Bank problems may hit charitable giving
Howard Lake | 30 January 2009 | News
The demise of Anglo Irish Bank in Ireland and its take over by the Irish state may have a direct impact on charitable giving some charities fear.
Anglo Irish was known to be very generous to charity, giving a percentage of its profits each year. As the Anglo’s profits grew so too did its donations which sometimes reached €500,000 to individual charities in the social welfare field.
It is unlikely that Anglo will maintain its level of giving. Moreover, as other banks continue to need large tax payer support to survive it may have an impact on their ability to give to charity at the same level in the years ahead.
However, the example of Northern Rock may give some cause for optimism. Northern Rock Foundation, the single biggest charitable group offering grants in the North-east of England, had initially feared its projects would be ended by the collapse of the mortgage bank in 2007. But Alastair Balls, the charity’s chairman, was able to increase his grants budget for 2008 from £7m to £11m, following pledges made during the nationalisation process.
Until the end of 2007, Northern Rock set aside 5 per cent of its profits each year to fund the foundation. The collapse of the bank prompted Mr Balls to cut the charity’s grants budget for 2008 to just £7m, but provisions in the legislation paving the way for the nationalisation of Northern Rock commit it to funding the foundation to the tune of at least £15m a year until 2010.
Advertisement
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.