Setting up the Trust
How donations are put to use
Administering the PCMT
Raising money
The Trust

Setting up the Trust
The Peter Culverhouse Memorial Trust (PCMT) was set up in October 2003 by four school friends of Pete: Nick Crossley, Paul Donovan, Tom Humphreys and Mark Shepherd. After an evening at the Black Swan pub, we decided to try to create a fund that would serve as a lasting memorial to Pete, and which could support causes that were important to him. With the help of Pete's family and several other friends, the PCMT came into being with an initial endowment in November 2003.

The PCMT supports two specific charities (whose details appear in the beneficiaries section). Funding research into Pete's specific form of tumour seemed an obvious choice, particularly as this is an area which has not seen a great deal of research to date. To this end the PCMT supports the SDBTT Astro Fund, which is funding research by Dr. Jeremey Rees at the Institute of Neurology London (www.astrofund.org.uk) into Peter's type of tumour. The Princess Alice Hospice was also a clear choice - the care that they provided to Pete, and the support they offered to his family and friends in 2003 was invaluable.

As well as raising money for these causes in any given year, an important objective of the PCMT is to provide a permanent source of funding for these causes. The PCMT has established an endowment, the income from which is donated to the beneficiaries (in Pete's name) on a regular basis.

How donations are put to use
A donation is split into three parts. In normal circumstances, in the year that the donation is made, 25% goes to fund the SDBTT Astro Fund, and 25% goes to fund the Princess Alice hospice. These donations are paid to the two charities in October of each year. The remaining 50% goes to build up the endowment of the PCMT. This money is invested, and the investment income from the endowment is divided equally between the two charities. This means that a donation will provide immediate support to the PCMT beneficiaries, as well as providing an income stream that enables the PCMT to continue to offer support in the future.

In 2009, the trustees of the PCMT approved a temporary change in the allocation of a donation. The financial market environment (with very low interest rates) means that we will not earn a particularly good rate of return on new funds added to the endowment. At the same time, the low return on investments will adversely affect the income of our chosen charities. In view of this, the trustees felt it appropriate to alter the allocation of funds between charities and the endowment.

At the moment, therefore, one third of donations in a single year will be given to each charity, and the remaining third will be invested in the endowment. As before, investment income will be divided between the two charities. This arrangement will be reviewed each year in the light of market circumstances.

The pie chart below illustrates how your donation is used:

Full details of the accounts of the PCMT can be found in the accounts section of this website.

Administering the PCMT
The endowment is invested in low risk fixed income investments. The finances of the trust are administered by the Charities Aid Foundation www.CAFonline.org a UK charity (registration number 268369). The Peter Culverhouse Memorial Trust is a charitable trust at the CAF, trust number T/70193576/G.

Donations to the PCMT have full charitable status. If you have any questions about how the PCMT is run, please get in touch using the contact section. Alternatively, the PCMT Trust Officer at the Charities Aid Foundation is Graham Clark, who can be reached on +44 1732 529305. The CAF handle all of the money and investments for the PCM, and deal with all administration of the Trust.

The four of us who established the PCMT oversee the donations to the two beneficiaries, prepare the accounts and send out a newsletter on an ad hoc basis. We work closely with David and Yvonne, Pete's parents, to make sure that the PCMT activities are advertised as widely as possible.

Raising money
The PCMT raises money in a variety of ways. One of our most important sources of income are regular donations by standing order. As these build up over a number of years, these will provide a stable source of money which the PCMT can donate. Details on how to make such donations are given in the donations of this site.

Alongside regular donations, Pete's family and friends arrange fundraising events. Money raised at these events is treated like any other donation, and split between the charities and the endowment in exactly the same way. Raffles at other events also seek to raise money for the PCMT. Details of future events (and information on events that have been run already) can be found in the events section of this site.

The Trust
The PCMT is a relatively small endeavour, but it does provide valuable support to worthwhile causes. Anyone who visited Pete at the Princess Alice Hospice knows what wonderful care they provided in Pete's last weeks. Research into the sort of tumour Pete had is much needed, and anything that can be done to further that must be worthwhile. By setting up the PCMT, we hope to establish a lasting memorial to Pete - a genuinely nice guy, whose good humour and friendship triumphed over the many adversities he had to face. With the support of Pete's many friends, colleagues and family, we hope that the PCMT can make a difference.

The PCMT has grown from its origins as a conversation over a few pints of beer at the local pub - and we feel certain that the idea of friends getting together to create something like the PCMT is something of which Pete would wholeheartedly approve. Particularly the beer part.