Birmingham-based fundraising charity the Joseph Foote Trust is to merge into Brain Tumour UK on 1 April, combining the fundraising expertise of the Trust with the service provision of the national charity.

Brain Tumour UK’s work spans three areas: funding research, raising awareness and providing support. It had an income of £1.25m in 2011, a figure which has been rising steadily since 2008.

The Joseph Foote Trust was set up by Andy Foote in 2005 in memory of his son Joseph. It raises money for research aimed at increasing survival rates and improving the quality of treatment for brain tumour sufferers.

For the two most recent financial years for which accounts are available – to 30 June 2010 and 30 June 2009 – the charity’s spending outstripped its income, in 2009 by £19,000 and in 2010 by £47,000. But it was able to deliberately spend more on research and run into deficit because it had built up a large surplus in previous years.

And in 2011, according to the charity, its income tripled on the previous year, from £226,429 to £774,917, largely due to greater corporate sponsorship and the success of its annual fundraising ball.

It also posted a £30,000 surplus for that year, bringing its reserves back up to £100,000.

Foote has been working unpaid at the charity full-time for the last 18 months or so but now plans to start another business and so needs to reduce his time commitment to the charity.

Jenny Baker (pictured) will remain chief executive of the new, larger Brain Tumour UK. Andy Foote will join the board of the merged charity, along with two other trustees from the Trust. All five full and part-time staff will transfer to the enlarged entity.

Foote said: “We have found an increasing need for us to further develop our patient support work. It became clear that the best way to achieve this was not to reinvent the wheel, but to join forces with Brain Tumour UK.”

The two organisations have already been working together closely over the last year as part of the Brain Tumour Consortium.