Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Funds definition

What does Funds mean? In legal practice, funds describes pooled investment arrangements where assets are managed to a stated investment objective for the benefit of participating investors. The term is descriptive and used across multiple contexts; specific definitions and rules appear in legislation and regulation, including the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and the UCITS and AIFMD regimes (as implemented in the UK and Ireland). Typical features include: investors holding units or shares that represent a proportionate interest; pricing by reference to net asset value; assets held by an independent depositary or custodian separate from the manager; and operation under constitutional documents and...

Benevolent Funds: Definition, Relief and Prevention of Poverty, and Public Benefit under the Charities Act 2011 (England and Wales)

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Practice notes

A benevolent fund is an institution, including a body of trustees, that holds money on trust to alleviate poverty within a defined class of individuals. The connection between members of that class might be:

a shared employer (as in Gibson)
a common trade or profession
membership of a particular members’ club (as in Re Young)
an unincorporated association or friendly society (as in Re Buck)
a common family member - the ‘poor relations’ cases (as in Re Compton)

Most benevolent funds are registered charities. However, a benevolent fund will only be charitable, with all the associated advantages of charitable status (not least in relation to taxation), if it meets the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (CA 2011). Benevolent funds can be set up, and accumulate their assets, in a variety of ways, as illustrated by the opening paragraphs (paragraphs 5 to 13) of Attorney General v charity Commission.

Relief of poverty

Whether a particular trust or gift amounts to a charitable benevolent fund for the relief of poverty does not depend on using the word ‘poverty’, because the requisite charitable intention can be...

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Web page updated on 26/05/2026

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