Tag: trusts and foundations

Factary New Trust Update 2022 Review

Posted on by willw

Factary’s New Trust Update (NTU) archive database currently has 3,900 trusts and foundations in it as of February 2022. These are all the grant-makers that have been featured in NTU since 2005.

To add value to the database, which is accessible online exclusively to NTU subscribers, we update the records with the latest financial information available from the Charity Commission. We also update the classification information on which trusts have been removed from the Charity Commission register and which are financially inactive. This information allows subscribers to quickly and easily see how large the various trusts are, and therefore which ones are likely to be able to make the largest grants. The database also includes classification information on the potential areas of interest of the grant-makers.

Analysing this data, we can provide a useful overview of the grant-makers in the database and provide some interesting insights into the UK trust and foundation market. We have produced a short report detailing this analysis which can be downloaded here. The highlights are:

  • The database contains details of over 2,500 active grant-makers, giving away over £1.7bn a year
  • Over 1 in 3 active funders on the database had a total expenditure in excess of £100,000 in the last financial year
  • Nearly 1 in 4 newly registered grant-makers is founded by a philanthropist with an estimated wealth in excess of £10m
  • 1 in 4 featured grant-makers has an expenditure in excess of £100,000 in its first year of operation

In 2021 there were 228 new grant-makers featured in NTU. 43 per cent of them had general charitable objects, but the next most commonly supported areas were Poverty & Welfare, Education & Training and Health. 2021 saw 31 new Foundations of Wealth grant-makers founded by wealthy philanthropists, with a combined estimated wealth of over £11.7bn. There were also 36 corporate foundations featured in NTU in 2021.

As is shown in the report, over a quarter of newly-registered grant-makers go on to have an expenditure in excess of £100,000 in their first year of operation. This makes NTU a useful tool to find out about these grant-makers as soon as they are registered, and gives subscribers a head start in building relationships with new philanthropists.

You can see further analysis on the grant-makers featured in New Trust Update and that make up the online archive database by downloading a copy of the report.

If you would like to learn more about Factary’s New Trust Update then please contact Will Whitefield: will@factary.com.

In these difficult times, we are here for you

Posted on by willw

To all our colleagues in prospect research and fundraising, we understand what a worrying and challenging time this is right now – not just for our organisations but for us personally. Here at Factary, just like everywhere else, we have had to come to terms with major changes to the way we live and work whilst we focus on ensuring we and those close to us remain safe and well. Whilst people’s attention has rightly been focused on issues closer to home, we also want our organisations to be able to continue to achieve their objectives,  but Covid-19 has already and will continue to have a negative impact on organisations’ ability to deliver their services, with the impact on fundraising a specific concern for many[1]. There are so many questions that we don’t know the answer to yet; what will be the long-term impact on income levels for charities and non-profits? How can you engage with donors and supporters with social restrictions in place? Will donors have the capacity to support you at the same level in the future? Will their priorities be the same? How should we respond to the situation in the short term and how can we plan for the long term?

We do not pretend to know the answers to these questions, and in many ways, it is still too early to know for certain. That there will be long-term implications for the economy, and therefore people’s household wealth, is not in doubt[2], but we do not know how severe this impact will be or how donors will respond over time. For example, one article we have seen stated that the world’s richest have already lost $200bn[3] whilst another other stated that their wealth has grown by $308bn[4]. At the same time, we are seeing some phenomenal responses from philanthropists around the world, both at the international and local level[5], however this is involving a re-alignment of funding priorities for some philanthropists[6].

Luckily there are some brilliant, clever, helpful people out there who are offering advice, insight and support to the sector during this difficult time. These are some of the people who may be able to help you find the help and answers you might be looking for right now and as we start to move forward with our recovery:

  • Institute of Fundraising – Lots of great blogs providing information and advice for various aspects of fundraising during this time.
  • Association of Charitable Foundations – An interesting survey on foundations’ responses to Covid-19 plus other advice and resources.
  • UK Fundraising – A wealth of useful articles and blogs from Howard Lake and others containing advice for fundraisers. Particularly useful is this one with five actions fundraising teams should be considering taking now.
  • Alliance Magazine – articles giving a global perspective on the philanthropy response to Covid-19.
  • Helen Brown Group – The ever-amazing Helen Brown and her blogs on things from a US perspective.
  • NFP Synergy – research and resources on charities and Covid-19.

This list is far from exhaustive, but we’ve found some really useful thoughts and advice on some of these pages and we hope that they may help you think about how to respond to Covid-19 both in the short term and in the longer term.

Right now, the main priority is to ensure that we, our friends, family and colleagues are safe, and we do all we can to support our incredible NHS and key workers. But when we are able to start looking to the future and working out the best way forward, we will be here for you. Whether that is just for a friendly chat or some advice, or to talk about ways we can support you to build your prospect pool for the future, we will be here working with you.

Stay safe, and we look forward to talking to you and working with you in the near future.

The Factary Team

[1] https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/nine-in-ten-charities-will-struggle-to-meet-objectives-due-to-covid-19-poll-finds.html

[2] https://www.pwc.co.uk/services/economics-policy/insights/uk-economic-update-covid-19.html

[3] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/how-coronavirus-impacted-the-wealth-of-rich-people-around-the-world/coronavirus-is-taking-away-the-wealth-of-the-wealthy/slideshow/74667660.cms

[4] https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2020/04/27/billionaires-are-getting-richer-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-while-most-americans-suffer/#44d667654804

[5] https://www.nptuk.org/philanthropic-resources/giving-perspectives/global-philanthropys-response-to-covid-19-and-how-to-get-involved/

[6] https://www.acf.org.uk/news/covid-19-results-of-acfs-survey-on-foundations-responses

New Trust Update – archive update

Posted on by willw

We have recently updated the financial information for the 3,480 trusts and foundations in our New Trust Update archive database with the most recent data from the Charity Commission. We have also updated the classification information on which trusts have been removed from the Charity Commission register and which are financially inactive. This information allows subscribers to quickly and easily see how large the various trusts are, and therefore which ones are likely to be able to make the largest grants. It also allows for those that are no longer in existence to be excluded from search results.

Based on the data from this recent update, we can see that there are 2,438 trusts and foundations on the database that are active, 326 that are newly registered and haven’t submitted their first set of annual accounts yet, and the remaining 696 that have been removed from the register or do not appear to be financially active.

Pie-chart of overall stats for the NTU archive
Breakdown of trusts on the NTU archive by activity status

When we look at the 2,438 trusts that we have financial data for, we can see that around 1 in 3 (34%) had a total charitable expenditure in excess of £100,000 in the last financial year, an increase of 4% from 2019. The largest proportion had a total expenditure of less than £25,000 (39%), with 27% having a total expenditure of between £25,000 and £100,000. Also of note is that 192 trusts for which we have financial data have a reported charitable expenditure in excess of £1m.

Bar chart of trusts on the NTU archive, by total expenditure
Bar graph showing the breakdown of trusts and foundation in the NTU archive, by total expenditure

When we marry this financial data with the areas of activity supported by the trusts, we can see that all philanthropic areas have a significant number of trusts that have the potential to award sizeable grants. This is particularly the case in the areas of poverty & welfare, education and health, and those listed with general charitable objects.

Bar chart of trusts on the NTU archive, by activity type and expenditure
Bar graph showing expenditure by activity type of trusts and foundations on NTU archive

Another interesting area of analysis is when we look at those trusts that are reporting their first set of annual accounts. When we look at the 196 trusts that have submitted their first set of accounts in the last year, the majority (59%) record a small total expenditure of less than £25,000 and 20% report a total expenditure of between £25,000 and £100,000. However what is particularly encouraging, especially for subscribers to New Trust Update, is that around 1 in 5 of these trusts (21%) report a total expenditure in excess of £100,000, with 10 reporting an expenditure in excess of £1m.

Newly registered expenditure
Breakdown of expenditure by newly registered grantmaking trusts

Combining this latest analysis with past research show that:

Facts and figures
A summary of some facts and figures abouts the NTU archive

A subscription to Factary’s New Trust Update is an invaluable resource for non-profits seeking to raise income from trusts and foundations. As a subscriber, you get the opportunity to start building relationships with philanthropic vehicles, many of which are shown to be set up by wealthy philanthropists and grant large amounts within their first year of operation, before anyone else. You also get draw on the vast pool of large and varied grant-makers held in the searchable archive database, not widely known to other non-profits.

If you would like to find out more about New Trust Update please contact Will Whitefield or call 0117 9166740.

Factary New Trust Update 2019 Review

Posted on by willw

In 2019 Factary’s New Trust Update contained profiles of 222 newly-registered grant-making trusts and foundations. Our review of the year found that 51 of these were founded by individuals with an estimated wealth of at least £10m, which equates to nearly 1 out of every 4 trusts featured in our reports. The combined wealth of these philanthropists is just under £26bn and includes a number of global philanthropists who have chosen to set up a foundation in the UK.

Our infographic report, available to view here, includes a range of useful analysis and statistics including the philanthropic areas of interest of the trusts and foundations featured throughout the year, the source of funds of the High Net Worth Individuals creating their own foundations and their geographical distribution. It also includes mini profiles on a handful of the most interesting and potentially major foundations and their settlors.

Whilst there are on average around 100 new organisations registered with the Charity Commission each month that state they make grants to other organisations, in practice the vast majority of these are not what would be considered grant-making trusts or foundations. We scrutinise and carefully select the organisations that are featured in New Trust Update, making it a vital resource for finding out about new sources of funding in the foundations market, particularly from High Net Worth families and corporates. With details on around 20 new grant-makers each month, including notes on the professional and philanthropic interests of the settlors and interview notes on the aims and objectives of the trusts and foundations, New Trust Update gives fundraisers a head-start on building relationships with these new philanthropic vehicles before they appear on any other directories.

Details of all past trusts and foundations featured in New Trust Update dating back to 2005 can be found on the online NTU Archive. This online archive database currently has over 3,400 trusts and foundations and provides a quick and intuitive search facility that allows you to get results fast. You can search by charitable area of interests, keywords, expenditure or trustee name to find relevant trusts and foundations that suit your charitable interests.

Subscriber numbers for New Trust Update are limited to maintain exclusivity of the information contained. If you would like to find out more, or to receive a downloadable version of the report, then please contact Will Whitefield or call us on 0117 9166740.

The New & Improved New Trust Update Archive

Posted on by willw

Factary’s New Trust Update was first launched in 1993. It was the first service of its kind, allowing subscribers to become aware of any relevant grant-makers in the weeks following their registration, before they get swamped by applications or listed on any other directory.

Since then we have published over 285 issues – and sought to constantly improve the service, providing even more value for our non-profit subscribers. In 2015 we launched our new online Archive database, utilising our extensive back catalogue by making all past issues since 2005 available online and all featured trusts searchable by charitable area of interests, keywords or trustee name. As of February 2019, the number of trusts on the database is over 3,200 and growing every month.

Now, we have made yet another development that radically improves the functionality and utility of this already valuable resource. Using data from the Charity Commission, we have been able to add the latest total charitable expenditure figures to all trusts on the Archive. This means the data is no longer just a historical snapshot from the original time of research, but now contains up-to-date financial information allowing subscribers to have a ready indication of the size of each trust and likely grant capacity.

So now, as a subscriber to New Trust Update you receive:

  • a monthly publication with around 20 newly registered grant-makers – 1 in 4 of which are set up by HNW individuals
  • access to all back issues dating back to 2005
  • access to the special Foundations of Wealth reports that were produced in 2012, 2013 and 2014
  • full access to our searchable database of over 3,200 grant-makers where you can filter and search by charitable areas of interest, financial expenditure, keywords and trustee names

As well as adding expenditure figures, we have been able to update the status of all the trusts and foundations on the Archive register. This allows subscribers to see whether a trust is active, recently registered, not financially active (no accounts submitted for the past five years) or whether it has been removed from the Charity Commission register.

Overall we found that only 13% of the entire dataset has been removed from the Charity Commission register, and a further 2% are classified as financially inactive. As you would expect, as time goes on more and more trusts are removed from the register and within 9 years this reaches a rate of around 1 in 5. By 14 years it is up to around 1 in 4 that have been removed from the Charity Commission. What is also interesting is that some trusts and foundations appear to be removed within two years of registration. The reasons for these early removals is not clear, but by having these classifications available in the Archive database, subscribers are able to see which trusts are active and which are not, and exclude them from their search results.

Analysing the new expenditure data shows some very positive statistics, highlighting the enormous value New Trust Update subscribers can gain by having access to this database:

  • Excluding those that have been removed from the register, over 30% of the trusts and foundations on the database had a total expenditure of over £100,000 in the last financial year.
  • There are a total of 160 trusts and foundations on the database with a recorded expenditure in excess of £1m in the last financial year.
  • Over 85% of the trusts and foundations on the database are still registered and financially active.

When we look at the recorded activity types for those with an expenditure of over £100,000, we see that there is a high proportion of those supporting Health, Education and Welfare & Poverty, as well as a substantial number listed with general charitable purposes at the time of registration. All activity types are represented in this high-value dataset, meaning it will be of use to non-profits working in all sectors.

What’s even more interesting, is when we compared our dataset to the trusts and foundations held on the Directory of Social Change’s Trustfunding resource. What we found was that only 20% of the trusts and foundations on our Archive database are listed on Trustfunding – so the New Trust Update Archive holds details of over 2,500 trusts and foundations that are not on the leading directory, including nearly 500 that have a latest expenditure of over £100,000.

This new development makes the New Trust Update Archive database an invaluable resource for non-profits seeking to raise income from trusts and foundations. It contains records on a wealth of trusts and foundations that do not appear on any other major directory and is now searchable by both activity type and expenditure level, making it a brilliant resource for building lists of potential donors.

So as a subscriber to New Trust Update, not only do you get the opportunity to start building relationships with new philanthropic vehicles before anyone else, you also get to draw on the vast pool of grant-makers, not widely known to other non-profits.

If you would like to find out more about New Trust Update please contact Nicola Williams or call 0117 9166740.