Charitable trust will accept large grants

A charity fund will continue to accept large grant applications worth up to £200,000  – despite counter claims purse strings should be tightened.
The Isle of Anglesey Charitable Trust, worth more than £22m, administers the money received from Shell when it closed its oil terminal near Amlwch.
The trust is made up of all 30 Anglesey councillors who meet on a regular basis as trustees to share out the available funds between local groups, societies and good causes.
But despite a sub-group recommending  the fund should not accept grant applications of over £8,000 for a year in order to allow more interest to accumulate, this was rejected by councillors meeting in Llangefni on Tuesday.
The report outlined that the fund, worth around £22.1m, was already obliged to spend a total of £670,000 on long-standing beneficiaries including Oriel Mon, the Urdd, Young Farmers, village halls, Menter Mon and other costs.
Members were told it was “recommended” the spend did not outweigh what was being generated in interest, with Aled Morris Jones urging caution.
“If we hadn’t taken great care in the past and replenished the fund, it wouldn’t be worth £22m now,” he said.
Bryan Owen added “a fool and his money are easily parted,”urging trustees to accept the sub-group’s recommendation.
But Carwyn Jones said: “We have £22m sitting there, people on Anglesey have projects they want to fulfil, we can’t let them wait for a year while we sort the paperwork out.”
Nicola Roberts said sitting on such a fund would be “hypocritical,” adding the pot of money was “there to be spent.”
“People are desperate for grant funding, and after Brexit it will be an even rarer commodity”, she added.
While £350,000 a year had been allocated during 2017, 2018 and 2019, a proposal put forward by Cllr Carwyn Jones that £200,000 should be allocated for larger grants was approved by 16 votes to 10 with one abstention.
In September, trustees endorsed plans to transfer control of the fund to the Isle of Anglesey Charitable Association.

By Gareth Williams – Local Democracy Reporter