Guidance

Total return investment for permanently endowed charities

Guidance for trustees of permanently endowed charities considering adopting a total return approach to investing the charity's funds.

Applies to England and Wales

Documents

Details

This guidance is for charities with permanent endowment. It is about:

  • the power to adopt a total return approach to investment, and
  • the power to further resolve to make social investments with a negative or uncertain return

Read this guidance to understand:

  • what total return investment means for permanently endowed charities
  • how to adopt the power to use total return investment or to further make social investments with a negative or uncertain financial return
  • trustees’ duties with regard to using the powers
  • allocating total return between income and capital
  • what happens if the charity already has a total return investment order from the Commission, or an order authorising social investment with a negative or uncertain financial return

See Charity Commission regulations: charities total return

Published 1 November 2013
Last updated 14 June 2023 + show all updates
  1. Guidance updated to reflect changes introduced by the Charities Act 2022.

  2. First published.