East London Bond
A new way to fund charitable work
The recession has squeezed donors’ budgets but increased the
needs of London’s most vulnerable people. It has left vital
local services struggling for funding in already deprived London
communities.
The East London Bond was an innovative campaign by Allia
(formerly CityLife) to tackle this problem. It allowed individuals
and companies to use their capital to support charities by
investing in a charitable bond, but get their money back after a
fixed period, leaving a legacy of lasting change.
We invested £100,000 interest-free in the East London Bond - and
in 2015, we will get all the money back so that we can use it to
benefit even more Londoners. This investment released up-front
grant funding for award-winning community regeneration centres the
Bromley by Bow Centre and Community Links.
The Bromley by Bow Centre
works with 2,000 families, young people, vulnerable adults and
older people every week. They support them through initiatives that
develop new skills, get them back into work and help them to lead
healthier lifestyles.
Based in Newham,
Community Links will
use their grant to create social enterprises that boost local
employment and provide specialist financial advice and debt
counselling to help families hardest hit by the recession.
The rest of our investment was loaned by Allia to the social
housing provider Places
for People. One of the largest property management, development
and regeneration companies in the UK, they are developing
much-needed quality affordable social housing across the UK. It is
the repayment of this loan, plus tax-free compound
interest, that will enable investors in the Bond to receive
their money back in full.
Since the East London Bond campaign, Allia has now launched a
new fundraising service at
www.allia.org.uk which allows
investors in its charitable bonds to choose the cause they wish to
support.
City Bridge Trust is happy to support this new kind of funding
and encourage other funders to invest in Allia’s charitable
bonds.
“If you want to keep your capital intact,” says Adrian Bell,
former Chairman of the Royal Bank of Canada Europe, “you can give
more to charity by investing in a charitable bond than giving away
the annual interest from an investment elsewhere. Plus, all the
money goes to charity on day one.”
Contact details
For more information, contact Allia at
hello@allia.org.uk or
visit: www.allia.org.uk
