MoneySavingExpert Charity Fund

Martin explains why the MSE Charity was set up...

Where does the MSE Charity cash come from?

The money is generated from two sources:

• Donations from well-wishers.

  Anyone who wants to support the charity is more than welcome; for the many who have said they'd like to donate to MoneySavingExpert as it's saved them money, please donate to the charity instead.

  You can donate by contacting info@msecharity.com or by sending a cheque payable to the MSE Charity to its treasurer Tony Tesciuba, at The Chambers, 13 Police Street, Manchester, M2 7LQ. A Gift Aid declaration form can be provided on request.

• An annual donation from this site.

  A donation of over £235,000 was made to launch the charity, and it's hoped a substantial donation will continue to be made each year. This includes all of Martin's proceeds from the Thrifty Ways and Three Lessons books.

  All this cash – less some small administration costs, which aren't expected to exceed 10% of income – will go directly to the grant fund (the cost of the day-to-day operation of the charity is met by a separate personal donation from Martin).

Eight projects benefit from Feb '18 grant-giving round

Following its February 2018 round the MSE Charity awarded a total of over £43,000 to eight organisations.

The round focused on projects that support people living with long-term challenges, such as dementia, brain injury or stroke.

The organisations – which will use the funding to teach financial life skills – include:

• Autism Able, a specialist education service and well-being centre for people on the autistic spectrum living in South Tyneside.
• Bute Advice Centre, which helps vulnerable members of the Scottish island community to fight poverty and social exclusion with impartial and confidential advice and assistance.
• Community Housing Aid, a registered charity that provides practical advice and support to people who are in a vulnerable housing situation or homeless in Exeter and the surrounding area.
• Paul for Brain Recovery, which helps people after brain injury by providing advice and support.
• Headway Portsmouth and South East Hampshire, a registered charity that offers support, advice and information to adults with head injury and/or acquired brain injury.
• Pip – Parents in Partnership – is a registered charity based in Croydon. Its aim is to offer opportunities to parents and carers of children with special educational needs and disabilities.
• Pembrokeshire People First, an independent registered charity run by and for people with learning disabilities and/or autism.
• West Dunbartonshire CVS, a Scottish community development agency that works with over 940 local voluntary-sector organisations.

For more information on how these organisations will be using the grants, see the MSE Charity website.

As well as the MSE Charity, there are five other charities that benefit, having been nominated and voted for by site users. For many of these, the donations have made a real difference. For example, Re-Cycle has been included in the site's selected charities for years; it sends old bicycles from the UK to the developing world, which are then fixed up. It also builds transport infrastructure.

The current charities

The last vote took place in July '08 and the following five charities were selected:

• Re-Cycle: Fighting poverty with affordable transport.
  
• Help for Heroes: Direct support for our forces' wounded.
• Shelterbox: Providing tools for the developing world.
• CAP UK: Debt-counselling charity.
• Samaritans: Providing confidential emotional support to the UK.

Donations between 1 September 2006 and 21 July 2008