What you should be doing with your charity's finances.
Make sure your cash is safe
That may sound like an obvious point, but not everyone is aware that the rules affecting deposits aren’t what they used to be. Should your bank or building society get into difficulties, it’s not safe to assume that charities will get their cash back regardless. Today’s 'bail in' regime aims to ensure that next time round, the taxpayer doesn’t have to foot the bill for rescuing a financial institution. This puts bond holders and depositors potentially in the frame to bear some capital loss.
So, particularly if a charity has more than the FSCS compensation limit (currently £85,000), trustees need to think about where the charity’s cash is, and whether they need to spread it around to avoid too much exposure to any one institution. If keeping on top of the paperwork for multiple accounts and juggling deposits between them is too much hassle, look at cash deposit funds (there are some specifically for charities) which will do that for you.
If you've got longer term reserves, make good use of them
Well managed organisations don’t run out of cash. The bank balance will rise and fall, but when did it last fall to zero? Chances are there’s a minimum level that you never drop below (you may set a minimum level in your reserves policy).
But, every year that cash sits in the bank, it’s losing some of its real value as a result of inflation; and to maintain the spending power of your reserves, you may have to top them up in future years. So, rather than hold everything as cash, charities may be better off putting at least part of ‘the bit that’s always there’ into investment assets such as company shares, property and infrastructure. These can give charities many times more income each year than they can get on bank deposits, and unlike cash investment assets can be expected to grow in value over time. Trustees should check their charity’s governing document to understand if it includes conditions and limitations on the use of any power of investment, and familiarise themselves with relevant regulatory guidance such as the Charity Commission’s Charities and investment matters: a guide for trustees (CC14).
Size doesn't matter...
Longer term investments are just as accessible for small organisations as for large ones. You can buy into one or more of the specialist pooled funds for charities with an initial investment as low as £1,000. These can give you access to an all-round portfolio that’s targeting the right investment objectives for your organisation, at very reasonable cost and without creating a new burden for your staff and trustees in administration and reporting.
And although these investments may not be suitable if you weren’t thinking pretty long term, that doesn’t mean that charities are locked in – most funds will allow you to add to or withdraw from the investment weekly if not daily, so there’s plenty of flexibility if the charity’s plans or circumstances change.
...but your reputation does
Pooled funds are a sensible choice for charities looking to access long term investments efficiently, but it’s wise to consider how well aligned a particular fund is to your organisation’s values and mission.
Gone are the days when charities could claim to have an effective ethical policy in place because they excluded direct investment in certain companies, while ignoring what was going on under the bonnet of any pooled funds in their portfolios.
Fortunately, there is now a wide range of funds with a variety of ethical and responsible policies, including some that offer portfolios designed especially for charities. There is at least one to meet the needs of most charities, and a sensible ethical policy doesn’t mean that you’ll be sacrificing financial returns.
Heather Lamont is a client investment director at CCLA, one of the UK’s leading managers of investments for charities, churches and local authorities, and a member of the advisory group for ICAEW’s Volunteering Community.
*The views expressed are the author’s and not ICAEW’s.