Charities with surplus funds often make investments to increase their income.
Under the Trustee Act, most trustees are able to invest in almost anything regarded under trust law as an investment. There are some restrictions on investment in land purchased and developed with a view to sale and works of arts or commodities such as gold or vintage wine, acquired with a view to resale in the future at a profit. The purchase and sale of such items will usually be viewed as trading.
When managing a charity’s investments, trustees must act to certain standards spelled out in the Trustee Act. These include a general duty of care, consideration of the suitability for their charity of any investment, allowing for diversification of investments, regular reviews of investments, and the use of specialist advice on investments.
The Charity Commission’s guidance on investments, known as CC14, was last updated in 2003 and so the Commission instigated a new review in 2009. Many charities feel the sections on ethical investments particularly needs to be rewritten, to make it more permissable for charities to choose or exclude certain investments that support or hinder their cause.
Many of the proposals put forward in the umbrella bodies' manifestos are sound and could make a lot of difference, says Daniel Phelan
With charities hungry for income, James Thornton assesses the attractions of commercial property.
Consultants pay lip service to global asset allocation but, in practice, constrain managers who want to do it, says Andrew Dalton.
With rock-bottom interest rates here for a while, cash needs another home before inflation eats away its value, says Richard Hyder
Identifying your own charity’s needs and investing to achieve that is key, argues James Codrington.
Charles Maisey argues the case for reviewing whether your investments are meeting your needs.
Hedge funds are going mainstream as UCITS III funds, say Jeremy Smouha and Charles Smyth-Osborne.
Harry Wulfsohn examines the role of the absolute return approach in charity portfolios.
With the immediate shock of the credit crisis receding, charity investors are taking stock of the damage and working on recovery plans, says Heather Lamont.
Jamie Korner reviews the outlook for the return of inflation and the implications for investment strategy.
The Bridges Sustainable Property fund is to invest £5m in care sector specialist developer Castleoak.
Euclid is to hold a meeting on the formation of a European Bank for Social Investments (EBSI) in April.
Community transport organisation HCT Group has teamed up with Bridges Ventures to design a new financial instrument for the sector that allows returns to investors to rise or fall in line with the organisation’s revenues and social impact.
The loan book of the Social Investment Business should be sold and the proceeds passed to the new Social Investment Wholesale Bank, according to NCVO chief executive Stuart Etherington.
Stuart Etherington argues that civil society needs a strategic market maker to drive social investment’s growth as a funding stream.
With Futurebuilders now closed to new applicants, Malcolm Hayday says its loan book should be handed on to maximise future social investment.
Campaigning charities FairPensions and WWF have joined a coalition which is lobbying oil giants BP and Royal Dutch Shell over their investments in environmentally controversial oil sands developments.
The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust has sold its £1.9m stake in FTSE100 mining company Vedanta, just days after the Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board sold their shares in the company worth £3.8m.
The Parks Trust, a charity that looks after Milton Keynes’ parks and green spaces, has taken out a £30m loan to buy further commercial property in the city.
I was watching Dave one evening last week (as you do) when the 2007 episode of Dragons Den featuring social entrepreneur Paige Allen came on. I’d not seen it before so I watched with interest.
The Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board have sold their shares worth £3.8m in controversial mining company Vedanta on the advice of the Church’s Ethical Investment Advisory Group.
The Church of England has lost £40m from a failed investment in two New York apartment complexes, Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, which collapsed after the US property bubble burst.
The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee, as expected, left interest rates on hold at 0.5 per cent at its January meeting and deferred its decision on whether to expand the asset purchase programme until next month.
Investors will not much mourn the passing of the last decade, says Guy Davies.
With social investment high on government’s agenda, frameworks and toolkits for measuring returns are becoming increasingly important, says Vibeka Mair.
A Dutch foundation that funds culture, heritage and nature conservation has become the first charitable foundation in Europe to appoint a fiduciary management firm to oversee the management of all its assets, liabilities, investments and risks.
The Social Investment Business is closing the Futurebuilders Fund to new applicants following a big rise in demand for finance from sector organisations.
Charities which lost deposits following the 2008 collapse of Icelandic bank Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander could recover up to 70 per cent of funds over the next couple of years, according to Dominic Sullivan, Cats Protection’s director of legal services.
Charles Mesquita has confirmed that he has joined Newton Investment Management as a director.
The Wellcome Trust’s investment portfolio gained 5 per cent during the year to September 2009, adding £580m to its asset base.
