SOF 45 / January 2001 MILES HOWARTH, chair of the Sea of Faith Development Trust, explains the Trust's objectives - and launches its first appeal for much-needed funds for the future The Sea of Faith Development Trust has now "gone live", officially recognised by the Charity Commission as an educational - not a religious - charity. The process has taken about two years and the help of some specialist lawyers. The Commission look very carefully at anything which really looks like some dodgy new form of religion. They first wanted, quite properly, to explore how the public at large stood to benefit and whether the proposed charitable purposes could be distorted for the benefit of a select few. In the case of some new religions, High Court lawsuits are apparently pending.
The Trust is a separate body from the SoF Network but has a similar Object - "to advance the education of the public in religious studies with particular reference to religious faith seen as a human creation". Crucial to the application were the ways in which we are planning to achieve this objective, so I'll quote them in full. We are to provide grants for activities which meet the Trust's Object and which are carried out under the auspices of the Sea of Faith Network (UK) and of other organisations, as follows:
A. "The organisation, conduct of and contributions to public conferences, seminars, lectures, discussions and similar activities on subjects relevant to the promotion of the Trust's Object." The Trust plans to assist with the cost of speakers and the expenses of meetings, to provide financial guarantees against loss, and to give grants for, or employ one or more persons to work in a facilitator role on a national or regional basis.
B "The production, marketing and distribution of books, magazines, leaflets, audio and video tapes, Internet material and similar activities relevant to the promotion of the Trust's Object." The Trust plans to provide earmarked grants and financial guarantees against loss for the development, production and distribution of educational material in various forms, including the establishment of a resources library and the production of a video.
C. "The costs of carrying out and publishing research on subjects relevant to the Object, the research being carried out and supervised under the auspices of an institution of higher education in receipt of public funds.” The potential field of study is wide given the unique nature of the Trust's Object where religious studies do not exclude humanism. | SOF 45 / January 2001 — ee D. "Such other specific purposes relevant to the Object as shall be determined by the Trustees from time to time.” Why did we invest so much time and effort to achieve this outcome? Could not all this have been achieved through the existing SoF Network? It could, of course, but a lot less effectively because: e The charitable status of the Trust brings strong assurance to donors about the use which will be made of the funds in both the short and the long term. * The tax advantages now enjoyed by the Trust allow the remission of income tax and inheritance tax.
Who are the Trustees? There are six, appointed by the SoF Steering Committee. Their appointment has to be renewed after three years and they cannot serve longer than six years at a stretch. They do not have to be members of that Committee. Someone who gave a substantial donation could be appointed as a Trustee in order to have a big say in the use made of it.
Now is a very good time to be launching an appeal for funds as: ¢ The Government has introduced the new Gift Aid Scheme. Tax-efficient donations to charity are now even easier. e The inflow of funds from SoF's original appeal for a Development Officer has now dried up. Michael Elliott's current appointment and the funds raised to support it run out shortly. Following on from this work we now need to plan the further development of SoF, and to secure the funds to turn these aspirations into a reality.
The Trustees’ target - wait for it - is £8000 a year. Too ambitious? Not really. A sum like this is perfectly achievable. We have about 700 members nationally, plus other members of local groups and several hundred magazine subscribers. A precious few will no doubt be very generous, as with the previous appeal, when we received four-figure sums.
We propose to raise funds by two methods. Firstly legacies, providing capital for investment and then a regular income to assure SoF’s long term future.
Obviously the timing and success of this method is highly uncertain. Long live us all but..!
Secondly we should like regular annual donations.
They could be linked to the existing subscriptions to the Network, but would be more tax efficient.
We shall be circulating documentation round the membership shortly. Meanwhile, please think about what you might be able to give in the way of donations. Or could you give your time to help with the administration of the Appeal. Inquiries welcome. Tel: 01245 360457.