Phi Newsletter: April 2013

Welcome to the April 2013 edition of the Factary Phi newsletter.

Major Giving News

Oil firm donates £1m to Befriend a Child

An oil firm has made a “life changing” £1 million donation to a north-east children’s charity.

Aberdeen-based Befriend a Child will benefit from a donation made by Saltire Energy, as part of a recent initiative to help the less fortunate in society.

The donation was arranged by the firm’s chief executive, Mike Loggie, as part of their Saltire in the Community scheme, which assists a number of charities, projects and individuals.

Tycoon pledges to leave £100m fortune to the elderly

David Kirch has pledged to leave his £100m fortune to the elderly in Jersey after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The property Tycoon has announced on his 76th birthday that he wishes to dedicate his wealth to those that are “often left out and forgotten”.

For the last six years, Mr Kirch has also given away £100 shopping vouchers as a Christmas gift to islanders older than 70 every year.

“I love the island, and so have decided to leave my wealth to benefit the elderly.”

“I have worked very hard all my life to earn this money and I want to see it used well.” Mr Kirch has also put his 600 piece strong collection of airship memorabilia on the market to add to his legacy.

It includes scorched letters found on board the ill-fated Hindenburg, silverware and newspaper billboards from the First World War and is expected to raise £1m.

Mr Kirch was 70 when he began his scheme to give the septuagenarians and older of Jersey a £100 voucher to spend in the Co-Op at Christmas.

At the time he said: “I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than to start giving my money away.

“I have had 70 years to build it up and now was the time to give it away.” But he has admitted that he had to change his attitude to wealth before giving it away.

Mr Kirch – who has never married – made his fortune in the London property market and through investments in the leisure industry and healthcare.

He said previously: “I have mixed feelings, all my life I have wanted to make money and build it up.

“I find it difficult, the difference between giving money away and being charitable and building it up to make as much as possible.”

Mr Kirch admitted his wealth had “dwindled somewhat” since it was valued at £250m before the recent financial crisis. But he added: “It still makes a sizeable gift to the community and it is what I want to do.”

Hospices in North Staffordshire celebrate £1m boost in funding

Two hospices in North Staffordshire are set to benefit from a £1m donation that will improve services for families throughout the area.

Both the Douglas Macmillan Hospice and the Donna Louise Children’s Hospice are to receive a share of a £60 million Government funded cash pot, which will be used in order to improve facilities for patients at both hospices.

The charities are 2 of 21 hospices throughout the West Midlands that are set to receive funding. The Dougie Mac, which costs more than £8 million a year to run, was also handed £494,428 as part of the initiative.

The charity is now hoping to use the money to build a day therapy unit and increase outpatient facilities at the hospice.

Karen McKenzie, director of income generation at the hospice, said: “This is fabulous news for all our supporters who have continued to give all through the recession with such generosity.

“This grant does mean that we are able to direct their donations directly to patient care , which is the very essence of their support.

“We all recognise how important it is to develop the hospice facilities so to be able to do this without having to ask for more from the public and community in general is just great news.”

Nuala O’Kane, chief executive for the hospice, said: “The funds are to enable us to update the building, which has now been in use for 10 years. It will pay for refurbishments to the children’s bedrooms and play areas, new playground equipment, replacement carpets where they are worn, additional hoists and piped oxygen.

“The refurbishment will enhance and improve the experience of children and families using the hospice and we will be incorporating their ideas into our plans.”

Tory peer pledges half of £1.2b fortune to charity

Billionaire businessman and Tory peer Lord Ashcroft is set to sign up to the Giving Pledge – a commitment by the world’s wealthy elite to dedicate their fortunes to philanthropy.

The movement was created by two of the world’s richest men, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.

Other Briton’s to have signed up to the pledge include Sir Richard Branson and his wife Joan, John Caudwell, Michael Moritz and Harriet Heyman who have pledged a combined £3.7billion in total according to The Sunday Times Rich List.

Ashcroft, 67, founded Crimestoppers and over the years has donated £20million to the cause.

In the past year he has given £5m to Anglia Ruskin University; £1m to complete the Bomber Command war memorial in London and a further £1m to help refurbish the First World War galleries at the Imperial War Museum in London.

Back in 2008, Ashcroft, who is president of the West India Committee, wrote in his book Dirty Politics, Dirty Times: “I have prepared my will. I have never been a great believer in inherited wealth. More than 80 per cent of my assets — and I never discuss how much I am worth — will be left to a charitable foundation in my name.”

Next section: Report

Report: Charities & Social Investment

For this month’s edition, we have included a link to a recent report on the potential benefits and drawbacks of social investment as it relates to the needs, governance and regulation of charities, entitled ‘Charities & Social Investment’.

The research was conducted on behalf of the Charity Commission by Leila Baker and Niamh Goggin, together with Chris Mills and Rebecca Moran.

To view the report, please click here.

Next section: Phi Database Update

Phi in Numbers April 2013

This month, just under 12,000 new records of donations have been uploaded unto the Phi database. The latest data to be included is made up donations to Trinity College Oxford, the University of York and also a number of donations taken from the recently published Sunday Times Giving List 2013.

For this month’s database update, we’ve chosen to take a look at donations made to international development related causes from the years 2004 to 2011, which represents a minimum of £3.1b in donations. It should be noted that the data used is based on records as they appear in Phi, and as such the data is not necessarily representative of giving in the sector as whole.

In light of the latest data to have been uploaded onto Phi, we’ve decided to include an overview of how the latest Sunday Times Giving List 2013 is ranked, along with some analysis of previous entrants from the 2012 list.

The list is ranked according to the proportion of total wealth donated or pledged to charity in the most recent 12 months for which the foundation, trust or personal accounts are available. So the higher the proportion of overall wealth given, the higher the donors score is according to the giving index.

To see a full version of the Sunday Times Giving List 2013, please click here.

As the figures show, multi-millionaire David Kirch has come top of the list in 2013 after pledging his entire £100m fortune. Other new entrants to the top 10 for this year include Talal Shakerchi, a millionaire hedge fund manager and high-stakes poker player who has given more than £22m, and Martin Lewis, founder of the Moneysavingexpert comparison site, who gave £11.1m in cash and shares to good causes after he sold his business for £87m last summer.

It is interesting to note that in terms of activity type, the spread of donations from these philanthropists has remained remarkably similar in a number of areas. For example in 2012, the highest number of donations from wealthy donors were made into causes associated with Education, followed by Health, and then Children/Youth. This is a trend that has continued into 2013. However when we consider a particular activity type such as Environment, it is interesting to note that although there are more donors according to the 2013 list, however the overall value of these donations is significantly lower than in the previous list (down to £323m from £454m).

One possible reason for this is that although significant charitable donations were made into Environment related causes by Sir Richard Branson in 2012 (£358m), his contributions are now marked as ‘various’ according to the most recently publication, making them difficult to pin down.

Next section: Profile

Profile: The Constance Travis Charitable Trust

The Constance Travis Charitable Trust was established by Anthony Travis, who was the Chief Executive of British building merchant and home improvement retailer Travis Perkins until 2001.

The Company through which he made his name, Travis Perkins Plc, came into existence as a result of a series of significant mergers, which has also allowed Travis Perkins to trace its roots back to the late years of the 18th century.

After going public in 1964, building merchants Travis & Arnold began making acquisitions, primarily of regional building materials merchants, such as Page Calnan, Kennedys, and Ellis & Everard’s building supplies division. Helping to lead the company was Tony Travis, the grandson of the company’s founder.

Sandall Perkins and Travis & Arnold merged in 1988. The resulting company (renamed Travis Perkins plc) boasted a nationwide network of more than 150 stores. Tony Travis took on the dual roles of chairman and chief executive officer. However, the newly merged company did run into some financial trouble in the 1980s as it felt the effects of the UK building market’s collapse. Indeed, as the country entered into the extended recession of the 1990s, Travis Perkins began to struggle, and by 1991 the company was forced to restructure its operations.

Fortunately however, the building slump also presented something of an opportunity. As its smaller rivals faltered, Travis Perkins and its larger competitors, including Meyer International and Wolseley, launched a drive to consolidate the highly fragmented building materials supply industry in the United Kingdom. In 1994 the company added the 46-store chain of AAH building materials stores; the following year it added the 26-store chain of BMSS building materials merchants. With more than 214 branches after the AAH merger, the company had taken a place among the top five in its industry.

Despite the financial difficulties the company suffered in the 1980’s, the Constance Travis Charitable Trust was established in 1986 with the intention of supporting local organisations in Northamptonshire, along with other organisations working UK-wide and internationally. In 2010, the trust was also merged with the Anthony Travis Charitable Trust in order to pool the resources of both trusts.

In the financial year ending 31/12/2011, the trust reported an annual income of £2,122,503 and an expenditure of £2,086,342. Factary Phi holds 639 records of donations made from 2004 to 2011, representing a minimum of £4.8m in funding.

Grants range between £350 to £1,250,000 and the average size of grants made to causes is £8,046. From these 639 records, the largest proportion of donations have been made to Health related causes with 193 records of donations, then Disability with 73 records, followed by Welfare (66), Children (58), Heritage (54), Education (27), Rights/Law/Conflict (24), Arts & Culture (23), Development (21), Elderly (20), Animals (16), General Charitable Purposes (15), Religious Activities (13) Sport (12), Mental Health (12), Environment (7), International Development (5)

The Trustees

Tony Travis

The son of Ernest and Constance Travis, Tony Travis originally trained as a Barrister before joining the company his grandfather helped establish in 1966. He is now retired, after spending 36 years at the company and working as its Chairman and Chief Executive up until 2001. His departure marked the end of family involvement on the group’s board. As well as this, he has also served as a trustee of ESCP Europe Business School, a governor of the Royal Academy of Music, a Director of the Royal School of Music and a Director of the Northampton Saints premiership rugby club.

Constance Travis

Constance Travis is the mother of Tony Travis.

Matthew Travis

Matthew Travis is Tony’s son.

Next section: News

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