Getting business giving
Community Foundation for Greater Manchester encourages local businesses to buck the trend of supporting high profile national charities and to give hard cash to deserving local causes. The first 100 businesses to commit to giving at least �5000 a year are awarded founder keyholder status. Comedian and entertainer Steve Coogan was one of the first to sign up: �I am constantly approached by charities to help in one way or another, so it becomes almost impossible to make an intelligent decision about what to support. When I found out about the work of the community foundation, it gave me the solution I was looking for. It�s the community foundation�s job to advise people like me on how to make my giving effective � where my donation will make most difference. As a Mancunian, owing my success to local people, I think it�s really important that local communities receive the support they need, so I want my contribution to stay local.�
Community Foundation for Greater Manchester

Businessman supports young people
The Readman Foundation, a fund at the Community Foundation serving Tyne & Wear and Northumberland, is committed to making grants totalling �150,000 a year for at least ten years, �to help young people in the north east help themselves.�

North East Businessman of the Year Guy Readman OBE explains �Having sold my business in the 1990s, I agreed to set up a fund initially pledging to pay at least �5,000 a year, knowing I might well add to that sum later. Each year, I received a list of projects to help me choose those I wanted to fund and over the next few years I became rather more involved in its development.

�Later I sold a second business. Partly to give me something to do and partly because I had seen how much good a little extra money can do in our society, the idea of setting up a charitable foundation evolved. I looked into running my own charity but after talking to the community foundation, it was obvious that there were huge advantages in setting up my foundation under their umbrella.

�The Readman Foundation would be up and running in a couple of weeks without legal formality and with minimal set up costs. We didn�t need to appoint trustees although we did agree to set up a grants advisory group. The community foundation could actively help with the marketing to ensure a number of high quality projects to select from. They also took on board my ideas about design and promotion but did all the legwork and dealt with all enquiries, sending me helpful reports and comments. If I have less time to devote to the charity in years to come, the community foundation will step in as needed.'
Community Foundation serving Tyne & Wear and Northumberland

Understanding local needs
John Manser CBE DL and his wife Tessa were keen to divert some of their charitable giving to their local communities. Until they were introduced to Wiltshire & Swindon Community Foundation, they had always been faced with the difficult job of deciding which local groups would most benefit from their support. They set up a substantial fund with the community foundation, as they saw this as a simple and effective way of being able to help their community in perpetuity.

�We realised that there are an enormous number of small charities and voluntary groups around the county, dealing with a wide range of issues from disability to homelessness, from young people in isolated areas to the frail elderly. When we talked to the community foundation we realised that they were exactly what we were looking for: a straightforward way of hitting straight to the heart of the key issues affecting people in need around the county. They have the local knowledge needed to understand and identify the specific needs of our local community.
Wiltshire & Swindon Community Foundation

A permanent involvement
Having lived in Wiltshire for almost 20 years, Alice Cleland CBE wanted to 'set something up which would enable our family to have a permanent involvement in the county� but realised that setting up a trust fund would be complicated and time-consuming. 'I wanted my children to be able to continue to have an interest in the fund, and perhaps be able to add to the fund when they are able.�

In 1997 Alice decided to set up the Cleland Family Fund with the Wiltshire & Swindon Community Foundation. �I knew that the community foundation would be best-placed to advise on how the fund should be used, as well as being able to invest it on our behalf, as part of their endowment. There is really no other way of ensuring that our family can support people in greatest need in our local area on a permanent basis, as no other organisation offers both the means of having a permanent fund in our family name, and a real understanding of local issues.�
Wiltshire & Swindon Community Foundation

Meeting immediate local needs
In 1991 local businessman Louis Sherwood chose to use the Greater Bristol Foundation as a means of accomplishing his charitable goals and the partnership has been of mutual benefit over the years. A donor directed fund enables him to target his giving in two different ways: a proportion of the fund is assigned to supporting immediate needs in the community at the discretion of the foundation and the remainder is used to support causes of his own choice.

Louis says: �A donor directed fund offers the best of both worlds. I can rely on the staff�s expertise to distribute funds to the most pressing needs in the community, reaching the smaller, local projects that would be difficult to find out about on my own. Yet I can also instruct them to make donations from my fund to particular local charities that I wish to support. It�s a very convenient and effective arrangement.�
Greater Bristol Foundation (covers Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset)

Sustainable support for community organisations - AXA Fund
The Bristol office of AXA (formerly Sun Life) has been supporting the local community through staff volunteering and fundraising since the 1970s. In 1992 the company decided to set up a named fund with Great Bristol Foundation to get money out to small local charities and voluntary groups who find it hard to compete with larger high profile charities in attracting funding. The AXA Fund is an endowment fund and the income generated is used to make grants, year after year, at the discretion of the foundation.

AXA�s Community Partnerships Manager oversees the fund and finds the arrangement works well:
�The beauty of the arrangement is that the foundation has the expertise and local knowledge to make sure that funds are targeted to the right causes. We want to ensure the help we give is long term and an endowment fund like ours is a lasting source of funds for worthwhile causes in the area.�
Greater Bristol Foundation (covers Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset)

The art of giving - the Vic Penny Fund
Although Vic Penny spent most of his working life helping people with learning difficulties, he had a particular concern for young people, running a youth club for many years. He loved the arts, especially music and the theatre and after his death, it was discovered that he had left everything in his will to give local youngsters the chance to pursue such interests. However his trustees lacked the know-how to put these charitable wishes into effect. Instead they authorised solicitors to hand over the estate to the Hertfordshire Community Foundation to set up a special named fund for this purpose.
Hertfordshire Community Foundation (includes areas of Barnet)

Sharing good fortune with others
Alan Stevenson and his wife Vanessa decided to donate some shares that he originally inherited from his mother. The proceeds were used to set up a charitable fund, named after the Stevenson family, at the Greater Bristol Foundation. As a long-standing Bristol family, the Stevensons wanted their fund to benefit local causes. As Alan says: �This way I can dispose of the shares without paying capital gains tax, and I can offset it against taxed income. It�s win, win really. It gives more money to me and to the charity.'
Greater Bristol Foundation (covers Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset)

Supporting community projects in Sunderland - The Sir Tom Cowie Fund
Sir Tom Cowie was born in Sunderland, starting off in business with a corner shop selling second hand motorcycles and going on to establish the Cowie motor company, a successful nationwide company. But he remained committed to the town of Sunderland and to reinforce this, Sir Tom established a named fund at the Community Foundation serving Tyne & Wear and Northumberland with a gift of shares which is now worth over �1 million. This fund supports a range of innovative grassroots projects, especially organisations for young people with disabilities or who are disadvantaged.
Community Foundation serving Tyne & Wear and Northumberland

Company giving shares
Ringtons Tea, based in Northumberland, gave shares worth �250,000 to the named fund they set up using the Community Foundation serving Tyne & Wear and Northumberland. With the current tax incentives this arrangement made good sense for the company. If the shares had been sold their value would have reduced by almost half, and so less would have been available for donation. Ringtons Tea was therefore able to build up its charitable fund to support local community projects.
Community Foundation serving Tyne & Wear and Northumberland

Hands-on decision-making
The Needham Cooper Charitable Fund is a fund within the Greater Bristol Foundation, set up in 1999 by Joyce Cooper. Joyce had set up a charitable trust with her husband, Bill Needham Cooper, shortly before he died in 1988 and had always channelled some of the trust�s income through the foundation to support a range of smaller, local projects that she would not be able to find out about on her own.

Then in 1999, around the time of her 90th birthday, she decided to reduce the day-to-day administration of her trust and set up the fund within the community foundation. The fund is a working partnership between the foundation and donor, with the foundation suggesting projects that might be of interest to Joyce and providing advice and all the associated administration. Joyce has a clear vision about where the money from her fund should be spent � elderly people who are living in isolation and poverty are high on her list of priorities.

Working with the foundation allows Joyce to retain hands-on decision making about grants to be made from her fund. The arrangement has been an ideal way for her to support local organisations: �It is perfect. I feel that it has consolidated the close personal relationship that we had built up with local groups over time. I am delighted that the local charities we�ve been able to support over the years will still be helped in years to come.�
Greater Bristol Foundation (covers Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset)

Giving shares tax effectively
Swindon entrepreneur Alastair Muir and his wife set up the Alastair and Lindsey Muir Fund with the Wiltshire & Swindon Community Foundation. 'We feel it’s the best way to regularly help grass roots groups and charities in the countyin which we live,' explains Alastair.

Alastair is an active investor who regularly donates shares. In 2000 he donated 1,500 shares worth �4,500. As Alastair had acquired the shares through a bonus scheme, the full �4,500 could have counted as capital gain which would attract 40% tax. If he had simply sold the shares, the tax bill would have amounted to �1,800.

With advice from foundation staff, Alastair escaped both capital gains tax and dealing fees by giving the shares to charity and was able to deduct �4,500 from his taxable income for that year. Therefore the overall tax he saved was �3,600, meaning the donation effectively cost him just �900.
Wiltshire & Swindon Community Foundation

An attractive alternative
Solicitor Peter Leach of Blackett Hart and Pratt helped clients establish the Wright-Funk Fund with County Durham Foundation. �My clients wanted to commemorate their mothers by setting up a fund from money they�d received from a legacy. They wish to help people keep their families together, support those in difficulty and help young people in care within County Durham and Darlington.�

County Durham Foundation offered an attractive alternative to the expense and administrative burden associated with setting up a private trust. �My clients are very happy with their choice as they are involved in all stages of the decision making process. They have worked with foundation staff to give four grants including support for a family�s travel expenses to send their daughter with cerebral palsy to a specialist school� explains Peter.
County Durham Foundation (includes Darlington)

Making services more efficient
Panasonic UK Ltd have been patrons of the Berkshire Community Foundation since 1992. 'We particularly like the flexibility that the foundation offers us as a donor company. For example we earmarked a major donation to train people working in the voluntary sector, helping them to deliver better, more efficient services. We appreciate the fact that groups supported by the foundation are local to us and we feel that working in partnership with the foundation enables to have a more significant and targeted impact on our community.'
Berkshire Community Foundation

Keeping in touch with community
Commercial lawyers Robert Muckle's involvement with the Community Foundation serving Tyne & Wear and Northumberland helps keep them in touch with the wider north east community. Recently the partners provided �100,000 to create the Robert Muckle Fund at the foundation. A committee within the fund meets quarterly to allocate the grants. They acknowledge 'the invaluable help we have had from the foundation in setting up our charitable fund.'
Community Foundation serving Tyne & Wear and Northumberland

Working with financial advisers
Brian Hughes of Sherwood Financial Planners Ltd helped a client wanting to set up her own grant-making charity for elderly people in her local area, Welwyn Garden City. Brian knew this would be expensive and difficult to manage so suggested she set up a named fund with Hertfordshire Community Foundation. Four years on, the capital is building up and is being used exactly as the client hoped. 'By helping clients with their charitable giving, financial advisers can forge stronger relationships and of course enjoy the satisfaction of helping investment in the local community.'
Hertfordshire Community Foundation (includes areas of Barnet)

Proactive involvement
When Robert Bartella, hotelier and owner of the Heritage Leisure Group, approached his solicitor, Graeme Atkinson of Wortley Redmayne Kershaw, to set up a charitable trust, Graeme recognised that the service offered by Essex Community foundation offered the family a more proactive involvement and directed them there. They have now set up a �100,000 endowed family fund to support children in need in Chelmsford, further boosted by proceeds from the sale of Robert's book for children, Peter the Pelican.
Essex Community Foundation

Family firm committed to county
Gray & Sons (Chelmsford) Ltd is a family-owned chain of pubs committed to Essex who decided to donate through the Essex Community Foundation. 'Our interests are throughout Essex and it is impossible for us to know how we cn best help the many deserving lcoal charities,' explains Nicola Kitchener. 'We like the way our donation is pooled with others in the community foundation and has a greater impact, benefiting so many more people than we could do alone.'
Essex Community Foundation

A fantastic opportunity
XIST4, a technical recruitment consultancy in Bristol, wanted an avenue by which to contribute to their local community. 'Greater Bristol Foundation came across as a fantastic opportunity for us to do this. We live in Bristol, we work in Bristol and we wanted to give something back. This was the best chance for us to do so and see what effects our contributions can have in the wider community.'
Greater Bristol Foundation (covers Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset)

Caring for employees
Avon Rubber likes to be be involved in deciding whom their fund at Wiltshire & Swindon Community Foundation should support. It often chooses groups that tackle issues relevent to current and past employees so when Carers Support West Wilts needed �3,000 to help run their group, Avon Rubber were happy to help.
Wiltshire & Swindon Community Foundation

Rolls Royce helping Derbyshire
Rolls Royce has a named fund at Derbyshire Community Foundation. In 2003, �1500 went to Derbyshire Children's Holiday Centre, which runs activities for disadvantaged families in the county, one of seven grants made from this fund.
Derbyshire Community Foundation