Wealth manager Rathbones has launched a new charity-authorised investment fund, the Rathbones Charity Growth & Income Fund (CAIF).

The fund is designed to help trustees balance the funding of current charitable activities while safeguarding capital for the future.

It joins Rathbones’ existing offering to charities, aiming to provide an institutional multi-asset investment solution to provide long-term growth, reliable income, and responsible stewardship.

The new fund is actively managed by charity fund manager, James Ayre, within Rathbones’ multi-asset team, led by head of multi-asset investments, David Coombs.

It invests across equities, bonds, and diversifiers including alternatives, targeting long-term growth capital of inflation plus 4 per cent, and annual distribution of 3 per cent to offer trustees cashflow to support budgeting and ongoing expenditure, 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.

“Trustees tell us their biggest challenge is balancing certainty of income with the responsibility to protect reserves,” said Rathbones charity fund manager, James Ayre.

“This fund is designed to give them confidence in both – delivering today’s spending power while growing capital for tomorrow.

“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 head of multi-asset investments, David Coombs, added: “Charities need investment partners who understand that capital has to be resilient across cycles as well as productive in the long term.

“The new CAIF, run by James, will benefit from the strength of our multi-asset approach, which is designed precisely for that balance – drawing on a wide range of asset classes to help smooth volatility, protect reserves and support sustainable distributions.

“The CAIF allows us to apply that discipline in a structure built specifically for the sector, reflecting our long heritage and deep understanding of managing charity portfolios."

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