Exploring ShareGift

Many of you will already be aware of ShareGift, the registered charity that specialises in accepting donations of shares and related cash entitlements. This year we will hit the landmark of £50 million in grants made to charities in the UK, and our partnerships with listed companies and those in the financial services sector have been instrumental in us hitting that incredible milestone.

ShareGift routinely works with individuals, registrars, company secretaries, share plan providers and asset managers to provide a solution to problem assets. This includes low value and unlisted holdings, residual cash entitlements from DRIPs/SCRIPs & ShareSave, fractional entitlements arising from corporate actions or share plan vestings, and unclaimed assets of all kinds. We receive tens of thousands of small donations every single year, either directly from shareholders or via our intermediary partners. Even if you are not working with ShareGift, your shareholders are.

ShareGift’s USP is that we accept all donations, regardless of listed value. We set out to solve the problem of unwanted shareholdings and related cash entitlements, and the output of what we do is funds which can be distributed to a very wide range of charities in the UK. If assets can be transferred, ShareGift will accept them, and this offers a unique opportunity for governance professionals and share plan providers. Choosing to incorporate ShareGift as a registry management or plan management tool can save you money whilst contributing to the generation of significant funds for charities in the process. More than that, incorporating ShareGift is a positive and demonstrable ESG initiative.

Working with ShareGift in relation to such assets addresses all three parts of the ESG agenda:

Environmental

It is better for the environment if you don’t mail out to low value or dormant shareholdings, but you may be obliged to do so. Since 1996 we have removed millions of small shareholdings and entitlements from circulation. This represents a significant administrative cost saving and can also generate an environmental win. If you wish to make shareholders aware of the possibility of donating to ShareGift, communications can piggyback onto existing mailings. Something as simple as including a short paragraph about ShareGift on Corporate Sponsored Nominee (CSN) statements can have a huge impact – and at no additional cost.

Social

It is socially responsible to support charities. Our largest source for charitable suggestions is individual shareholders – around half of the shareholders who donate directly to ShareGift suggest a charity. There is no reason why the charitable interests of that shareholder, often an exiting shareholder, will necessarily coincide with that of the company’s charity of the year or charitable foundation. Individuals often have strong personal connections with specific charities and naturally wish to have those interests recognised.

Even when funds arise from unclaimed or forfeited assets, companies show good social responsibility by recognising the broad charitable interests of their shareholder base when directing proceeds to ShareGift.

Governance

It is good governance practice to minimise inefficient shareholdings, dormant or orphaned assets, and turn those into valuable charitable funding via ShareGift. Our recent analysis of 70 of the largest retail share registers in the UK showed an average of 26.6% of shareholders on those registers were holding less than £100 worth of shares –for some PLCs this figure was as high as 97%.