The Community Foundation for Lancashire and Merseyside will get almost £25 million in assets, and charities and community groups in Merseyside will get more than £800,000 a year. With 47 foundations working across the country, this is the biggest single trust transfer in the history of UK Community Foundations.
The Pilkington Charities Fund made the donation. Its trustees spent three years doing due diligence before deciding to make a long-term commitment to the area under the Community Foundation’s care. The Community Foundation helps donors give strategically to local causes by setting up tailored funds, managing them expertly, and doing thorough research on them.
The fund will focus on projects that fight poverty and bad health, with a special focus on groups based in St. Helens, where the Pilkington legacy began. The Pilkington Charities Fund will always be set aside for charitable work in Merseyside, and former trustees remain able to contribute their opinions. The original charity will close once the transfer is finished.
The Pilkington name is very important to the history of St. Helens. The glass company started out small in 1826 and grew into a global industry leader. By 1901, it was the only company in the UK that made plate glass and pioneered the Float Glass process. The Pilkington family has been in the area for many years and has helped the town’s economy and local charities as well as people in need.
“We are very honoured to be given this historic legacy and are committed to using it to make a lasting, real difference,” said Rae Brooke, CEO of the Community Foundation for Merseyside. “This level of investment will change everything at a time when it is needed more than ever, in St. Helens and Merseyside, where the Pilkington story began.”
Neil Jones, Chair of the Pilkington Charities Fund, added, “As Trustees, we are very aware of the Pilkington legacy and the area that the Trust was set up to help. We think that the Community Foundation for Merseyside’s skills and focus will help the Trust’s goals be met with renewed energy, given how hard and complicated the voluntary sector is these days.”
At a time when many organisations are facing decreased funding streams, this transfer guarantees that a historic commitment to community support continues in the most efficient manner possible, offering dependable funding to address the region’s most pressing challenges.
