Transfer an exisiting Trust or Foundation

There are thousands of charitable trusts across the UK that are either dormant, inactive, or ineffective. You will no doubt have come across many who have ceased to operate for a variety of reasons, often through circumstances that are beyond the control of the original trustees.

Reasons why a charitable trust may become dormant, inactive or ineffective include:

• The original purposes may be outdated and irrelevant to current needs
• The purposes may have been fulfilled or ceased to exist or the beneficiaries may no longer exist
• Funding challenges that many in the voluntary sector are facing
• The fund may be too small to make a significant impact (as it generates almost no income) or a lack of expertise may make grant decision-making challenging

With larger trusts or foundations, it might be that over the years the trustees are not able to distribute the funds and they become dormant, or moribund. Trustees may find it hard to stand down or to find someone to replace them, or they may not fully understand their legal or financial obligations.

The benefits of transferring a Charitable Trust to Suffolk Community Foundation

• We can often provide better returns on investments as we are able to pool larger sums of money which are effectively and prudently managed through appointed investment managers.
• Our local expertise means that we can identify current social need and often find beneficiaries and causes that provide the 21st century equivalent of the issues the original trust was set up to tackle.
• Trustees can release the responsibility of managing and administering a trust fund directly, but retain an interest in the fund by acting as an adviser or continuing to award grants.

To read more about some trusts that have already been successfully transferred to us, click here.