UK-based wealth and asset manager Rathbones has launched an institutional multi-asset solution designed to meet the evolving investment needs of charities by delivering long-term growth, reliable income and responsible stewardship.
The Rathbones Charity Growth & Income Fund, a charity authorised investment fund (CAIF) will help trustees to “balance the funding of current charitable activities while safeguarding capital for the future”, the firm said.
Actively managed by Charity Fund Manager James Ayre, within Rathbones’ specialist multi-asset team, led by Head of Multi-Asset Investments David Coombs, the fund invests across equities, bonds and alternatives to smooth performance through market cycles. It targets long-term capital growth of UK Consumer Price Index +4% alongside a planned annual distribution of 3%.
This will offer trustees cashflow to support budgeting and ongoing expenditure, said Rathbones, while maintaining the spending power of capital in real terms. The fund adopts a total return approach, which is designed to reduce reliance on income-only strategies and help preserve reserves over time.
The fund fully embeds responsible investment principles, with environmental, social and governance factors integrated into investment decisions, and Rathbones’ stewardship team engaging and voting on behalf of investors “to drive positive change”.
It will also draw on the multi-asset team’s experience of managing sustainable multi-asset portfolios, having launched a range of four Rathbone Greenbank portfolios in 2021, which have since adopted the Sustainability Focus label under the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements.
“Trustees tell us their biggest challenge is balancing certainty of income with the responsibility to protect reserves. This fund is designed to give them confidence in both – delivering today’s spending power while growing capital for tomorrow,” said Ayre.
“By combining Rathbones’ heritage in charity investing with our proven multi-asset expertise, we’ve built a flexible solution tailored to the evolving needs of today’s charities.”
Rathbones has managed money for charities for more than 100 years and supports more than 3,000 organisations nationwide, with portfolios ranging from £10,000 to more than £100 million. The firm manages £109.0 billion of assets, as of end-July 2025.
