National Trust for Scotland

Description

The National Trust for Scotland is an independent conservation charity that protects, cares for, shares and speaks up for Scotland’s heritage.

It was established in 1931 and is Scotland’s largest membership organisation, with over 330,000 members. It cares for ancient houses, castles, battlefields, mills, gardens, coastlines, islands and mountain ranges, including well-known sites such as Culzean Castle, Glencoe, St Kilda, Culloden and Bannockburn. Special legislation gives it the power to hold land inalienably and to make legally binding conservation agreements protecting places it does not own.

The Trust welcomes around 3 million visitors a year to its properties and runs outreach and learning programmes for schools and communities, reaching around 30,000 school children annually. It offers free services to schools in areas of deprivation. It is governed by a Board of Trustees, most of them elected by its members, and relies on staff and volunteers to run its sites.

It works internationally through the National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA and through partner organisations such as the National Trust covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is independent of government and funded largely by membership subscriptions, commercial activities, investments and property income.