# Government supports new Virgin Money Foundation with £4 million grant

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/12/11/government-supports-new-virgin-money-foundation-4m-grant/
- Published: 2014-12-11T16:36:47+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Virgin Money is to create a new charitable foundation which will invest in projects
that benefit the communities in which the organisation works. The Virgin Money Foundation
will start to operate in the first half of 2015, and will be independent of the 
bank, with its own Chair and Board of Trustees.

 

At the same time, The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced £4 million
of Government funding for the Foundation to support charitable projects in the North-
East of England. This adds to the £1 million that Virgin Money announced in September
2014 that it would invest in North-East community projects.

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The Government’s funding come from the fines levied on banks for manipulating the
London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) financial benchmark. It will give £1 a year
for four years.

 

## Bank to fund the operating costs

 

Virgin Money will cover the operating costs of the new Foundation, to ensure that
100% of money donated to the Foundation will be used for its charitable objectives.
The same approach is used to fund the costs of [Virgin Money Giving](http://www.virginmoneygiving.com),
the online donation platform.

 

The Foundation will operate in similar areas to the Northern Rock Foundation, which,
following the collapse of Northern Rock, announced in September that [it would be closing](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/2014/04/23/northern-rock-foundation-close/)
as it had been unable to raise sustainable funding from the private sector.

 

The Chancellor said:

 

> ”The Northern Rock Foundation made a considerable impact in the North East in 
> recent years, but sadly that has come to an end as a result of the deal made when
> Northern Rock collapsed.
> “It is only right that we use the fines from those who’ve demonstrated the worst
> values, to support the charitable causes in the North East that demonstrate the
> best of British values on a daily basis.”

 

The Virgin Money Foundation’s first projects in the North East will focus on making
a positive difference for young people in the region. It will work with The Community
Foundation (Tyne & Wear and Northumberland), and continue discussions with Newcastle
City Council with the aim of creating a programme to revitalise empty properties
across the city.

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