With the UK economy now showing signs of growth, we take a look at how charity trustees could use the recovery to their advantage.

Whilst many economic indicators are pointing to an upturn in the economy over the coming months, it looks likely that interest rates will remain low for the foreseeable future. As a result, any charity holding large sums of cash in bank accounts is in our view likely to miss out on any period of significant growth. Whilst holding cash was undoubtedly a sensible strategy during the worldwide financial crisis, we now believe that interest rates cannot hope to keep pace with inflation or provide significant income for charities.

Most charities tend to have a fairly defensive attitude towards investing surplus funds and whilst we agree this is a sensible strategy, we would encourage charities to take this opportunity following an upturn in the markets to re-assess their investment strategy. Indeed it may be possible to invest for a higher income with better risk controls.