Where our journey began
It started with a £1,000 legacy.
At the Battle of the Somme in 1916, Captain Edward Vivian Dearman Birchall, a passionate philanthropist – wounded, yet still leading his men – wrote this note to a friend:
“If I am scuppered, I’m leaving you £1,000 to do some of the things we talked about.”
Three years later, his legacy was used to set up the National Council of Social Service (NCSS), which is known today as NCVO. In
1924, the NCSS set up a Charities Department to make giving easier – a department that would later become Charities Aid Foundation.
View our 100-year timeline