it helps
  • Other Charities Or Voluntary Bodies
  • The General Public/Mankind
How it operates
  • Other charitable activities
  • Provides advocacy/advice/information
  • Sponsors or undertakes research
Where it operates
  • Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Poland, Spain, Throughout England And Wales,

Who's supporting them? ?

Awards received
  • Charity Times 2017 Awards Charity of the Year, income > £5m
Donations from Grant Makers ?

We have details on the following significant donations. Multi-year donations are allocated to the years for which they are earmarked.

Major supporters in last 5 years
Greenwood Place£650,000
Esmee Fairbairn£575,000
Samworth Foundation£300,000
Mark Leonard Trust£133,334
Specific Donations
Amount When
Months
To be used for
Esmee Fairbairn - Grant to ClientEarth
£25,000 27/02/2023
Towards unrestricted core costs as a Cost of Living Uplift
Greenwood Place - Grant to ClientEarth
£150,000 01/12/2022
Unrestricted funding
Greenwood Place - Grant to ClientEarth
£50,000 01/08/2022
Unrestricted funding
Brian Mercer Trust - Grant to Client Earth
£25,000 13/04/2022
Funding legal cases regarding climate change
Greenwood Place - Grant to ClientEarth
£50,000 29/03/2022
Unrestricted funding
Greenwood Place - Grant to ClientEarth
£150,000 01/12/2021
Unrestricted funding
John Ellerman Foundation - Funds will be used to support ClientEarth's UK Clean Air Programme, covering staff costs, activity costs and overheads (indirect costs).
£100,000 29/07/2021
24
Funds will be used to support ClientEarth's UK Clean Air Programme, covering staff costs, activity costs and overheads (indirect costs).
Mark Leonard Trust - To fund a lawyer within the Climate Finance Initiative
£83,334 06/05/2021
To fund a lawyer within the Climate Finance Initiative
Esmee Fairbairn - Grant to ClientEarth
£550,000 15/12/2020
24
Towards core costs to support posts at the organisation working on environmentally focused legal work in the UK
Samworth Foundation - Environment
£300,000 07/12/2020
To fund greater capacity for Client Earth to deliver their work on environmental law and governance in the UK
Greenwood Place - Grant to ClientEarth
£150,000 01/12/2020
Unrestricted funding
CHK Foundation - CHK Discretionary Grant
£25,000 22/10/2020
to further the charitable objects
Greenwood Place - Grant to ClientEarth
£100,000 01/12/2019
Unrestricted funding
Mark Leonard Trust - Pension work and launch innovative and trasnformative pension legal cases
£50,000 01/05/2019
to continue support work on pensions, especially on innovative and transformative pension legal cases.
J J Charitable Trust - Pension work and launch innovative and trasnformative pension legal cases
£50,000 01/05/2019
to continue support work on pensions, especially on innovative and transformative pension legal cases
Friends Provident Foundation - ClientEarth-climate change related risk disclosure and management: consolidation and expansion
£200,000 11/12/2018
Financial stakeholders increasingly recognise that climate change is not simply an environmental issue, but poses significant financial risks for which they have legal duties to consider and ....more
Thirty Percy Foundation - Grant to ClientEarth
£100,000 01/12/2018
Strengthening the environmental and climate change regime in China.
ARCADIA - Wildlife Defence Programme
£3,003,202 01/08/2018
To enforce the laws that protect European wildlife and habitats through targeted litigation and other legal interventions, supported and complemented by strategic advocacy and capacity building with ....more
Trust for London - ClientEarth
£255,000 21/02/2018
36
The funding is to continue its advocacy campaign to put political pressure on key policy-makers to act and clean up the air in London - the city that has the worst air quality in the UK, and for some ....more
Friends Provident Foundation - ClientEarth- Mainstreaming Climate Risk
£100,000 12/12/2017
Financial stakeholders now recognise that climate change is not simply an environmental issue, but it poses financial risks to states, assets, companies and the global economy. The aim of this ....more
John Ellerman Foundation - towards costs of UK clean air work
£100,000 30/11/2017
24
Towards the costs of their UK clean air work,engaging with and holding to account government and local authorities on new air quality plans.
J J Charitable Trust - Company & Financial Project Team
£30,000 24/11/2017
For greater staff capacity at the Company & Financial Project Team, to work on Divest Invest legal strategies with pension funds so that they fulfil their fiduciary obligation to give ....more
Mark Leonard Trust - Company & Financial Project Team
£15,000 08/11/2017
For greater staff capacity at the Company & Financial Project Team, to work on Divest Invest legal strategies with pension funds so that they fulfil their fiduciary obligation to give ....more
Samworth Foundation - Environment & Conservation
£100,000 19/10/2017
24
Using the law to empower the environmental sector: programme funding pot.
Samworth Foundation - Environment & Conservation
£100,000 30/09/2017
Using the law to empower the environmental sector: programme funding pot.
Esmee Fairbairn - Grant to ClientEarth
£1,500,000 12/09/2017
36
Towards core costs in deploying strategic legal interventions to protect the UK environment in the context of Brexit and strengthening the organisation’s growth to institution level.
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, UK Branch - Client Earth
£50,000 23/03/2017
To provide suport for a Brexit Marine and Fisheries lawyer with the aim of contributing to a sustainable, effective fisheries maangement and the protection of marine habitats and species in European ....more
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, UK Branch - Client Earth
£20,000 21/12/2016
To support participation in the Marine CoLABoration in phase two of the initiative (2017-18).
J J Charitable Trust - to defend the UK Climate Change Act
£25,000 25/10/2016
Towards legal costs in defence of the provisions of the Climate Change Act.
Mark Leonard Trust - to defend the UK Climate Change Act
£25,000 12/10/2016
Towards legal costs in defence of the provisions of the Climate Change Act.
Friends Provident Foundation - ClientEarth - Using the law to drive corporate and investor action on climate change
£95,000 13/09/2016
The long-term goal of this project is to establish climate change as a material financial risk under existing laws. Such an innovative concept has become crucial to achieving a resilient economic ....more
Samworth Foundation - Environment & Conservation
£40,000 25/02/2015
24
Contribution towards core costs
Esmee Fairbairn - Grant to ClientEarth
£750,000 12/12/2013
Towards core leadership capacity to increase the number of legal interventions made on behalf of NGOs and individuals, and to help the organisation become more sustainable.
Esmee Fairbairn - Grant to ClientEarth
£465,000 25/03/2010
36
Towards Unrestricted core costs Towards supporting the core costs of legal work that enforces environmental protection standards.
Show more rows

Data sourced from Donors via 360 Giving

How is it governed?

Trustees (14)
Current Trustees appointed
Gender Split

Age Range of Trustees: 44-80
  • BRIAN ENO Appointed: 2012, Occupation: Producer, Musician, Artist
  • SONIA MEDINA GOMEZ Appointed: 2017, Occupation: Executive Director Of Climate Change At Children’S
Legal constitution
  • Charitable company registered in England & Wales on 26/03/1996, number: 1053988
  • Registered at Companies House on 19/10/1993, number: 02863827
Gift Aid
  • Registered with HMRC for Gift Aid
Policies in force
  • Complaints handling
  • Conflicting interests
  • Investment
  • Paying staff
  • Risk management
  • Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
  • Volunteer management
Filing Record
19 returns made; AR11: 0 days late, AR07: 119 days late, AR06: 35 days late, AR05: 275 days late, AR04: 1 days late,
Main office

The Joinery
34 Drayton Park
London
N5 1PB

Objectives

(I)TO PROMOTE AND ENCOURAGE THE ENHANCEMENT, RESTORATION, CONSERVATION AND PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT, INCLUDING THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN HEALTH, FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT; (2)TO ADVANCE THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC IN ALL MATTERS RELATING TO THE LAW, PRACTICE AND ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE IN CONNECTION WITH THE ENVIRONMENT; (3)TO RELIEVE POVERTY THROUGH THE PROVISION OF LEGAL SERVICES TO THOSE WHO CANNOT OTHERWISE AFFORD THEM; (4)TO PROMOTE, ASSIST, UNDERTAKE AND COMMISSION RESEARCH INTO THE LAW, PRACTICE, AND ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE IN CONNECTION WITH THE ENVIRONMENT AND MATTERS RELATING THERETO, INCLUDING THE IMPACT, DIRECT OR INDIRECT, OF ANY HUMAN ACTIVITY ON THE ENVIRONMENT AND TO DISSEMINATE THE USEFUL RESULTS OF SUCH RESEARCH.

Defined Area of Benefit:

NOT DEFINED

Data Sources

Charity Commission for England and Wales
360 Giving
CharityBase

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