Companies

What ShareGift Does

ShareGift is the industry-standard solution to the problem of odd lot shareholdings and small cash entitlements.

We receive tens of thousands of small donations each year, alongside an increasing number of much larger donations. From all of these donations, large and small, we generate a new pool of money for charities, while at the same time saving companies significant recurring administrative costs.

Why work with ShareGift?

ShareGift is an independent charity which can give to any registered charity and is guided by suggestions from individual donors and the companies which work with us, as well as its own research from time to time. As a result, ShareGift is responsive to the varied charitable interests of all shareholders in a way that an individual cause charity or company’s charitable foundation are not.

By working with ShareGift, companies can help manage their register in a way which not only engages directly with their shareholders but also has a charitable outcome, typically at no additional cost to the company or the shareholder. We believe that ShareGift should be part of the ESG strategy for every company which maintains a register of shareholders.

Ways to work with ShareGift

• Information about ShareGift is routinely included in standard shareholder mailings (annual reports, corporate nominee annual statements, etc.) as companies recognise the potential to reduce their future administrative costs significantly. As these are existing mailings, there is no additional cost to the company.
• Company dealing programmes, where existing shareholders are offered an option to dispose of small shareholdings, typically include an option to donate the proceeds of sales to ShareGift.
• ShareGift often features as the recipient of residual dividend entitlements and unclaimed cash amounts from Dividend Reinvestment Programmes.
• ShareGift can also receive residual monies from SAYE share plans following maturity of options, and is working towards a similar solution for SIP.

Companies and their advisers find many useful applications for ShareGift's approach within ‘live’ transactions. There is a clear benefit in including ShareGift in corporate actions, especially where this can pre-empt the creation of odd lot shareholdings or small cash entitlements. Examples include:

• As an option for shareholders to donate small amounts of cash following share consolidations
• As the recipient of the proceeds from the aggregated fractions of shares in major acquisitions. Here, the principal benefit is that the donation option removes the necessity for the costly generation and posting of hundreds of thousands of small cheques
• As the recipient of small unclaimed cash entitlements under CASS regulations
• As an option for accepting shareholders in a Takeover. An “Accept and Donate” option is a useful tool in minimising the size of the subsequent dissenting register
• To receive cash proceeds from fractional nil paid shares arising from rights issues
• As transferee of last resort when registers for companies in administration are closed to all other transfers. Administrative costs are substantially reduced following the many share donations which take place before the final payment is made to shareholders

For further information and sample wording, please contact David McIntosh