Posted on 27th August 2008
A Scottish charitable trust has won a court case which will allow it to fund a wider range of causes, by altering its trust deed.
The RS Macdonald Charitable Trust was founded in 1978 by Roderick Stewart Macdonald. He donated £50,000 worth of shares in Glenmorangie PLC, which was founded by a relative. Macdonald named six charities that could be supported by the trust, and set criteria for other charities to apply.
When he died in 1995 the shareholding he bequeathed to the trust was worth £17m, and when Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy bought the company in 2004, the shares were worth more than £50m.
The trustees decided to broaden the criteria because over 90% of applications had to be rejected during a 10-month period, while only four grants were made.
After an application to the Court of Session, the supreme civil court in Scotland, Lord Drummond Young ruled in favour of the Trust, but also determined that grants could not exceed £40,000 and could only be given to charities operating in Scotland.
