GIVING
Giving something back to your local community is extremely rewarding.
Doing so through the Fermanagh Trust is one of the easiest ways of achieving this, as many people from all walks of life have found.
We manage funds, which have been set up by individuals, families and companies, helping support their chosen interests.
Giving is easy; we are here to help make your gifts work for others.
Contact: Tel 028 66 320 210 / E lauri@fermanaghtrust.org
BENEFITS OF GIVING
Many people choose to leave a portion of their estate to help others in their community. When Individuals, families or companies choose to support the Fermanagh Trust, donors access local knowledge, informed and effective grant-making and an efficient mechanism for distributing funds to support the local needs of our community.
Benefits of Giving through the Trust
Meeting Needs: In Fermanagh, a great deal of vital work in the community is undertaken by smaller and relatively unknown groups who are all doing excellent work in their own field. It can therefore be difficult to find out about all local charities and voluntary groups working within Fermanagh. The Trust’s local knowledge and expertise can help to identify suitable recipients and reach those who might not otherwise find or access the funds they so desperately need.
Local Focus: The Fermanagh Trust is managed by local people and makes grants to local good causes. Donors know that their money will go towards supporting charities and voluntary groups whose work will benefit local people.
Flexibility: For those wishing to make a more substantial donation, the Fermanagh Trust is able to accommodate the wishes of each donor to reflect their particular interest, such as supporting older people, disabled people, children and so forth or perhaps a donor is keen to benefit people living within a specific area of Fermanagh. The Fermanagh Trust is always happy to discuss any other fields of interest with the donor.
Convenience: For people wanting to support their local community, it can sometimes be difficult to know which organisation to support, especially as many groups still remain relatively unknown. The Fermanagh Trust has the people and framework in place and undertakes all the day-to-day work involved in administering a grant-making programme, from handling enquiries and researching projects to making decisions, as well as fulfilling all the accounting and reporting requirements.
Expertise: The Fermanagh Trust is governed by a Board of Trustees and supported by Advisers, all from a variety of backgrounds, with a wide range of skills and experience, and an extensive knowledge of the local community and its needs. It has established grant-making policies and procedures, ensuring each application is dealt with efficiently and assessed carefully. Moreover, the Fermanagh Trust also has access to professional advice, for example, in managing its growing investments.
Permanence: The Fermanagh Trust is here to stay. By building a permanent fund – in other words, having a pot of money saved and invested, will ensure that even in the hard times the Fermanagh Trust will be able to continue to make grants and offer much needed support to the voluntary sector. The Fermanagh Trust is not only helping to tackle today’s needs, but is also developing the means to address the needs of future generations. Anyone considering leaving a legacy to benefit the local community can be assured that the Fermanagh Trust will continue to ensure that their charitable wishes are honoured in perpetuity.
LEAVING A LEGACY
Many people choose to leave a portion of their estate to help others in their community. A named endowment fund with the Fermanagh Trust offers the ideal way to ensure that your bequest benefits local people for generations to come.
You can specify where your money will be used (and by whom) and we will ensure that your wishes are carried out. This means that you can guarantee that any money you leave will only be used as you wish. Members of your family or other appointed people can also be involved in deciding who receives grants from your fund. You can take advantage of the same benefits as a gift made now when you set up a legacy based named fund, with the added bonus that legacy funds also have no inheritance tax liability, saving your estate up to 40% in tax.
And because there are no lengthy legal responsibilities to consider there is no need for large solicitors bills. We have a simple agreement that outlines how the fund will operate, which we agree with you.
OUR COMMITMENT
Direct Access
Avoid Red Tape
Your Guarantee
Policies
Eligibility
Direct Access
Direct access
To thousands of local charities and worthwhile causes
Working with the Fermanagh Trust gives you access to hundreds of local charities and people in need. Using our knowledge and expertise will help you identify worthwhile local causes, saving you considerable time, energy and money in your search.
Regular information in the style you choose
To keep you up-to-date on the projects you are supporting, you can choose to receive regular updates in a variety of different formats to suit your needs, even visiting your projects so you can see first-hand the boost your support has given local communities. This will give you complete confidence that your money is being spent in the most effective way possible.
You set the terms of your fund
Right at the start of our relationship, you set out the guidelines for how your fund is to be run, and the type of people or groups to whom your grants are to be allocated, giving you complete control and security in knowing your money is only ever going to be given to the very people you want to help.
Increase your funds value by as much as 40% from the taxman
All funds, and if you choose to leave a legacy, can be made in the most tax efficient way available to you. We will be pleased to advise you on the most financially effective way for you to make a donation, leaving you to concentrate on the difference you want your donation to make and how you want your gift to be used.
You stay in the driving seat if you want to
You can have as much, or as little, involvement in the decision making process as you wish. You can either take advantage of our professional expertise, receiving a comprehensive assessment of the charitable options available to you, or you can simply leave us to make the decision on your behalf, safe in the knowledge that you have set the guidelines. Either way, you stay in control.
Avoid Red Tape
Avoiding red tape and solicitors bills, the easy way!
By setting up your charitable trust through the Fermanagh Trust, you will save yourself thousands of pounds in legal fees and ‘red tape’ over doing it yourself, meaning you can be helping people or projects within just a few days. We take over all the legal responsibilities and liabilities for running your fund and complying with charity law – all you have to do is read and sign the paper work, saving you the task of completing lengthy annual returns from the Charity Commission or having to prepare your own accounts.
Making sure your money benefits from expert investment advice
Your fund is wisely and prudently invested through an expert Investment Manager. Its performance, is continuously monitored by our board of Trustees.
The lowest management fees, guaranteed.
To make sure the maximum amount of your money is spent on good causes, you will only pay a 1% charge for administration on endowment funds and low rates for other types of fund management. All this is done without your support being diverted into costly charity management and administration costs.
A steady hand at the helm
Your fund and the Fermanagh Trust are managed with the highest level of integrity and standards of governance, our Trustees meet regularly to discuss and monitor any activity so that any decisions are only made in your best interests… so that your endowment fund will continue to help good causes for many generations to come.
Professional service
The staff at the Fermanagh Trust are dedicated to managing your fund in a thorough and professional manner, you can rely on us to honour your wishes and ensure that grants from your fund are only made to groups and individuals that meet your criteria.
Once you have set up your fund, you can be assured that every grant given from your fund will be addressing a real need, because we will ensure that we thoroughly assess each application received.
Your Guarantee
Your Guarantee From Us
When you establish a fund with the Fermanagh Trust, we guarantee that every time a grant is approved from your fund, each applicant has been through our strict 7-stage selection process, making sure that every single applicant is eligible for your help:
Applicant assessment –
each person or group wishing to apply is asked to submit an application providing us with the information we need to make informed decisions.
The financials –
for groups, we always investigate whether they’re solvent, are sitting on large amounts of their own money, or have any deficits that are not being adequately addressed. This is vital to ensure your money is used correctly by an organisation with the skills to financially manage the project. For individuals, we make sure that their ideas are costed out appropriately and they are genuinely in need of financial assistance.
A cast-iron constitution –
to ensure that the group is well governed and run effectively, we insist that they have a set of rules outlining their responsibilities and area of work. We check that they are democratic, and legal, working to help good causes rather than themselves.
Policies
Policies to protect –
we ensure that comprehensive equal opportunities and child protection policies are in place, so you are assured that we have children and vulnerable people’s best interests and welfare at heart. Hopefully, this helps them to avoid incidents, but should one occur the applicants are trained and equipped to deal effectively with the situation.
Safeguards –
in order to safeguard your interests, a set number of compulsory checks are carried out to ascertain that an applicant is genuine and in real need of your support, ensuring your Fund is only used for what it is intended.
Interviewed –
once all of the above stages have been satisfied, the applicants are contacted where we will review their application and explore their ideas in more depth.
Eligibility
Applicants eligibility –
it is only after this detailed process that we put applications forward to your Fund, allowing informed decisions to be made.
By making sure we go through this process every time we can absolutely guarantee every person put forward to you is entirely eligible for your support. In addition, by sticking to this procedure with every application we can ensure that your money is unlikely to be misused, taking away any distress or embarrassment this might cause you. Choosing to support the applicant, together we can be absolutely certain your money is being used in accordance with your wishes whilst enabling the implementation of genuinely good ideas that will make a real and effective change to the lives of local people.
WAYS TO SUPPORT
The Trust’s flexible giving programmes combined with its expert and sensitive understanding of Fermanagh’s changing needs makes the community foundation of Fermanagh a convenient, practical and effective option for investments in our community.
• Field of Interest Funds
• Unrestricted Funds
• Endowment Funds
• Business Partnerships
• Designated or Named Funds
• Recognition or Anonymity
Field of Interest Funds
Funds which support a broad area of concern such as rural or estate-based regeneration, youth services or the elderly. Grants are awarded by the Fermanagh Trust on the basis of grant applications and visits by trustees, or advisory panel members.
Endowment Funds
Gifts to the Fermanagh Trust can be invested so as to remain a permanent capital fund, as endowment. The income from the endowment fund is then distributed as grants while the fund itself remains intact so that gifts can go on helping generation after generation forever. There are considerable tax benefits for individuals or companies who establish funds within the Fermanagh Trust.
Designated or Named Funds
These ensure permanent support to specific charitable activities, named by the donor.
Unrestricted Funds
These enable the Fermanagh Trust to respond with the greatest flexibility to changing community needs. No restrictions are placed on the charitable application of these funds.
Business Partnerships
The Fermanagh Trustis a business partner. It makes giving to the community enjoyable, effective and cost-efficient. It also insures appropriate recognition is given to individual company programmes. Most companies have a desire to put something back into the communities in which they operate. Frequently however, resources are lacking. The Fermanagh Trust is a corporate partner, which can make the difference between average company giving and outstanding giving. Hand-in-hand with this is the associated enhancement of public perceptions of company’s activities.
Recognition or Anonymity
Donors, whatever their chosen type of funding, may receive public recognition or remain anonymous as they wish. Funds may be named for individuals, families, companies or for special purposes
© 2024 Fermanagh Trust