Our services

We offer individuals and families an alternative to establishing a private charitable trust

We provide our clients with a charity account, allowing them to bank funds in a tax-efficient manner, for distribution at their own pace to their favourite charities.

We offer two types of charity account/fund:

Annual Fund

This is similar to a bank current account, where sums deposited can be distributed using a charity chequebook. These can be opened with a single annual commitment of £1,000 or more (read below how this may actually cost as little as £580 per annum with Gift Aid).

Endowed Fund

This is an invested account, where funds are invested by our fund managers and an agreed amount is transferred to the client’s Annual Fund for distribution to charity. These can be opened with a single deposit of commitment to deposit £25,000 or more (typically, this would yield at least £1,000 for distribution).

Deposits can be made at anytime in the year, and we can work with your financial or legal adviser to receive payments. Once you are issued with your chequebook, you can start supporting any UK registered charity.

Remember, payments to these accounts are treated by HM Revenue & Customs as charitable, and therefore qualify for gift-aid or capital gains tax relief. Follow these links for examples of the relief you may qualify for:

• Gift Aid (open to all UK tax payers)
• Capital Gains Tax Relief (if you intend on making a non-cash deposit into your account i.e. by selling shares, assets or property)

Naming Funds

Once a fund is established, clients can name the Fund as they wish, just as one would do with a private charitable trust. This would mean that all payments to charity from your Fund, would be recognised as having been made from the (for example) the John and Ann Smith Charitable Fund. Alternatively, you can decide to make some or all your donations anonymously – it’s entirely up to you.

Costs

The Scottish Community Foundation is a charity and our charges are largely based on the complexity of distributing funding. For Annual Funds, these range from 5% of the annual value (where the client selects charities to support) to 10% (with a detailed Open Award Programme). For Endowed Funds, our charges are based on a percentage of the annual capital value, ranging from 0.7% to 1%.

Please contact development director Daljit Singh on 0131 524 0300 to discuss your charitable goals and related costs.