One of Scotland’s most prominent family firms is doubling its donations to charities to £20,000 per month – £240,000 annually – building on the success of an initiative they set up a year ago.
Glasgow-based Allied Vehicles Group launched the Allied Vehicles Charitable Trust in February 2022 to focus its corporate and staff giving, primarily close to its base in the city’s Possilpark, but also much further afield.
In its first year AVCT gave more than £48,000 to youth causes, over £16,000 to disability groups and £15,400 to charities addressing food poverty, as well as sporting initiatives, schools and nurseries.
Allied Corporate Culture Director David Facenna gave news of the doubling of donations to members of the AVCT staff committee which, with company owner Gerry Facenna decides which causes to support.
“Our first year has been much busier than we anticipated, and our committee have considered the hundreds of applications we’ve had for support,” said David.
“Some of these have been quite harrowing, and while there are limits to what we can achieve, I’m delighted to tell you that we are immediately doubling Allied Vehicles’ contributions to £20,000 every month.
“All the processes – applications, diligence and so on – will remain in place, but we’ll have double the amount of money we had and should be able to help many more people.”
Allied Vehicles is a European leader in the manufacture and supply of adaptive vehicles for wheelchair users and drivers, taxis and minibuses, and launched a range of hand-built rental campervans last year.
The company also has premises in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Coventry, and employs more than 600 people mostly at its Possilpark HQ, where it was co-founded 30 years ago by Gerry Facenna, its owner and current chairman.
He is firmly committed to the community where he grew up, which was his motivation for setting up AVCT.
Gerry said: “Possilpark is one of the poorest parts of Glasgow and our Charitable Trust was set up to try and do something positive for the whole community.
“We have managed to help thousands of people in the first year of the Trust, ranging from babies and children to elderly and disabled people.
“I’m well aware that we’ll never be able to solve all the problems that are brought to us, but I hope that doubling our donations to £240,000 a year will have even more of an impact on our local community and beyond.
“We want as many people as possible to have a positive impact from the Trust and are inviting anyone involved in charity and community organisations who are needing support to apply on our website or by email.”
