Starting a charitable trust/foundation; help and pointers please

amosworks

Hi folks,

I currently donate to charity personally and I very much enjoy doing so. I'm also self employed and wondering if there are any advantages to setting up a trust or a foundation in which I can make more tax-efficient donations to charities of my choice. Would it also allow me to make larger donations and can I pick and choose who to donate to at whim with one-off gifts?

I'm also a director of a Ltd company. Would it be better to not take wages but to have the company make charitable donations in the name of the company rather than in my name personally?

What's generally the best way to go about doing this? Are there any other better options available at all?

Many thanks for any pointers and help,
Amos

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oldtoolie

Try the Charities Aid Foundation at
http://www.cafonline.org/
They offer much advice for charitable people and their CAF Charity Account allows you to manage your giving easily.

Philanthropy UK at
http://www.philanthropyuk.org/ has: "A Guide to Giving, the essential handbook for those who would like to support charities and good causes in an effective and tax-efficient way."

Tax advice for donors at the HM Revenue and Customs is at
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/donors/tax-efficient.htm

You probably won't want to start your own foundation unless you have a very large amount to give. Too much ongoing administration and you would have to deal with requests for donations from charities who have found your address at the Charity Commission.

The Charity Commission
http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/ has guidance on starting and registering a charity. They have the online register of charities in England and Wales.

Larry Boyd
Fundraiser
Tools for Self Reliance
https://www.tfsr.org

Thanks to MoneySavingExpert for making Tools for Self Reliance one of your charities of the year.

amosworks

Wow thank you ever so much for a most helpful reply. My thanks button doesn't work in the browser because MSE is broken though

Savvy_Sue

What a great question! And a very helpful response from oldtoolie!

As someone who works for a small charity, we sometimes find we get ongoing support from local companies who 'adopt' us and involve their employees. Or your employees might want to 'vote' for a charity of the year, and hold fundraising events as well. It might be something local, or something which affects one or more employees. You may want to do good in secret, but equally you can sometimes get some good publicity out of it, for both your company and the charity.

I presume you already offer Give As You Earn to your employees?

amosworks

Hi Savvy_Sue,

I don't have any employees (yet), and it's definitely not about the publicity it's just that I really have a need to give back to the community but of course am looking at ways that make it more beneficial to both parties

I'm slowly consuming the mass of information in oldtoolie's reply and it's extremely helpful in setting out what I'm after.

I think companies adopting local charities is a great idea and it's nice to know that not all companies are pigopolists!

Amos