From helping to bring a local play area back to life to supporting people in the most poverty stricken areas of Africa, the Philip J Milton & Company Plc Charitable Foundation works on behalf of multiple good causes.
During the course of a year the Foundation – which evolved from our Firm as part of a wish to give something back to our community and others less fortunate – provides grants large and small to various charities and projects.
For example, it recently donated £750 towards the ongoing good work of villagers in Chittlehampton to refurbish and reinstate their much-loved village play area, which sadly had to be closed three years ago because the equipment had just become too old and potentially dangerous.
Another example is donating to the Christian charity Tearfund, which used a recent grant to help people living in the poorest areas of Ethiopia become self-sufficient by starting their own businesses.
One lady was able to start up a shop and purchase some livestock to support her family after her husband was partially paralysed during his job as a wood cutter and could no longer work. Of course there is no ‘welfare state’ there and some form of income was quite literally the difference between life and death for the couple and their two children.
Other examples include the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, to raise awareness and help preserve rare species of bumblebees in our area, as well as the Littlest Wildlife Hotel in South Molton.
The Company has always recognised the value of the community in which it operates and we have always tried to give something back, both for local causes and much further afield.
The Charitable Foundation grew from this as a way to bring these various strands together, as well as the intent to grow and expand this from the Foundation’s own invested capital seed funding.
So what does the Foundation support? A great deal and the scope is very wide ranging though helping lots of small entities with little but meaningful sums is likely to be preferred than a few large ones. You can read more about it if you wish on the website details below, but briefly, we consider any UK registered charity operating in the areas of education, poverty relief, disaster relief or Christian activity.
We would also support any organisation operating in North Devon to benefit local community facilities, the arts or culture for the public benefit.
We also help people anywhere in the world for the purpose of education or training, poverty relief or medical treatment and lastly, those who are helping in the development of programmes for financial education including budgeting, basic finance, home economics and basic culinary skill.
Our core objectives include financial education for those in need in the North Devon area and perhaps further afield if possible – this is an ongoing effort and one we hope to develop more in time.
You can find out more about the work of our Charitable Foundation at www.miltonpj.net/charitable-foundation and if you wish to enquire about applying for a grant, please email us on charity@miltonpj.net.
