The Robertson Trust Annual Review 2013
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The Robertson Trust Annual Review 2013 www.therobertsontrust.org.uk Robertson House 152 Bath Street Glasgow G2 4TB T: 0141 353 7300 E: [email protected] www.therobertsontrust.org.uk Scottish Charity Number SC002970 VAT Registration Number 130905442 The Robertson Trust Annual Review 2013 Contents Introduction . 3 Grant Making Overview . 4 Assessment . 6 List of Donations . 7 Development Awards . 40 Robertson House . 44 The Robertson Scholarship Trust . 45 Financial Review . 47 Trustees Responsibilities . 49 History of The Robertson Trust . 52 Trust Information . 53 The Robertson Trust Annual Review 2013 Introduction It has been another challenging year for whose overriding aim is to achieve positive the charity sector. In the financial year outcomes for disadvantaged individuals and 2012/13 The Robertson Trust is pleased to communities throughout Scotland. have been able to continue to fund a broad As well as supporting charities, The Robertson range of charities which have risen to Scholarship Trust helps over 200 young the challenge and shown remarkable people each year from inner city Glasgow resilience during this difficult period. Schools and helps to fund their time at Core funding for many organisations continues university. to be an issue and in recognition of this The Due to our increased funding The Trust Trust continues to provide unrestricted funding continues to grow in the work it does. where possible. Many of the awards made As a result we have added significantly to our are to support on-going work, such as salary excellent staff team through the recruitment costs, enabling charities to continue providing of new assessors, administrators and much needed services in their communities. development workers. During the year we The Trust also continues to signpost charities moved to new expanded premises. Robertson in need of broader organisational support House is a major investment providing a towards other organisations such as The new home for The Trust and a new facility Cranfield Trust to give a more rounded for the charity sector in Scotland. We now support than simply just finance. offer high quality office accommodation In this year we have seen an increase in the and meeting facilities at discounted prices number of requests from charities wishing for charities in Scotland. to respond to the needs of families and In the coming year we foresee increasing communities affected by the economic challenges for charities. However we are downturn. This is often through the determined to help them through targeted development of practical initiatives such as funding, innovative partnerships and the food banks or the provision of basic items to provision of subsidised facilities. I am sustain people in their tenancies. Looking confident The Trust will rise to this increased forward we anticipate an increase in such challenge and continue to build on our long requests in response to the impact of the history of supporting communities and highly publicised welfare reform bill. making a difference. Whilst the Trust is supportive of larger charities Kenneth Ferguson who clearly play an important role in the sector, Director the focus continues to be on supporting small to medium sized charities. As the list of 2013 awards shows we continue to support a diverse range of projects, services and activities, 3 The Robertson Trust Annual Review 2013 Grant Making Overview The focus of funding made through the 2 Main Awards comprise revenue donations Trust’s grant making programme continues in excess of £10,000 per annum and to be on supporting those charities and capital donations of up to £100,000. projects which provide direct support and Capital donations will normally be for a create opportunities for disadvantaged maximum of 10% of the total project cost. groups and individuals living in Also included in the Main Awards listing communities throughout Scotland. are those awards for continuation funding. This is clearly a difficult time for many charities which are operating at full capacity 3 Small Awards comprise revenue whilst having to deal with cuts in funding. donations of up to £10,000 per annum. The fact that the Trust is able to provide core, Applications for Main and Small donations unrestricted funding to support on-going will be considered six times a year and projects and services has been widely a suggested format for all applicants is appreciated by many charities coping with provided on the Trust’s website which is these challenges. This type of core funding is designed to make the process as simple something that the Trust sees as a growing as possible for all applicants. need within the sector and one that it will continue to support in the year ahead. 4 Development Awards seek to undertake Donations to these charities can take the form a proactive role by investigating and of core funding, including salaries and general funding specific areas or issues where running costs, grants towards specific the Trustees believe there is an unmet projects, or capital grants for building or need for the provision of services. We also equipment. Donations are classified according seek to inform national policy through the to four main types, to which different commissioning and sharing of external guidelines apply. evaluations. The Trust’s support in this area is currently focussed on support 1 Major Awards comprise capital donations for offenders and their families; alcohol above £100,000, for which the overall misuse and community sport. project costs will normally be in excess of £1 million. Major capital donations will normally contribute specifically to one of the Trust’s priority areas other than under exceptional circumstances. Major capital applications will be considered three times a year in January, May and September. 4 The Robertson Trust Annual Review 2013 Grant Making Overview In 2013 the Trust awarded £15.3m (2012: £12.2m) an increase of 25% on the previous year (excluding £2.5m of 50th anniversary awards). Number of Total Average Donations Committed Donation Awards £000 £000 % of Total Major 5 1,053 210 7 Main 246 6,864 28 45 Small 398 3,065 8 20 Development 11 3,137 261 20 Scholarship Trust 220 1,195 12 8 Total Awards 880 15,314 23 100 Total Committed £15,314k Five major capital donations totalling £1m young people attending University. It also accounted for 7% of the donations made in supports young Scottish sporting talent 2013 (2012: 9%). and performing artists as well as donations to various institutions. It made over 200 £9.9m accounting for 65% (2012: 53%) was awards in total, of which 59 were awards committed to the Trust’s main and small grant to individuals with the average individual programmes with average annual donations of award being £12,200. £28k and £8k respectively benefiting a broad range of organisations and projects across A full list of awards made in each of the above Scotland. Included within the main awards categories is listed on the following pages. category are enterprise awards totalling £326k. Awards to development projects totalled £3.1m representing 20% of the total donations (2012:£2m). This included a single donation of £2m to the Scottish Government: Reducing Reoffending Change Fund. The Robertson Scholarship Trust makes a number of awards to young Scots. Its main award programme is a bursary scheme which offers financial and mentoring support to 5 The Robertson Trust Annual Review 2013 Assessment Outreach A further five, locally organised events were attended in addition to supporting the Summary of Outreach Events 2012/2013 Funders Forum at ‘The Gathering’, a large Although the Assessment team is small scale annual event held at Glasgow’s SECC for and the Trust’s staff resources are limited, voluntary sector organisations. This year also we try to attend as many funding and included an event organised by one of the outreach events as possible to maximise Trust’s Assessors in Wick, as part of a three the amount of pre application support day programme of visits to applicants and provided to individuals and charities from current grant holders in the Caithness area. across Scotland. In the 12 months from April 2012 to March 2013, members of the Assessment Team have attended a total Palliative Care of 15 events across seven Local Authority areas. Staff members have addressed This is an area in which the Trust has invested general enquiries at these events, a significant amount of funding over the delivered 1:1 surgeries for specific years. We provided core funding totalling application advice and run workshops £195K during this financial year to 11 of covering subjects such as Project Planning Scotland’s independent Hospices which and all aspects of making good funding are tasked with raising approximately 50% applications. of their clinical costs each year through fundraising. Scotland’s hospices provide a Six events were organised by Local Councils valuable service and are heavily supported by or CVS’s and included acknowledged ‘cold local volunteers who, together with medical spots’, areas from which the Trust receives professionals, work hard to provide high a lower than average number of funding quality respite and end of life care for people applications, in addition to rural areas. with life limiting conditions. In addition These included: to direct funding for hospices, the Trust G Dumfries & Galloway supports a range of projects which provide G East Renfrewshire palliative care training and support on an G Edinburgh City outreach basis. This