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.