Philanthropy and charitable giving

Our specialist philanthropy and charity lawyers work with companies, individuals and families to align their charitable giving with their values and goals to positively impact the world. Whether setting up a charitable foundation, making a large donation to a specific cause or charity, or planning a legacy in your will, we can help you realise your philanthropic goals while protecting you, your assets and your reputation.

Individual giving

If you would like to establish a family foundation or other philanthropic structure, we can guide you through the process of setting up and running a charity, either during your life or as part of estate planning. We can also advise on making larger, or complex gifts to charities, museums or specific causes. We can help you ensure that your giving is tax-efficient and advise on other options for philanthropy, such as donor-advised funds.

Corporate giving

We are also proud to advise many businesses on their corporate social responsibility programmes and charitable giving. We work with leading companies that have established, or wish to establish, a corporate foundation. We can advise on Charity Commission registration, day-to-day operations, governance and ensuring that the relationship between your company and foundation meets all legal and regulatory requirements.

We can help you with:

• deciding if setting up a family foundation is the right option
• choosing a legal structure that best protects you
• creating a governance structure for a family foundation 
• obtaining registration with the Charity Commission and HMRC
• tax efficient giving
• setting up a corporate foundation
• complying with legal and regulatory requirements
• making large gifts and naming rights
• working with donor advised funds
• protecting your family and business from reputational harm

Giving to charity is increasingly important to many people and we take time to listen, so we can provide advice that is fully tailored to you. Our specialist team of charity and philanthropy lawyers is informed by our deep understanding of the charity sector and years of experience helping individuals and businesses achieve the most impact with their giving.

In tandem, our private client and family office specialists offer clear, practical advice on wills and inheritance issues, asset protection through trusts, loss of mental capacity and all tax advice. With an empathetic approach to helping individuals and families make informed decisions, we provide seamless access to the specialist advice you need. We can help you to maximise the opportunity to use your wealth to do good, through effective estate, tax and succession planning, both during your lifetime and to shape the legacy you leave behind.

We are also highly experienced at working with corporate foundations, navigating the legal and regulatory landscape to achieve successful charitable registration and ensure that the relationship between the charity and the business is compliant and constructive. 

Our nationally recognised charity team is highly rated in the Legal 500 directory which states that Russell-Cooke "provides service beyond normal legal advice—coordination for complex projects involving multiple advisors and useful strategic insights."
The Legal 500 (2024)

Charges are usually based on our hourly rates plus administrative charges and disbursements. We’ll provide you with an initial estimate of your likely legal costs and will update this if your requirements or the circumstances of the work change.

We’d be happy to discuss your requirements free of charge and provide a tailored proposal of costs.