Straitened circumstances

Applications: 2. Rejects: 2. Cups of Coffee: 1 (so far). Litres of rainwater absorbed by my underwear on the way to work: 4.7

Is the present economic climate a tough challenge for charities? No doubt. Individual giving will surely be massively squeezed as people seek necessarily to trim their budgets. Companies too are feeling decidedly less generous. I heard recently of one of the UK's biggest companies pulling out of a commitment to provide a few thousand quid and the use of a conference room for a couple of days.

But what of grant-making trusts? Well, let me tell you, the asset values of our investment portfolios have plunged by 25-40% in just three months. Our balance sheets look as scary as ****. But this is only bad news if you want to sell. They'll surely bounce back. And of course a drop in asset values is different to a drop in the income derived from those investments, which is the really important figure. It'll fall, for sure, but if our investment managers do their job it'll be by less than the 25%+ we've lost in capital values. And we do have reserves.

So, whilst I've been at pains to point out that Trusts are not just branches of one large charitable bank that you can just stake a claim to a reasonable share of, we are perhaps a bit of a refuge in times of trouble. So don't stop asking!