What Butterfly Conservation does

Butterfly Conservation is a UK-registered charity founded in 1968 and headquartered in Wareham, Dorset, with regional offices in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Its mission is the conservation of butterflies, moths, and their habitats across the British Isles, delivered through 29+ nature reserves, 32 volunteer-run local branches, and a membership base of more than 40,000 individuals. The charity self-describes as the world's largest insect conservation organisation and employs world-class conservation scientists, with Sir David Attenborough as President and Chris Packham CBE as strategy ambassador for the 2021-2026 plan. A wholly-owned subsidiary, Butterfly Conservation Trading Ltd, handles trading activities such as online retail and donation processing.

Name

Butterfly Conservation

Legal name

Butterfly Conservation

Website

https://butterfly-conservation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1968

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Butterfly Conservation is a UK charity founded in 1968 that conserves butterflies, moths, and their habitats through 29+ nature reserves, 32 volunteer branches, and 40,000+ members, operating the world's largest insect monitoring dataset and citizen-science programmes.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Wildlife Conservation Services

NAICS

Environment, Conservation and Wildlife Organizations (813312), Nature Parks and Other Similar Institutions (71219)

akta.pro primary industry

Biodiversity & Habitat Conservation (BPAGAGAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Wildlife Conservation & Species Protection (BPAGAGAB), Conservation Parks & Private Nature Reserves (Visitor Operations) (THAAAFAB), Wildlife, Biodiversity & Habitat Conservation Administration (BPAIAMAG), Wildlife Viewing & Birdwatching Tours (THAAAEAB)

Keywords

• Butterfly conservation
• Wildlife habitat management
• Citizen science monitoring
• Nature reserve management
• Moth species protection

Headquarters

HQ city

Wareham

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Membership Subscriptions: Annual and monthly membership fees (single, joint, family, and Benefactor tiers) providing recurring revenue. Members receive Butterfly Magazine twice yearly, a welcome pack, and access to local branch events.
2. Donations and Appeals: One-time and recurring donations from supporters, including in-memory gifts, collected via the website and fundraising appeals.
3. Weekly Butterfly Lottery: A weekly lottery game offering prizes up to £10,000, providing a fun fundraising mechanism for supporters.
4. Affiliate Shop Commissions: Affiliate commissions from sales through partner storefronts (NHBS for books/equipment, Teemill for clothing, British Flora for wildflowers). Butterfly Conservation receives a percentage of each sale — NHBS contributes 10% per moth trap sale.
5. Legacies (Gifts in Wills): Bequests and legacy gifts left in supporters' Wills, providing long-term philanthropic funding for the charity.
6. Fundraising Events: Revenue from supporter-organised fundraising events, challenge events, and community fundraising activities.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Butterfly Conservation is a UK charitable organization that conserves butterflies, moths, and their habitats through scientific monitoring, habitat management across a network of nature reserves, and public engagement via citizen science programmes such as the Big Butterfly Count. It operates recording schemes, identification tools, and events through 32 volunteer-led branches, while funding its work primarily through memberships, donations, legacies, and affiliate retail partnerships.

Product overview

Butterfly Conservation operates primarily as a conservation charity rather than a technology company, offering a portfolio of citizen science platforms, identification tools, and membership services. The core digital products include the Big Butterfly Count annual citizen science initiative (with dedicated mobile app), online butterfly and moth identification tools with search/filter capabilities, and the Butterflies for the New Millennium recording scheme. Supporting offerings include membership with Butterfly Magazine, a network of nature reserves, events programmes, the Wild Spaces campaign, an online shop through affiliate partners, and a weekly lottery. The organization runs the UK's largest insect conservation operation with 32 volunteer branches, supported by world-class conservation scientists.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Big Butterfly Count: Annual citizen science project encouraging the public to count butterflies between 17 July and 9 August, with a free mobile app for recording sightings
• Butterfly Magazine
• All Aflutter
• Wild Spaces
• iRecord Butterflies

Quantifiable outcome

• 80% of UK butterfly species have declined in abundance, distribution, or both since 1976
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Biffa UKcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 July 2026Waste management firm Biffa UK partnered with Butterfly Conservation to restore Brookhurst Wood, a former landfill near Horsham in West Sussex, into 35 acres of wildflower grassland supporting three endangered butterfly species (Grizzled Skipper, Dingy Skipper, Small Heath) and 26 butterfly species total. The site serves as a model for converting former landfill areas into wildlife habitat and Biodiversity Net Gain units for developers under English law requiring 10% biodiversity increase. The partnership demonstrates Butterfly Conservation's ability to generate Biodiversity Net Gain units through habitat restoration on degraded land.
• PEACEPLUS NaturecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 April 2026Butterfly Conservation joined the €20.8 million major cross-border nature restoration project 'PEACEPLUS Nature', helping wildlife on the island of Ireland. This is a massive new scheme involving cross-border collaboration across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, representing one of the charity's most significant landscape-scale conservation partnerships.
• British FloraminorGTM or Marketing PartnerButterfly Conservation partners with British Flora to offer a curated collection of native perennial wildflowers on the Butterfly Conservation shop. For every order placed through this link, British Flora makes a donation to Butterfly Conservation, supporting the charity's conservation work.
• NHBSminorGTM or Marketing PartnerNHBS (Northern Huntinghamshire Bird Service) operates as an affiliate partner, offering butterfly and moth ID guides, equipment, books, and more. Butterfly Conservation receives a percentage of every sale made through its affiliate link. NHBS also manufactures the Butterfly Conservation-approved moth trap, with 10% of each trap sale going to fund Butterfly Conservation's work.
• TeemillminorGTM or Marketing PartnerTeemill provides an ethical clothing range on behalf of Butterfly Conservation, offering butterfly and moth print T-shirts, hoodies, kids' clothing, and accessories. The storefront is managed through Butterfly Conservation's branded Teemill site.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• The Wildlife Trusts: Federated UK conservation charity of 46 independent wildlife trusts managing nature reserves, running citizen science, and advocating for biodiversity - the closest peer by mission, volunteer-branch structure, and reserve portfolio.
• Buglife: UK charity dedicated to the conservation of invertebrates, directly competing in the same invertebrate-conservation niche with overlapping citizen science, policy advocacy, and habitat restoration activities.
• RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds): UK's largest single-species conservation charity with over 1 million members, citizen science (Big Garden Birdwatch), and significant reserves. Comparable in operating model, fundraising scale, and policy advocacy focus.
• Woodland Trust: UK conservation charity protecting woodland habitats, with large membership base, nature reserves, and citizen science engagement - a direct peer in habitat-focused conservation charity operations.
• Bat Conservation Trust: UK charity focused on bat conservation, with a similar national-recording-scheme model, volunteer network, and species-specific advocacy comparable to Butterfly Conservation's moth-recording approach.
• People's Trust for Endangered Species: UK charity focused on endangered species conservation, including mammal reintroductions and habitat surveys - a direct peer in species recovery and citizen science operations.

Broad incumbents

• National Trust: Much larger UK conservation charity and landowner (5+ million members) managing heritage and natural sites, with broader scope but overlapping nature reserve and public engagement functions.
• WWF-UK: UK arm of a major international conservation organization, focused on broader biodiversity and climate issues - overlapping in advocacy and corporate partnerships but at greater scale and wider scope.

Emerging players

• Froglife: Smaller UK charity focused on amphibian and reptile conservation, with reserve management and citizen science - comparable niche species-conservation model but at smaller scale.

Regional players

• Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation: US-based nonprofit dedicated to invertebrate conservation including pollinators, with citizen science and habitat programs - the closest international peer in mission, though operating in a different geography.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/savebutterflies
• Facebookfacebook.com/savebutterflies
• Instagraminstagram.com/savebutterflies
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/butterfly-conservation

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Butterfly Conservation