News and Blog

Strong economic growth in 2013 represented perhaps the first genuine signs of a worldwide recovery since the major set-backs in 2008.

In the past, it has been very expensive to produce marketing materials to promote a charity’s activities to the wider public.

In an age of government cuts, charities have been increasingly dependent on alternative sources of funding, one of these being charity shops.

Today, the Chancellor, George Osborne delivered an upbeat and more political Budget as he promised to nuture a ‘resilient economy’, upgrading his growth forecasts of GDP from 2.4% to 2.7% this year and from 2.2% to 2.3% next year. He also highlighted the decline in unemployment and a target to eliminate the budget deficit by 2019. However, he cautioned that ‘the job is far from done’, as the UK is half-way through an austerity programme of tax rises and spending cuts stretching to 2018.

Following a sharp equity sell off towards the end of January, February saw a welcome return to growth in the markets. Global economic data for the first two months of 2014 has been largely positive and in line with expectations.

Following a market rally throughout December, there was widespread optimism regarding market sentiment for 2014. The majority of broker reports seemed to indicate the FTSE100 would break through 7000 points for the first time and some even suggested 7500 may be possible by this time next year.

As a keen sportsman myself, I support the growth and increased participation in community sports clubs. 

Being located in the Devon, we are committed to working with both charities and companies in the South West to formulate effective CSR strategies. 

Trustees have the overall responsibility for the investment of a charity’s funds, however we are now seeing an increasing trend in trustees choosing to delegate ongoing investment decisions to a third-party. 

Since the start of the financial crisis in 2008, markets have been extremely volatile and it has been hard to know how best to invest capital reserves.