Orlando Fraser KC visits four Welsh charities in one of his last official visits to the country
The Chair of the charity regulator is urging greater giving from those with deeper pockets, during visits to charities today and tomorrow where he is seeing first-hand the impact of voluntary organisations in north Wales.
Orlando Fraser’s comments came as he visited the Association of Voluntary Organisations in Wrexham (AVOW) today with other visits planned for tomorrow (25th February) to three more charities as he celebrates Wales’s community spirit.
AVOW is the County Voluntary Council for Wrexham. It provides free advice and signposts local community and voluntary organisations. AVOW also provides health and wellbeing support to the local community in Wrexham.
The charity is one of many recipients to obtain funds through the regulator’s Revitalising Trusts Wales programme.
Last year, the Revitalising Trusts team helped a volunteer wind up Wrexham Care Association after it had fallen inactive but had remaining funds to spend. After identifying AVOW as a suitable charity to use the funds as intended, the regulator oversaw the transfer of over £30,000.
AVOW has been able to fund its Community Hubs Coordinator role for a further year, helping ensure vulnerable people can access local and voluntary services through community hubs based in Gwersyllt and Acton (Wrexham). The charity hopes to expand its network to additional locations and share best practices with other community-based organisations.
Today’s visit comes as the programme reaches £11.6 million revitalised in Wales alone, contributing to good causes, community foundations and charities across Wales. Since 2021, 346 Welsh charities have entered the programme, 80 of which are now operating again after years of inactivity. The remaining 266 inactive charities have all successfully transferred any dormant assets ensuring they continue to contribute to the sector.
Speaking on the Revitalising Trusts Wales programme, Orlando Fraser KC, said:
Tomorrow, Orlando Fraser is expected to visit North Wales Recovery Communities, Clough Williams-Ellis Foundation and the Snowdonia Society. This forms part of a farewell visit as he concludes his term as Chair of the charity regulator for Wales and England.
Discussing his visits, Orlando added:
Orlando’s call for more philanthropists comes as new research suggests that the UK’s richest people give a smaller proportion of their wealth to charity than the average person. The data from the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) indicates that the UK’s millionaires (people with investable assets of £1 million or more) gave the equivalent of 0.4% of their combined investable assets in 2023 (equating to almost £8 billion) compared to wider UK public donations of around £14 billion to good causes in the same year, equating to 1.6% of their income.
Research by Centre for Cities also shows that while Wales is home to some of the most generous people in the UK (according to percentage of income donated), donations tend to go to national rather than local charities.
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Notes to Editors