Will and Kate set up charitable gift fund for royal wedding

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Will and Kate set up charitable gift fund for royal wedding 1

Fundraising | Niki May Young | 17 Mar 2011

Three community foundations feature in a list of 24 beneficiaries chosen by Prince William and Catherine Middleton for a charitable gift fund launched ahead of their April wedding.

In what is described by Clarence House as a "royal first" the couple have personally chosen charities to benefit from goodwill for their marriage by launching a website for members of the public to donate to charity as a wedding gift.

Royalweddingcharityfund.org groups the charities, none of which are currently linked to the pair, into five themes: changing lives through arts and sports; children fulfilling their potential; help and care at home; support for service personnel and their families; and conservation for future generations.

Berkshire Community Foundation, the Scottish Community Foundation and the Community Foundation in Wales are listed within the help and care at home category.

Stephen Hammersley, chief executive of the Community Foundation Network expressed delight that three community foundations, which make targeted investments in community-based charities, were on the list, adding that the couple's actions could prove inspirational:

"I hope that their leadership and vision will encourage people to actively support organisations striving to make a difference to their local community or wider society. It is exciting evidence of a developing culture of responsibility in the UK," he said.

Beatbullying, which is will also benefit from the fund has already earmarked funds for increasing support to victims of bullying and their families, and to expand its social networking site for peer mentoring www.cybermentors.org.uk.

Emma-Jane Cross, Beatbullying chief executive said: "Beatbullying is delighted to be working with the Charitable Gift Fund. We hope this partnership will help Beatbullying's message resonate worldwide."

Funds will be held by the Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry and trustees will take the donors preferences into consideration in making final decisions on distribution.

The full list of charities is as follows:

Children fulfilling their potential

IntoUniversity

Beatbullying

Keyfund

Venture Trust

A National Voice

Support for services personnel and their families

Australia, Canada and New Zealand

Cruse Bereavement Care

Army Widows' Association

Benevolent Funds

Combat Stress

Changing lives through arts and sport

PeacePlayers International - Northern Ireland

Ocean Youth Trust UK

Greenhouse Charity

Oily Cart Company

Dance United: Lives Transformed Through Dance

Help and care at home

Association for Children's Palliative Care (ACT)

Berkshire Community Foundation

Youth Access

Scottish Community Foundation

The Community Foundation in Wales

Conservation for future generations

African forest elephant and Asian elephant - ZSL

Black rhino and greater one-horned rhine - ZSL

Earthwatch

Sumatran tiger, Indian tiger and Amur tiger - ZSL

Directory: Beatbullying

Place a comment

Gareth Morgan
Professor of Charity Studies
Sheffield Hallam University
18 Mar 2011

I think it is excellent that Will & Kate are asking for donations to charity as wedding presents. I hope other couples may follow this example.

However, anyone making a donation is asked to tick that they accept the terms and conditions which run to over 5000 words! Is this a record?

I see donations are being channelled through the Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry (FOPWPH) (regd charity 1132048 - no accounts filed as yet). Some of the conditions are clearly needed - but I have never seen another charity set conditions of this length for donations! It's hardly an encouragement to voluntary giving.

Also it is disappointing to see that the FOPWPH isn't a member of FRSB even though it is clearly a charity involved in a large public appeal. This is just the sort of charity where the FRSB tick would be really valuable.

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