FAQs

How will my pledge or donation improve lives?

We’ll direct our money to where it will have most impact - addressing systemic inequality in the region with game-changing interventions delivered by voluntary sector organisations led by people who want to change lives.

We’ll be focusing on:

disadvantaged young people (school/ skills)
children in care
care-experienced young people
families in poverty and crisis
people who are homeless

Who can pledge or donate?

Anyone:

founders and investors – with equity in a company or carry can pledge part of their future proceeds
those with existing liquidity – including companies with CSR budgets – can give now with a donation

What kind of assets can I pledge or donate?

You can pledge and donate capital.

We cannot accept pledges and donations of shares.

Is there a minimum pledge or donation?

No, but if you are making a pledge of future value, we recommend that minimum percentage is 5%. Let’s talk it through and find the right percentage for you and your philanthrophic goals.

You can pledge more – and you can also put thresholds in place (10% of everything to a certain value and 5% thereafter, for example).

There is no minimum donation.

What are the tax implications?

Donations are subject to gift aid, and pledges are subject to the tax rules for donations to charities at the point that the pledge is realised.

*Please note that Cambridge pledge cannot provide legal or tax advice - this is for information only.

Do I need board or investor approval to pledge or donate?

No. Pledges and donations are a personal commitment coming from your current or future personal wealth.

What happens to my money?

The Cambridge Pledge will principally deploy capital through social impact investments - made to maximise social impact (alongside a modest financial return).

This will see Cambridge leading the way in social innovation, alongside our world-leading tech and life sciences innovation.

The Cambridge Pledge will also make grants to compliment the investment thesis; or where social investment is not appropriate, supporting to businesses, organisations and people to develop their ideas and grow their impact, with communities driving decision-making.

Alongside this, the Cambridge pledge will offer ‘donor advised funds ‘– so that pledgers and Donors can direct their funds towards charities in the region that resonate with them – on which, more below.

What is impact investment?

Impact investments are made to create measurable, beneficial social impact alongside a modest financial return. This is patient capital, which allows for the time it takes to make impact, rather than being constrained by spending reviews and electoral cycles.

Place-based impact investment introduces new capital into a place, but crucially also makes space for innovation and collaboration.

The UK’s social impact investment market is valued at £10billionIt is growing in size and significance in government’s growth strategy

How will you report on your impact?

We take impact seriously. Each year, we’ll use data very precisely to report on the impact our investments are having on people’s life chances – and we’ll talk about what that means in the long term too. We’ll talk about why it matters, and how it’s catalysing wider change. We’ll keep you in the loop, so you can see how we’re doing.

I’d like to support charities I care about too

That’s ok! We understand that many pledgers and Donors will have personal priorities.

That’s why we have an option for DAFs – Donor Advised Funds. That means you can specify where up to 25% of your pledge is directed (noting that our charitable objects limit us to VCSE organisations in the Cambridge region).

If this is a route you’d like to explore, we can have a chat.If you would like to direct your pledge beyond this region, then we aren’t the right people to help (but we can point you in the right direction).

What will my future involvement be?

We will keep in touch with you, letting you know about the impact we’re having. We’re be building a pledge community, and we’ll invite you to come to events – but there’s no pressure to join in.

Who runs the Cambridge pledge?

The work to launch the Cambridge pledge is being spearheaded by Innovate Cambridge.

As such it has a Board of Charity Trustees with the commensurate legal obligations.

The Executive Director of the pledge, Sara Allen, will oversee day-to-day operations, and make recommendations for programmes and organisations to support.

The Board will meet to review these recommendations and direct the funds.

What does it cost?

It is free to join, free to pledge and free to make a donation.

Members can choose to help fund our work, by donating to our operating expenses, for which we would be very grateful - and we’ll pick this up with you in conversations about your plans.