A local authority may be trustee of several separate small trust funds, eg school prize funds and grant-making funds. Several issues can arise:

• the funds may not have enough income for the purpose they were set up for
• the cost of administration may be out of proportion to the income
• they may get overlooked or forgotten

Charity law provides for some solutions for dealing with such charities. Use these questions to help you review the situation.

1. Are you clear about who the trustees are? Is it the Council itself, Council members or officers nominated by the Council, or individuals that include a specific post holder (eg the Mayor)?
2. Do you have an up-to-date asset list of the trust funds of which the Council is trustee?
3. Is there central oversight of the management of all the Council’s trust funds?
4. Do you have a copy of all the trust funds’ governing documents?
5. Does each fund have clear written purposes and administrative provisions? If not, does the Council have the power to declare trusts for the charity?
6. Do any of the funds need to be registered with us?
7. Are any of the funds large enough that their accounts need to be submitted to us?
8. Do you review regularly the trust funds’ investments?
9. Are you spending money in accordance with the funds’ respective governing documents?
10. Are the funds still relevant to modern circumstances?
11. Are there any relevant policies relating to the making of grants? Are these followed? Do they need updating?
12. Is there a formal grant application process?
13. How are grant applications assessed?
14. Are conditions applied to any grants made? Do they need updating?
15. Are there monitoring procedures in place to ensure the grant is being spent in accordance with the grant conditions, if any?
16. Have you considered consolidating and/or transferring the funds?

See also:

• Consolidating / transferring small funds
• Types of charity that do not have to register
• Checking who’s the trustee