SummaryFirst, track down your archaic trust. There are thousands of them, their beneficiaries no longer relevant (clog wearing coopers), the trustees diminished or dead; they may have held hundreds or thousands of pounds for decades without making any grants at all. In those cases, their accounts may be mothballed and stored by the bank. Ultimately the Charity Commissioners will remove them from the register and their funds will be lost for ever – unless you get there first!
Where are these endangered funds?
You will find them in the records of town, district, parish, church and local councils. They could be for long-built-over playing fields or demolished primary schools or redundant churches or former cottage hospitals. Start by interrogating the Commissioners’ records www.charitycommission.gov.uk Continue by listing trustees, tracking their other interests, building your networks; talk to your priests and councillors, local authorities and health trusts.
How do you unlock archaic trusts?
Well, with a solid rationale and a knowledge of the legislation, you can convert any “frustrated” trust from specific (“trousseaux for the fallen”) to general benefit. Talk to your local Community Foundation. They know the process and they can cut through the red tape as part of their exclusive arrangement with the Charity Commission, the BOOST initiative. Once you’ve transferred the trust, you may still have to trace and transfer its bank account – no easy matter. We’ve lost up to 15 months on this process in the early days. The trick is to establish contact at a senior level with your bank. You need a champion to cut through the obstacles and delays and establish a workable protocol.
Case Study
We found untapped wealth in Sleaford. In 1909 a remarkable woman, Anne Louisa Russel Waldo-Sibthorp left £100,000 to charity, including £4,000 for the poor brides of Sleaford. Anne was no stranger to wedlock. She tried it four times. Her last marriage was to Francis a brother of Lincoln’s much lampooned, far right wing MP, Colonel Charles de Laet Waldo Sibthorp who opposed free trade, Jewish emancipation and Prince Albert (Johnny foreigner). We owe our Steep Hill (Lincoln) railings to the Colonel, erected to discourage his dangerous horse-drawn buggy races down the 1 in 4 cobbles.
Even twenty years ago poor brides were hard to find, not because we’re all middle class, but because the superstition arose that Anne’s gift brought bad luck.
We unlocked the trust and added it to playing fields and other unused funds. Now Anne Louisa’s gift has grown to £120,000 and generates £6,000 a year in grassroots grants.