Foundation Account

Opening your own Foundation Account at the Cambridgeshire Community Foundation offers you a very convenient and tax-efficient way to give.

A Foundation Account works in a similar way to a current bank account, but only holds funds that you put aside to give to your favourite charities and the money you deposit is non refundable.

Using Your Foundation Account "Cheque Book"

If you are a UK tax payer, sums deposited into your Account can be increased by a tax rebate we claim and add to your Account. You then use your Foundation Account "Cheque Book" to make donations to charities of your choice. Alternatively, you can set up a standing order to make regular payments to your favourite charities.

Supporting charities of your choice

You can give to any registered charity in the UK or any organisation recognised by HMRC as charitable, or charities based overseas. Whenever you make a donation we will check the charitable status of the recipient before paying anything from your Account.

Simplifying the paperwork for your Tax Return and Gift Aid

Your Foundation Account provides you with a much simpler system for dealing with Gift Aid. Instead of signing separate Gift Aid declarations and keeping records of all the charities you have supported during the tax year, your quarterly statements and annual summary act as your record. In your Tax Return you simply claim higher rate relief on the total amount deposited into your Foundation Account.

Support for Cambridgeshire Community Foundation.

Opening a Foundation Account also demonstrates your support to us, the Cambridgeshire Community Foundation. We deduct a small sum from your Account as a contribution to our running cost. These deductions are applied to donations added to your account and are calculated as follows:

• On deposits of between £1000 and £15,000 (including any tax rebates) into your Foundation Account in the year 1 April to 31 March, CCF deduct 4%.
• On deposits of over £15,001 (including any tax rebates) into your Foundation Account in the year 1 April to 31 March, CCF deduct 1%.

Deposits into your Account

You can send a cheque or set up a direct debit to fund your Foundation Account. Alternatively, if your employer runs a Give as You Earn Scheme, you can fund an Account directly from your salary before tax by filling out an instruction form and handing it to your employer. You can also gift stocks and shares, which we then sell on your behalf to boost your Account. These sales are exempt from Capital Gains Tax, and the gift of most shares and securities can also be offset against Income Tax at the market value of the gift.

Letters of wishes

The balance of your Account can only be used for charitable donations on your death. Your estate can continue to make directions on how the Account balance should be applied. If no directions are issued over a three year period, we will transfer the Account balance to the CCF “Fund for Cambridgeshire” which is distributed at the discretion of the CCF trustees to local charities and communities group that are tackling disadvantage.

To open a Foundation Account with Cambridgeshire Community Foundation, please contact CCF.