3 things I learned, in my first 50 days, about CAF's first 100 years

1 - “If I am scuppered, I'm leaving you £1,000 to do some of the things we talked about”

Every organisation needs a good origin story - right?

Well, they don't come much better than passionate philanthropist Captain Edward Vivian Dearman Birchall, who was wounded leading his men in 1916 at the battle of Pozières Ridge in the Somme.

His foresighted note above before his death and resulting legacy gift led to the founding of the Charities Department in 1924, which became CAF (and which was itself an off-shoot of the National Council of Social Service, which became NCVO).

Charity history junkie? Check out this 2-min video for a whistlestop tour of CAF's first 100 years!

2 - The SO WHAT

If you're anything like me, you might think at this point, "OK, another charity anniversary milestone. Great - but so what?!"

Fast forward a 100 years, and CAF now:

• Distributes £1 billion+ each year...
• ...to 200,000 causes worldwide...
• ...on behalf of 140,000 donors

And, these record numbers are growing year on year. So, CAF's impact looks set to grow exponentially, especially as it pursues its vision of a digitally enabled global platform for giving, connecting people to play their part.

3 - You can set up a corporate foundation through CAF. Who knew?

There is no legal definition of a corporate foundation, nor is there a one-size-fits-all model for setting one up. The best approach will depend on your business’ ambition, resources, requirements and the scale at which you intend to operate.  

By partnering with CAF, businesses don’t need to register their corporate foundation as a standalone charity with the Charity Commission. Instead, CAF oversees their governance arrangements and can help with every aspect of creating and running a successful foundation, including strategy development and designing and delivering grants to charitable organisations.

All news to me.

It's been a fascinating first 50 days - looking forward to the next 50!

(And thanks to the very many spiritual and practical guides during my time so far including, but not limited to, Joe Crome, CAP® , Lacie Riseborough , Anna Yonish , Philippa Cornish and Lucy Mantella !)