charitable giving by authors and scholars
Authors and scholars are well known for their philanthropic
tendencies and our Charities team is regularly asked to advise on
the ways in which authors can donate their works, or the royalties
from them, to charity. If a donation is structured correctly, the
gift to charity can attract tax relief from income tax, capital
gains tax or inheritance tax. There are a number of ways in which
this can be achieved, depending on exactly what and when the author
wishes to donate, including a simple gift of a publication, a gift
of the royalties from a book, or collection of books, through to
setting up a grant-making charity. A few examples of these are set
out below.
Firstly, well-known authors may wish
to make a donation of a particular book, often a signed first
edition, or a simple gift of a collection of their books or a
collection of other author’s works. The Bodleian Library, perhaps
one of the most celebrated libraries in the world, was established
with a gift of books donated by the Duke of Gloucester in the 15th
Century. Since then many authors and scholars have donated their
own works and collections of books, and manuscripts to the library
so that they can be preserved in perpetuity for the benefit of
students and scholars from across the world.
Tony Blair announced last year that he
would be donating the profits from his memoirs to a sports centre
for injured soldiers and we have seen authors finding creative ways
to support their favourite charity. J K Rowling famously wrote and
hand illustrated seven copies of The Tales of Beedle the
Bard in 2007. She arranged for one copy of the book to be
auctioned and for the proceeds of sale to be donated to her
favoured charity; A Children’s Voice. The book was auctioned by
Sotheby’s and sold for just under £2 million.
Secondly, an author may desire to make
a lifetime gift or legacy of the royalties from one or more of
their own publications. This can be achieved through either a
direct payment to an existing charity or through a grant-making
charity established specifically for the purpose. We act for a
number of grant-making charities that have been set up in
celebration or memory of an author. The advantage of this type of
charity is the flexibility it offers. The author can list a number
of chosen charities or identify the type
of charity they would wish to benefit
and then the trustees of the charity, often including the author
and/or his or her close friends and relatives, can decide on the
most appropriate use of the funds in any given year.
Lastly, some authors wish to retain a
level of control over the way in which any future income from their
donation will be used and they choose to establish a charity, often
in their own name. These charities can be set up to support a
specific charitable purpose linked to the author’s work, such as
improving literacy or education. Others are set up for more general
charitable purposes. A good example of a charity established in
this way is the charity set up in memory of the author Roald Dahl.
His Marvellous Children’s Charity was founded by Mrs Felicity Dahl,
Roald Dahl’s widow, shortly after his death in 1991 and since then
has raised over £7 million for charitable causes. The fund
initially provided support for literacy problems and for children
and younger people with serious rare blood or brain conditions.
More recently it has focused on its work in children’s
hospitals.
If you would like more information about giving publications or
royalties to charity, setting up a charitable trust or leaving a
gift of publications or royalties to a charity in a
Will, please contact Alison
Talbot,
a partner in our
Charities team in
Oxford, on 01865 254241 or
by email at
alison.talbot@bllaw.co.uk.
