# Charity Commission releases dormant money for local charities

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2003/10/29/charity-commission-releases-dormant-money-local-charities/
- Published: 2003-10-29T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Money in dormant bank accounts has been donated to charities in Bristol and South
Gloucestershire by the Charity Commission.
Following a successful pilot project 
to find money held in dormant charity accounts and

 

release it to local charities, the Charity Commission has distributed £20,000.

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Ten local organisations have each received £2,000 from charity accounts

 

which had been inactive for many years.

 

 

Jon Thorne, the Charity Commission’s Official Custodian for Charities, said: “I’d
like to thank the local media for doing an

 

excellent job encouraging local charities to come forward to claim this money.”

 

 

Steve Carpenter, chairman of the Avon Sport and Leisure Club for the Visually Impaired
agreed. “We’re really glad we heard about the dormant account project as the

 

money will help us improve our services for the visually impaired. As this programme
develops, we hope more banks and building societies will come on board in helping
to identify dormant charity accounts.”

 

 

The Commission estimates there could be more than a million pounds in dormant charity
accounts held with banks and building societies, and this release is the first of
what it hopes will be many more such

 

success stories.

 

 

Using the powers in section 28 of the Charities Act 1993 the Commission makes reasonable
enquiries to locate any of the charity trustees of a dormant account. Should these
enquiries fail to locate

 

a trustee, the Commission looks for suitable outlets for applying this money towards
charitable purposes. This usually means charities with similar objectives.

 

 

The Charity Commission publishes details of the dormant account project online, 
including which charities are currently the object of proposed transfers.

 

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