'Give One' - Scarborough business advisors and accountants Fortus launch new charity foundation

The Fortus Foundation aims to support the grass roots organisations across Yorkshire who lack the visibility and resources to grow.

A statement of the Fortus Foundation website reads: “There are 180,000 registered charities in the UK but 60% of all donations go to just 500 of them.

“The UK charity sector does amazing things, but due to certain red tape and administrative burden, many funding mechanisms are excluding these tiny but mighty organisations. “We want businesses to use their charitable and corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts to honour and support the entrepreneurial spirit of these groups - not just because it feels right, but because it makes financial sense.”

The foundation is encouraging small businesses to get involved and to ‘Give One’ – to commit 1% of their annual profits, and the Fortus Foundation will support grass-roots community groups and charities making true impact across Yorkshire.

Head of Foundation, Matty Lewis, said: “Craig Herbert, CEO of Fortus, wanted to do some good in the world.

“We did a couple of surveys with our business owners and the majority came back saying they didn’t engage with fundraising because it is too time consuming.

“Small business owners can’t help everyone – and they hate saying no. Ultimately we want to take the load off them.”

The Fortus Foundation’s operations are being fully-funded by Fortus Ltd’s own 1% donation – meaning that every penny donated, goes straight to where it’s needed most.

Mr Lewis, who has previously been involved with men’s mental health groups Yorkey Dads and Menfulness, said: “We know that it’s difficult for small groups to find the funding available to them, and when they do, the funding applications can be long and convoluted.

“They find themselves facing page one of 27 on an application form, asking for information they’re not skilled enough to provide.

“We plan to change that by offering grants of £500-10,000 for small local community groups and charities via a one page application form.

“Simply tell us about your community group and tell us about the project that you want to fund.”

Mr Lewis continued: “The second problem can be the impact reporting once the project is completed.

“For a grant of just £500, you still need a huge impact report at the end.

“We wanted to take away that burden, so we plan to turn up with a videographer to film the journey.

“It will enable us to shine a light on the work the charities are doing, and to go back to our investors and say ‘look at the good work your money is doing.’”

The Fortus Foundation is asking businesses who would like to get involved to sign up and commit 1% of their profits into the foundation.

Mr Lewis said: “We’ve had a few businesses sign up already, but we want to be at a point where we never say no.”

To find out more about the foundation, or to apply for a grant visit the website at www.fortusfoundation.co.uk.