TACKLING Poverty Together was the theme of a Voluntary Organisation’s Network North East (VONNE) conference, an event Brewin Dolphin was proud to sponsor this year.

The conference saw 200 delegates from across the North-East charity sector get together to work out how to fight what is an acute issue for the region.

A conservative estimate is that there are ten million people in poverty in the UK, with 500,000 of these in this region and of which 150,000 are children.

There is no easy and quick fix.

Leading charity, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, has come up with a five-point plan to solve UK poverty: boost income and costs, deliver an effective benefit system, improve education standards, strengthen families and communities and promote long-term economic growth.

Acknowledging something must be done is the first step.

There is no hiding from the fact the North-East more than most parts of the country faces an uphill battle but through the course of the conference, you cannot help but be energised by those present.

Brewin Dolphin is not on the front line of this battle.

Instead, we work with the charities that are, helping them achieve the financial objectives they have to tackle this issue.

With charitable funds under management of over £3bn, it is a key part of Brewin Dolphin’s business.

Brewin Dolphin’s North-East charities team works with more than 70 local charities, helping them realise their financial objective.

Nationally, we are the sixth biggest charity investment manager in the UK.

We see our role as being ambassadors for the charities we work with, helping the trustees make sure they are behaving correctly when it comes to investing.

It is a big responsibility for them and one we understand well.

Like the causes they support, each charity is different and has their own nuances that require specialist advice.

Ethical investing is something that is becoming more prevalent every year and needs a discussion before any charity invests.

What is ethical to one charity could be completely different for the next.

The income from an investment portfolio can be used in numerous ways.

Some charities use it to pay for grants or projects every year, some use it to pay for staff or facilities and some invest it back into the portfolio, seeking to grow the capital value for the future.

With the media focusing on the day-to-day changes of the stock market, like with all our clients we always pause and look to the long-term.

Patience and sticking to our fundamental investment principles normally bears out.

This is particularly appropriate with charities.

They can last for decades, if not longer.

There are charities here that have been clients with Brewin Dolphin for more than 60 years.

There are others who have investments that are the results of hundreds of years old legacies.

We are not in a rush, basically.

Sources of income continue to be squeezed – not a week goes by with another story of local authority cuts at the moment - and the money generated from an investment portfolio is increasingly being considered an option by charities, with almost a quarter of the income for the UK’s top 3,000 charities now coming from investing.

With inflation forecast to rise to 2.7 per cent in the next 12 months and interest rates at 0.25 per cent, the numbers just do not add up.

Leaving money in the bank and doing nothing is not enough.

Poverty is a big issue that affects more of the UK population than many realise and it is only by helping the charities on the front line that we stand a chance of making a change

Jeffrey Ball is a chartered wealth manager and assistant director in the North-East charities team at Newcastle wealth management firm Brewin Dolphin

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily the views held throughout Brewin Dolphin. No director, representative or employee of Brewin Dolphin accepts liability for any direct or consequential loss arising from the use of this document or its contents. Any tax allowances or thresholds mentioned are based on personal circumstances and current legislation which is subject to change.