Aberdeen Standard Capital: UK charities sitting on uninvested billions

The discretionary fund manager has published a report from The Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Cass Business School which identifies, for the first time, the barriers to charities setting and executing an appropriate investment policy.

The report also provides a toolkit for trustees to identify their own individual “tipping point” where they are comfortable moving from cash holdings to investing for the first time.

With over 5,000 UK charities sitting on over £16.7 billion of uninvested cash, the report is designed to help charities identify their own unique barriers to investment whether that is people, policy and process or public perception barriers.

Julie Hutchison, charities specialist at Aberdeen Standard Capital, said: “Trustees have a duty to ensure that charities are invested appropriately. As our research identifies, in practice there are many barriers to moving from holding cash to investing and each charity will have its own tipping point.

“Many charities do recognise the value of prudent investment management and see the opportunity to use environmental, social and governance research and ethical screening to align their investment strategies with their cause. However many good intentions are yet to be actioned.

“Investment involves risk but need not involve fear. By understanding the investment journey and knowing when help is required charities can move beyond their tipping point.”