THE FIGHT FOR FUNDS -- A charitable bequest may seem like a good idea, but there are many complexities behind the donation of fundsWith 180,000 charities now registered in this country it is no wonder solicitors executing charitable bequests sometimes find themselves inundated with appeals from good causes.It is not even unusual for a solicitor to be alerted to the death of a testator by a sudden deluge of begging letters flooding through the letter box.These days charities have to be resourceful.

Competition for the public's sympathy and ultimately its donations has never been stiffer.

Telethons, like Comic Relief, and now the national lottery have succeeded in winning massive appeal, to the detriment of less well known causes.Solicitors are often close to their clients' decision-making pr ocess and for this reason make good targets for direct appeals from charities.

For example, a solicitor advising a client on tax avoidance may suggest donating taxable capital to charity.

Sometimes the client's next question is: 'But which charity?'Martin Westbrook, a partner with Fairchild Greig, has a practice which includes charity law work.

'In this situation,' he says, 'you get the charity book out and start asking what the client's interests are.'Anne-Marie Piper is a partner with Paisner & Co specialising in charity law and is a co-founder of the Charity Law Association.

She says that once charities are aware of a legacy which has been left to 'general charitable purposes' the solicitor can be swamped with charity mail.

Ms Piper is about to embark upon the time-consuming task of answering over a hundred requests from charities which have got wind of a legacy being settled by her firm which includes just such a general charitable bequest.'We have had an enormous number of letters,' she says, 'and it's just such a waste of time on everybody's part.

I've got a box full of them and there are still more coming in.'The cost of responding to all these charities will have ultimately to be met by the estate.

If, adds Ms Piper, 'the solicitor is instructed in the administration of the estate then they have to take further instructions from the executors'.

The executors may of course see no point in incurring any further expense in answering these letters.But if the executor is the solicitor then he or she should consult with the beneficiaries as to what to do.

Ms Piper says that in any case most of the replies will only be saying 'sorry, there isn't a prayer'.Robert Venables heads the Charity Commission's legal department.

He likens this situation to a 'bird feeding its young with all of them saying me, me, me'.However, he says there is nothing the Charity Commission can do about although it although he believes it is not clear how common such legacies are.The Charity Law Association feels the best way to avoid this time-wasting procedure would be to get the firm which notifies charities of any specific and general bequests first to contact the solicitors themselves.'One simple letter from the company to us [the solicitors] first asking whether the testator had left any wishes would save 90% of these charities time and effort,' says Ms Piper.But this still leaves the question of settling a general charitable bequest.

If the testator has made no indication as to who should benefit from his or her death then the executor solicitor must embark upon a personality assessment of the testator to try to identify a charity which might best suit their interests and sympathies.'If the solicitor has been a long standing family friend then he will have a very good idea of the way in which the testator's mind works,' adds Ms Piper.

But, of course, many are not.And even if the testator has made what her or she considers to be an express wish to leave money to charity there may still be problems.

For example, if he or she has only specified a class of beneficiaries there are bound to be several charities which could meet the testator's wishes.If the bequest is to cancer charities, says Ms Piper, then because there are many to choose from the solicitor may have to use his or her own powers of deduction in selecting the most suitable.'I would ask myself if the testator died of a certain cancer.

You can usually come up with something that the testator wouldn't be too unhappy about,' says Ms Piper.Solicitors who are constantl y having to consider the merits of charity appeals get to know what works and what does not.Mr Westbrook believes the vital ingredient of any appeal is one which makes people put their hands in their pockets.

'The aim is to get across how people's £10 can really make a difference.' Mr Westbrook feels that using celebrities can make a difference.But style is still important and an appeal featuring Wimbledon hardman Vinny Jones pleading with people to give money for starving children in Africa will not have the same impact as a picture of one of those children.

And, says Mrs Westbrook: 'You couldn't have Cecil Parkinson taking part in an appeal for unmarried mothers.'Peter Mimpriss, a charity specialist partner at Allen & Overy, is chairman of the Charity Law Association.

He believes that people tend to see through the celebrity nature of an appeal and look to the actual cause.

He believes the vital ingredient of any appeal is to 'show that without the money you will not be able to achieve a particular worthwhile project'.Proper funding, says Mr Mimpriss, is just as important as presentation: 'Many charities, even with the best will in the world, fail within the first two years.'Mr Westbook believes one of the problems facing charities is the recent popular misconception that too much money goes on 'lining the pockets' of charity administrators.

'This is not really the case,' he says.But not all charities are what they should be.

Some have intractable administrative problems while others may be effectively bankrupt.

There may even be those which are no longer fulfilling their function or have even deliberately been set up to con the public.But the most common difficulties arise because of ignorance of the law.

More and more trustees now believe the best way to plug the legal gap is by appointing a solicitor to the trust.Says Mr Venables: 'There is no reason why solicitors should not make good trustees.' But he warns trust law is complicated.

And many solicitors are glad to see the back of it as soon as they are qualified.

'A solicitor who has experience of crime or litigation will not necessarily be aware of the sort of problems trust law can pose.' Adds Mr Mimpriss: 'Charities would be very keen to get someone with legal experience.

The ideal board has a range of personalities.'Mr Mimpriss says most operating charities like to have someone who can advise them of the duties and responsibilities they should be particularly careful about.

'The area of greatest concern to most charity trustees at the moment is the problem of their own personal risk.' Trustees of a school, for example, will have to fulfill statutory duties (fire, health, occupier's liability) as well as their own personal duties.Both Mr Venables and Mr Mimpriss recognise the importance of simply being aware of problems so that the solicitor, even if not acquainted with that particular area of law, can suggest the trust seeks advice from a specialist lawyer.

While keen to see solicitors joining trusts Mr Venables warns that the work can be time consuming and is usually done on a pro bono basis.

'Solicitors who are approached by trusts should be clear about the role they are expected to play, particularly whether they will be expected to provide free legal advice.'And he says: 'Having a solicitor is not going to make much difference of itself when it comes to deciding whether to close down a school because the school is simply short of pupils.'UNCHARITABLE ACTS -- HOW THE CHARITY COMMISSION HOPES TO STAMP OUT CHARITY FRAUDThe Charity Commission was established in 1853 to help the courts in dealing with a proliferation of frauds being committed against, and sometimes even by, charities.

The overriding feeling was that something had to be done to control them.In the 1800s many desperate people still depended on charity for their mere existence and any deception would lead to great suffering.

The strong public condemnation of this type of fraud is echoed today in the harsh punishments meted out to bogus charity workers who dupe the public with fake ID or stolen charity tins.The crux of the problem was that in the 1800s the courts were not working.

Says Robert Venables, head of the commission's legal department: 'There was great corruption in the Chancery courts and there were some disgraceful frauds being committed against charities.'In those days the Charity Commission functioned as a legal department advising hundreds of charities.

Today its essential role has not really changed.

Mr Venables says there is still 'quite a bit' of abuse about but most of it is due to 'muddle and mistake rather than malice'.But the commission now has wide powers to modify charitable trusts when they are impossible to administer.

For example, a trust set up to provide for all the 'fallen women' of a particular village no longer has the same sort of meaning as it did when it was established.

And anyone benefiting from such a gift today might even be able to sue the trustees for defamation.'We can change the objects of a charity, keeping as close to its original intent as possible,' says Mr Venables.

The commission can also give advice to charities which, if acted upon, will serve as protection in law.In extreme cases the commission can press the courts to make the trustees personally liable for their actions.

But the emphasis is more on creating a strong code of guidance.

Mr Venables believes the new Charities Act will provide a wider and more flexible range of powers to deal with abuse.In particular, Mr Venables thinks the accounts rules, which should have practical effect by 1997, which will force charities to provide the commission with their accounts, will eventually make a 'major difference'.Chairman of the Charity Law Association Peter Mimpriss agrees: 'Those [accounts rules] are designed to show what their objects are and what they are actually doing with their money.

Those that aren't doing these things properly will be found out.'Adds Paisner & Co charity lawyer Anne-Marie Piper: 'Most of them are terribly worthy causes but some of them are a bit hysterical and laughable and they brighten the day.' But others have quite the opposite effect.

Ms Piper recalls one letter, seeking donations for a children's hospice, which made her cry.

'As a charity lawyer who reads about good causes all day long that doesn't happen very often.'THE GUIDING LIGHT IN TARGETING LEGACIES -- Solicitors provide the vital connection between clients and the charities that they wish to support when making their wills.Wills are vital to the survival of many charities.

Without the generosity of testators, many charities, large and small, would collapse.

In 1991 the top 400 charities received some £477.4 million from legacies.

The percentage of charities' voluntary income that is made up of legacies is as follows: RNIB 68%; RNLI 70%; Imperial Cancer Research Fund 70%; Barnados 53%; and British Heart Foundation 58%.The position was very strongly brought home to me when I worked for the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB), the major national charity helping blind and visually impaired pe ople.

The facts and figures shocked me into realising why charities seem to push so hard for legacies and why the legal press is full of their emotional pleas to be remembered.More importantly, I realised the important role that solicitors have to play in the very survival of many major and minor charities.

By advising clients on the contents of their wills and by physically drafting and preparing the document for them, a solicitor provides the all-important link weighing heavily against what they might like to do.There are two obvious areas where we can help more actively: the first is the use of charity will-making guides.

Most charities produce their own guides free of charge offering comprehensive information on wills in general.

Such guides may save clients having to ask trivial questions.

They can even encourage a client to make a will, reducing costs.Displaying guides in your reception area or sending a copy to a client in advance of a between a client who is thinking about making a will and the actual signing of it.Indeed, through events such as make a will week, and by actively encouraging existing clients to make wills (eg on a house move or divorce), solicitors often have the opportunity to get a client thinking about making a will to begin with.

Taking the process one step further means asking clients to consider whether they wish to incorporate a charitable bequest in their will.It is often assumed that clients already know what they want to put in their wills and that they come into the office ready and prepared.

Clients look to us through for help, advice and useful ideas.

Feelings of what they ought to do in their wills may be will appointment can help to keep them better informed.

Alternatively, the guide can be sent at any time, for example on completion of a conveyance with a suitable reminder of the need to make or update a will.The second approach is to ask the client directly if he or she wishes to make a charitable bequest.

A simple direct question asked as standard practice when taking instructions for a will is all that is needed.

Personal experience has shown that many clients will be appreciative, even enthusiastic about the suggestion.

Tremendous contentment can be gained from knowing that a favourite cause will benefit after your death.The gift can take many forms, eg a specific sum, a percentage, the residue after adequate provision has been made for the family, a reversionary interest, etc.

The client nearly always has definite ideas as to what types of charity he or she would like to benefit.

They may be linked to family illness or personal beliefs.Clients will continue to want to help their favourite causes especially with a final, and often large, donation when the money will not be missed.

Every charitable bequest made by a client contributes to the ongoing and much needed work of charities.

Only 14% of will makers include charitable bequests but those bequests generate over £0.5 billion.

A tiny percentage increase in the number of such bequests would produce many hundreds of thousands of pounds for the work of worthwhile causes.Solicitors should realise how important their role is in their sphere.

We can take a pride in every will we draft containing a charitable bequest.

In hard times like these, the bequest could be the one that ensures the continued provision of vital services to the needy.

It may even ensure the ultimate survival of the charity itself.