If you give to the Heart of England Community Foundation, your money will be used to improve the lives of disadvantaged people in Warwickshire and Coventry, now and in the future. Call Kate on 024 7688 4386 for more information.
High Sheriff's Warwickshire Fund
Many people would like to have a trust fund, but are put off by the cost and red tape. We are happy to establish a fund on your behalf, with cash, legacies, shares, or even gifts of property. You then choose what type of cause you want to support, and we can work with you in identifying good projects, making grants, and collecting feedback. The fund can be invested for quick distribution, or we can make your investment last for many years to come by only distributing the earnings - it’s up to you!
At the start of 2008, the Heart of England Community Foundation managed named funds for 3 local philanthropists. Three of these hold endowed funds worth (collectively) over £250,000. The third, Bedworth-born entrepreneur John F Miller, uses our charity to distribute £100,000 to projects in his native town.
If you want to put something back into the long term future of your neighbourhood in this way, call Kate on 024 7688 4386.
The Heart of England Community Foundation has a ‘general’ fund which pools smaller donations and which currently has over £150,000 - and it’s growing rapidly. As we only make grants from the earnings rather than the capital, it will benefit local people for tens, if not hundreds, of years to come. It is our most flexible source of community support! Call or email us to find out how your contribution would be used.
When you give through the Heart of England Community Foundation, you show your company’s commitment to local causes, and you can have as little or as much help as you like in making awards. We already offer this service to local businesses, including:
Some of these want to decide exactly who benefits from their funds, and others are happy for our independent grants panels to choose groups according to their priorities.
Another way to support Warwickshire projects is to contribute to the High Sheriff’s Warwickshire Fund, which matches donations to themes and areas.
The Heart of England Community Foundation needs to get its message to a wide audience, including the customers and staff of supportive businesses. For example, we have run a charity day with HSBC Bank, and are happy to develop employee involvement schemes with other corporate partners.
We work with financial and legal advisors, providing tailored charity services for private clients. In an increasingly crowded market, this can offer a competitive advantage. We are local, impartial, flexible and experienced both as a grant-maker, and as a service-provider for wealthy, philanthropic individuals. We can invest funds on behalf of your client, or are equally qualified to help them award the income to suitable causes.
Tax Effective Giving on Shares & Property
Companies
Giving shares makes tax sense for companies. Your company can deduct the shares’ value from your profits before corporation tax is calculated. The same applies to gifts of land or property.
Small Businesses
To benefit from corporate tax-relief on your shares or property donation, partners or the self-employed should enter details of the gift on the Income Tax Self Assessment return for the tax year in which the gift was made.
Individuals
Individuals who give shares, property or gifts of land to charity are entitled to claim back full tax relief against the value of those shares. So, a gift of shares worth £1,000 will only cost a higher rate taxpayer £600, or £780 for lower rate taxpayers, which is claimed through your Self-Assessment forms if you are self-employed, or through amending your PAYE code if you are not.
Some of the UK’s largest charities use our services to get their grants into Coventry and Warwickshire. However, the Charity Commission has recently made it easier for us to help small trusts and charities to fulfil their aims.
They have recognised that Community Foundations are in a unique position to help struggling trusts and have empowered us to make their aims more up to date, re-work their objects, handle the administration, offer outreach services or in ultimate cases, transfer assets into a new fund held by our own charity, but with criteria which are in keeping with the original objects (if they are still valid). If desired, this can even be done whilst leaving the portfolio with the original investment agent – a ‘virtual’ transfer.
| Case Study One local fund has found bureaucracy an increasing burden, and in their own words, the Trustees “want to get back to the fun bit”. They have asked us to absorb their charity into our own and to agree with the Charity Commission a way to make their objects more suitable for current needs. They can still select beneficiaries and award grants, but we will deal with the legal and financial aspects. By creating a separate fund within our own charity, we can even ensure their charity’s name lives on, and in time can find new volunteers to help with the grant-making if other family members are unable to take over. |
