Foundation Scotland’s release of over £2.3 million from dormant trusts is the “tip of the iceberg” windfall for communities.

Trusts formed over a century ago to help boys with the surname Stewart, supply pensions to women of good character or provide medical assistance before the NHS ever existed, will now be used to fund current day needs. This is all thanks to a partnership project that has already unlocked over £2.3 million from lost and forgotten charitable accounts.

Foundation Scotland has identified nearly 300 dormant charitable trusts through a project run in collaboration with The Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR). Charitable trusts typically provide public benefit by making grants or donations to other charities, voluntary groups or individuals as laid out in their original constitution.

Launched in May 2021, Scotland’s Revitalising Trusts Project was set up to identify charitable trusts that appear to be inactive and support them to reactivate. For a trust to be classed as inactive, they either had no income or expenditure or donated less than 30% of their total income over the last five years.

There are different reasons why a trust lies dormant. It can be difficult to recruit new trustees, find time to run the charity or as times change, it can be impossible to identify beneficiaries befitting the original deeds of the trust.  Foundation Scotland has more than 25 years’ experience distributing funds which provide long-term benefit for communities. As part of this national project, they are supporting trustees to release inactive funds to be redistributed to good causes in Scotland. Alternatively, Foundation Scotland will support trustees to breathe new life into the charity, for example by changing their charitable purpose to help address new needs in local communities.

Among the funds is The Ronnie Williamson Trust, formed by Mrs Betty Williamson in 2005 in memory of her husband, Ronnie, a Royal Marine Commando, businessman, and long-standing elder and member of Palmerston Place Church in Edinburgh.  The original purposes of the Trust were outlined as supporting voluntary project work of young people from the age of 16 to 21 who were members or adherents of Palmerston Place Church. Unfortunately, this very specific remit proved difficult to fulfil and the Trust had not made an award for over eight years. The Trust had therefore fallen into years of inactivity because the deed prevented the Trustees from altering the purposes, rendering the Trust stuck. The Trustees worked with Foundation Scotland to ‘revitalise’ the trust. The Trust now has new wider purposes in place – extending the upper age limit to 25 and increasing the catchment of the church membership to now include other Church congregations in the North and West of the City.

Gregor Innes, Trustee said: “The support we’ve received from Foundation Scotland will prove life-changing for local young people who have the desire to make a difference to others locally, nationally or globally.  It was a frustration that we had funds that could be helping others sitting in the bank – but due to the original limited scope we had not been in a position to attract and help young people with voluntary projects. 

“The Ronnie Williamson Trust was created to encourage young people to make a difference to others and I am confident he and his late wife would have been happy with the changes that we have now made to make sure we can fulfil the original wishes. 

“Foundation Scotland guided us through the process easily, and thanks to their invaluable support we have increased the age limit so we can help those up to the age of 25, and we can support young people from other linked congregations. The other massive benefit to us has been their support to help us bring new people onto the board. With three new Trustees already in place we are excitedly looking ahead to relaunching and publicising the Trust in the coming months. We look forward to receiving applications from local young people in the future to help them to make a difference in voluntary work which will have a positive educational, religious, medical, or societal impact.”

Steff Bell, Revitalising Trust Project Advisor at Foundation Scotland said “In the current climate it’s more important than ever that charitable funds are being put to good use. Communities the length and breadth of the country suffered through covid and now they are struggling with the cost of living crisis. It’s good to know that we’ve been able to assist in reactivating these funds and putting them to good use, when they’re needed most.  

We’re delighted that we’ve already unlocked over £2.3 million for good causes across Scotland but we know this is just the tip of the iceberg.  We are making great progress; overall, the trustees we have approached have received the offer of support positively, with several indicating that the trustees had been stuck for a number of years, unable to find appropriate support to distribute the funds. 

We will continue to work collaboratively with more trustees, alongside OSCR, to help these trusts maximise their funds and reach for public good.  We know trustees want to make a real and positive difference to those who need it most. If you think your charity could benefit from support to spend its funds, please do get in touch with us and we’ll help you work out the best next steps for your charity.”

Steve Kent, Policy Manager at OSCR said “We are delighted to be collaborating with Foundation Scotland on this important Project and to see our joint effort to reach out to inactive trusts starting to bear fruit. We want public trust in charities to remain strong and never more so than in the present challenging times. It is vital that every pound of charitable funds is seen to be working hard for good causes but, even with best intentions, it is sometimes a challenge for trustees to make that happen. This Project is an excellent example of what can be achieved by offering trustees a little support and encouragement at the right time.”

For more information about the project visit https://www.foundationscotland.org.uk/revitalise-trust