We currently manage a number of funds that have been set up as a result of local trusts transferring their assets to the Foundation so that the excellent work they have undertaken for many years is continued in perpetuity.

We work with local active, ineffective and dormant trusts to find solutions to the issues they face and have transferred parish trusts, trusts held by local authorities and other institutions across Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset.

In every case we have been able to revitalise the grant-making ensuring the grants given can have the maximum impact and benefit those most at need in our communities.

There are many reasons why a trust may consider transferring their assets to the Foundation and these include:

• The charitable objectives of the trust are out-dated making it difficult to identify beneficiaries
• The assets of the trust are too small to have significant impact
• The work of administering the trust is becoming a concern for trustees, who are also finding harder to recruit new and engaged trustees

Across the UK Community Foundations have worked closely with the Charity Commission for England and Wales to develop understanding, knowledge and the specialist expertise to handle trust transfers. The Commission has recently produced a useful checklist for trusts to use as a prompt to identify any issues and to identify at what point it would be beneficial to involve their local Community Foundation.

For more information please contact our contact our director Grant Robson on 01202 670815 or email him at grant@dorsetcf.org.