New investment strategy pays dividends

June 15th 2018

Shetland Charitable Trustâ€™s new investment strategy is proving its worth, with externally managed investments returning Â£27 million (11%) in the latest financial year.

New investment strategy pays dividends

Shetland Charitable Trust’s new investment strategy is proving its worth, with externally managed investments returning £27 million (11%) in the latest financial year.

The market value of the Trust’s investments at the end of March 2018 stood at £252 million, up from £232 million on the previous 12 months.

The strongest returns were posted by Edinburgh-based fund manager Baillie Gifford, which was awarded a new equity mandate that now accounts for 43% of the Trust’s funds.

The market value of this mandate grew from £87 million to £108 million over the year.

The property mandate managed by Schroders, the diversified growth fund managed by Insight and the passive equity fund managed by BlackRock were close to their targets.

Shetland Charitable Trust Chairman Bobby Hunter said: “When we changed our investment strategy in 2016, we placed an emphasis on securing better returns and I’m pleased to say that this is paying off.

“But we always look at market returns over the long term, so we will be looking for this growth to be maintained in what remain fairly volatile global financial markets.

“Since the Trust began, over £300 million has been disbursed to a wide range of local charities, organisations and individuals”

“The goal is to inflation proof the Trust’s reserves to ensure future generations continue to be benefit from Trust funding.”

Ends

Testimonials

The funding COPE Ltd receives from the Shetland Charitable Trust supports us in many ways. It allows us to develop and maintain a strong foundation to our core business and assists us to provide on-going employment skill development opportunities to people with disabilities living within Shetland. COPE Ltd highly values the support provided to our organisation by The Shetland Charitable Trust.

“The substantial grant made to us by Shetland Charitable Trust every year allows us to provide first-class facilities and dedicated staff to underpin sporting success among people of all ages and abilities in the islands.”

Having this core funding from the Charitable Trust means that we can use that money where we need it at any given time. It's multi-year funding which really takes the pressure off. To have the funding to keep going is really important as it is improving the lives of disabled folk in Shetland.

The funding that we get from the Charitable Trust pays for part of staff support and matching with other funders. Without local funders we wouldn't have national funders, and without either of those funders, we wouldn't be able to do this, so funding from the Shetland Charitable Trust is incredibly important.

The funding Shetland Arts gets from Shetland Charitable Trust is about making sure the organisation can thrive, access other funds, and deliver on behalf of the community of Shetland. Our funding from the Shetland Charitable Trust really helps us with our conversations with national funders because it shows that we're working on behalf of what the local objectives and priorities are.

The Access to Leisure scheme was introduced to allow folk to be able to get access to classes and activities for a lower cost. I feel that the SRT play a critical role in every community across Shetland and that's all down to the funding of the Shetland Charitable Trust that we're able to maintain that.

Unpaid carers do an amazing job looking after people 24/7 in their own homes, keeping them living at home safely, and they really need help to do that. Thanks to the funding from Shetland Charitable Trust, we've been able to employ a deputy manager, recruit more care attendants, and provide overnights. We're also really grateful for the funding because it means that everybody can get the service for free.