For more than 65 years, The Conservation Volunteers has been helping people across the UK take practical action for nature, often without fanfare. Yet every week, thousands of volunteers are planting trees, restoring habitats, improving green spaces and strengthening communities through projects that connect people with nature.
That’s exactly the kind of collective action the world needs right now. As communities face the growing challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, poor health and unequal access to nature, TCV’s 2025-30 strategy, Better Nature for All, is focused on a simple but powerful idea: bringing people together to protect and restore local green spaces and create lasting benefits for both people and nature.
TCV Impacts 2025-26
Over the past year, that vision came to life in communities across the UK. Together with volunteers, schools, community groups and corporate partners, TCV delivered almost 12,000 conservation and community activities at more than 1,390 sites. From urban parks and community gardens to woodlands, rivers and nature reserves, people muddied their boots to care for the places that matter most to them.
At the heart of that effort were the volunteers. During 2025/26, nearly 12,000 registered volunteers took practical action for nature, including more than 4,000 regular TCV volunteers and almost 8,000 employees who joined through corporate volunteering programmes. They were joined by more than 106,000 additional participants, including almost 15,000 schoolchildren through nature-based learning and young people through green skills traineeships, and over 10,000 people taking part through community groups.
We know that lasting environmental change happens when local people feel empowered to take action within their own communities. Through training, volunteering, citizen science and community engagement, we continued to inspire people to become active custodians of their local environment. Our TCV Community Network continues to be one of the UK’s largest grassroots environmental movements and during 2025-26, we supported 1,163 Community Network groups.
The launch of our Citizen Science app for TCV’s I Dig Trees programme marks another important milestone in the delivery of the strategy, helping communities record biodiversity and demonstrate the collective impact of local action.
Environmental Impact
The environmental impact across all people involved with TCV in 2025-26 was remarkable. Volunteers planted more than 327,000 trees, created or maintained over 400 ponds, improved rivers and canals, restored meadows, cared for millions of square metres of woodland and helped create new homes for wildlife, many in urban areas. But the story doesn’t end there.
What makes TCV different is that the benefits flow both ways. While communities and wildlife gain more nature-rich green spaces, the people taking part often experience life-changing benefits of their own.
In TCV’s annual volunteer survey, 99% of participants rated their experience as good or excellent. Almost all respondents (97%) said they felt more connected to nature and experienced improved wellbeing, while nine in ten felt more connected to their local community. Volunteers also reported becoming more physically active (88%), visiting local green spaces more often (89%) and developing valuable new skills (96%) through their involvement.
Behind those numbers are thousands of personal stories.
“I would recommend TCV for anybody recovering from mental health issues,” said one volunteer.
Another described their weekly session as “a form of therapy,” while others spoke of finding friendship, purpose and confidence through volunteering.
“An inspiring organisation! The team are so kind and welcoming.”
“As a retired person, TCV volunteering gives structure to my week.”
“I like improving my knowledge of the natural world through practical work.”
These voices are a reminder that nature recovery is about more than habitats and species. It is about people feeling healthier, more connected and more empowered to make a difference where they live.
During 2025/26, we continued to make strong progress against our access and inclusion commitments. 19% of volunteers identified as having a disability, 33% of volunteers came from ethnic minority backgrounds, and 24% of the sites where TCV delivered work and 22% of volunteers live within the UK’s 20% most deprived areas. These aren’t just statistics to us; they demonstrate the importance of ensuring that opportunities to volunteer, develop skills and improve wellbeing through nature are accessible to a broad range of people and communities.
As TCV begins the second year of our Better Nature for All strategy, the message from the first year is clear: when people are given the opportunity to act, extraordinary things happen. From restoring nature and tackling biodiversity challenges to improving wellbeing and strengthening communities, the power of volunteering continues to prove that better nature really can mean a better future for all.
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