Frequently asked questions

The AGM will take place at 6pm on Thursday 5 December at the Royal Yacht Hotel, in St Helier, Jersey. The official AGM notice, including the meeting agenda can be found here.

The agenda of the AGM will be as follows:  

1. To approve the Minutes of the Fifty Ninth AGM held on 5 October 2023  
2. To approve the Minutes of the 2024 Extraordinary General Meeting held on 2 May 2024  
3. To receive and consider the Annual Report of the Board of Trustees and Accounts for the year end 31 December 2023  
4. To receive and consider the Interim Accounts for period 1 January 2024 to 30 June 2024  
5. To accept the retirement of Trustees  
6. To announce the results of the Election of Trustees  
7. To appoint Grant Thornton as Auditors for the Trust and authorise the Board of Trustees to agree their remuneration  
8. To consider for approval the amendments to the Rules of the Trust  
9. To consider and vote on the resolution submitted by members: “That the Chairman of the Trust must be resident in Jersey, residing in Jersey with immediate effect.”  

The agenda and more information on each topic can be found here.

All those aged 16 and over who hold a valid Durrell membership can attend the AGM. If you would like to register to attend the AGM, you can reserve your ticket here.  

Members must bring their membership card and photographic ID with them to the AGM. If you need to check if your membership is still valid, please contact our Supporter Care team at supportercare@durrell.org or +44 1534 860111. 

It is set out in our Trust rules that only members can attend our Annual General Meetings. Only members who have applied to become a member by 21 November 2024 will be eligible to participate in the Trustee Elections, appoint a proxy or attend the AGM. 

The AGM is available for in-person attendance only. We have, however, submitted a proposed amendment to our Trust rules so that we are able to stream our AGM online in the future. You can read more about this, and other proposed amendments, here.

Members have been sent a letter or email from Civica Election Services, including instructions on how to access the voting system with their unique security codes. 

For the Election of Trustees, members should submit their vote online in advance of the AGM. Votes must be received by 23:59 on 30 November. Members may register 8 votes, being the number of vacancies on the Board of Trustees. More information about the candidates can be found here. 

To register to attend the AGM, members can book here. Registration to attend closes at 6pm on 3 December 2024. 

If you cannot attend the AGM, you can appoint a proxy to vote on your behalf. This is done by registering on the secure online voting platform provided by Civica and must be done by 23:59 on 30 November. Information on how to appoint a proxy can be found here. 

Anyone who is an active member aged 16 and over and has not received an email or a letter from Civica in relation to the AGM, should contact our Supporter Care Team by emailing supportercare@durrell.org or calling +44 1534 860111.

Civica is the UK’s leading independent provider of end-to-end ballot, election and voting services. They are supporting us to deliver a secure voting process for the AGM. They have over 100 years' experience of administering elections, ballots and consultation processes and are the UK's leading provider of election services. 

Members have been sent a letter or email from Civica on behalf of Durrell. This contains a unique code to access Civica’s secure voting platform to vote in the Election of Trustees and to vote by proxy online.  

You can contact Civica on support-cesvotes@civica.co.uk or call 020 8889 9203 if you would like further support in appointing your proxy. 

Anyone who is an active member aged 16 and over and has not received an email or a letter in relation to the AGM, should contact our Supporter Care Team by emailing supportercare@durrell.org or calling +44 1534 860111. 

Only active members aged 16 and over on the date of the AGM are eligible to vote. 

Anyone wanting to check the status of their membership can contact our Supporter Care Team by emailing supportercare@durrell.org or calling +44 1534 860111.  

If you are unable to attend the AGM, you can nominate someone to vote on your behalf by way of proxy. As outlined in our Trust Rules (10.7) we must receive notification of who will be voting on your behalf no less than four days before the AGM and they must be a valid Durrell member. You may also appoint the Chair, who will exercise your vote for the above resolutions as you direct. For this AGM, your proxy must be submitted to us using the online platform provided by Civica Election Services by 23:59 on 30 November.  

Members are being asked to vote (i) for the candidates they wish to join our Board of Trustees and (ii) in respect of the matters noted in the agenda of the AGM, including a Members’ Resolution. 

You can find more information about those who have nominated themselves to be a Trustee here, details of the matters noted in the agenda of the AGM here and the Members’ Resolution here.

The Trustees remaining on the Board are Richard Daggett (Law), Gillian Arthur (Human Resources), Gerald Voisin (Commercial), and Lee Durrell as Honorary Director. 

As per point 5 on the Agenda: 

"Simon Dickson and Jonas Muller have resigned since the 2023 AGM, and James Cretney is standing down from the Board with effect from the end of the 2024 AGM.” 

“Niall Husbands ceases to be a Co-Opted Trustee and stands for election to the Board (Rule 13).” 

“Gary Clark has reached the end of his second term (Rule 14(1)) and has put himself forward for a third term of office, which was unanimously approved by the Board of Trustees in advance of the AGM (Rule 14(2)). The Board of Trustees considers that, as only one other Trustee apart from Gary Clark has been in office for longer than three years, it is important for Mr Clark to stand again to ensure the Board retains his organisational memory.” 

“Matthew Hatchwell and Sarah Cook have reached the end of their first term (Rule 14(1)) and are eligible for reelection (Rule 14(2)).” 

The skills and expertise that the Board is looking for in the five advertised Trustee positions are: 

• Conservation Science and Training 

• Corporate Governance and Investment 

• Fundraising and Philanthropy  

• Professional Directorship 

• Zoo Management 

We are looking to re-elect Trustees with expertise in the following fields: 

• Finance and Accounting 

• Wildlife Conservation  

• Communications and Marketing 

We have created a dedicated webpage for our AGM. This hosts information such as the AGM Agenda, 2023 AGM Minutes, Trustee candidates, Members’ Resolution, how to cast your vote, how to register to attend, and more.  

If you cannot find the information you need on our website, you can also contact our Supporter Care team with your questions by emailing supportercare@durrell.org or calling +44 1534 860111.

Members aged 16 and over do not need to attend the AGM to vote. If you are not attending the AGM but wish to vote on the matters noted in the agenda, you can appoint a proxy as detailed above. Votes in respect of the Trustee Election must be cast by members in advance of the AGM, whether they are attending the AGM or not. 

More information about how to participate can be found here. 

All votes for the Election of Trustees must be submitted online. If you are unable to access a computer or would like support, you can visit our team at the Jersey Zoo Visitor Centre and we can help you access the system and cast your vote but please bring your email or letter from Civica Election Services. 

All other votes can be made in person at the AGM. Find out more about how to participate here. 

Durrell members aged 16 and over are eligible to vote. All eligible members will be contacted by Civica Election Services, the UK’s leading independent provider of end-to-end ballot, election and voting services. Communication has been sent either via post or email, depending on what records we hold for you on file. Please check your email junk folder if you can't find your email.

If you are a Durrell member who is eligible to vote and have not yet received your ballot papers, please contact our Supporter Care team at supportercare@durrell.org or +44 1534 860111. 

Trustees are elected by Durrell members. Following a skills audit of the Board of Trustees to determine the areas of expertise required to best complement the existing Trustees, recruitment for new Trustees began in July, with applications due by 16 August. When recruiting new Trustees, in addition to governance experience, the Board was looking for individuals with a breadth of experience across multiple organisations, which provides insight into best practice across an entire sector.  

This year, we received an unprecedented number of applications to join Durrell’s Board, with an extremely high standard of candidates putting their names forward. For this AGM, we enlisted the support of an independent HR recruitment company with experience in conservation and with non-profit organisations. Their role was to conduct an independent review of all applicants and a first round of interviews. The firm is UK based with a global presence, so well positioned to review candidates and their fit for Durrell. Applicants were then interviewed by Durrell’s Governance Committee. The final candidates being recommended were decided by the Board with advice from the Governance Committee, as required by the Trust’s rules.   

The Governance Committee has recommended eight of the nominees who they believe are the best candidates for the Board. This includes recommending the re-election of Matthew Hatchwell, Gary Clark and Sarah Cook, who have reached the end of their respective terms. All recommended candidates’ personal statements are accompanied by a statement from the Governance Committee explaining their reasonings for recommendation.   

With only five new positions available, not all applicants could be recommended. Candidates who did not make it through the selection process were given the option to self-nominate and still stand for election. 

Just under half (44%) of all candidates were interviewed by our independent third-party advisor and a quarter (23%) by the Governance Committee. The one in eight candidates (13%) who made it through to the recommended list were selected because their skills and experience aligned best with the advertised Trustee role descriptions.Voting does not take place at the AGM for new Trustees. All votes must be submitted in advance by 23:59 on Saturday 30 November via Civica’s secure online voting platform and the results will be read out and noted at the AGM. 

Find out more about how to participate here.

Our Trust rules (10.8) state that all votes for Trustees must be “received not less than four days prior to the date of the Annual General Meeting”. All Trustee votes therefore need to be received by 23:59 on 30 November. 

At the AGM on 5 December 2024, the total number of votes for each candidate will be announced and those with the most votes will be elected to the Board. A follow-up communication will be sent to all members after the AGM to confirm who was successfully nominated onto the Board.  

Durrell members are able to put forward items of business for discussion at our AGMs. Such items of business must be put forward by six or more members. 

You can find out more about the Members’ Resolution that has been proposed in respect of this AGM here.

All items of business for discussion need to be submitted to the Trust’s offices at least 60 days prior to the AGM. The deadline for this AGM has now passed.