Newcastle Building Society Backs The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation
Posted on April 24th, 2012 | 22 Comments |
The Alnwick branch of the Newcastle Building Society, has come up with a unique way of supporting the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation. You can now open a Sir Bobby Robson Foundation ISA. This is a savings account which will provide an additional cash donation to the charity, for every pound invested by customers.
The Newcastle Building Society has introduced the partnership to mark the Foundation’s fourth anniversary.
“ISA” is short for Individual Savings Account which is a financial product available to residents of the United Kingdom. It is designed for the purpose of investment and savings with a favourable tax status.
Sir Bobby’s widow, Lady Elsie, is delighted about it. She said:
“It was a great pleasure to help launch this new account and we’re grateful to the Newcastle for thinking of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.”
“It’s a very creative way of helping the charity and we will ensure every penny donated is spent wisely.”
“We’ve just celebrated the Foundation’s fourth anniversary and receiving support from an organisation with a heritage like the Newcastle Building Society is a marvellous present. My husband would have been as proud as punch with this fitting gesture.”
Jim Willens, Newcastle Building Society’s Chief Executive, said:
“Before launching the account, customer research was undertaken, which indicated that they would like us to support charities linked to health and old age.”
“As such, the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation is a great fit with the Society as it is a cancer research charity, which raises money to fund the early detection and treatment of cancer.”
Sir Bobby Robson, had recurring medical problems with cancer and formed his Foundation in 2008. He died less than a year later. The Foundation is close to the hearts of many Newcastle United fans. Well done to everyone involved in making this scheme happen.
The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation ISA offers an interest rate of up to 2.6% of which 0.1% will be donated to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.
NUFCBlog Author: UTD111
UTD111 has written 59 articles on this blog.
I’m probably swimmimg against the tide of opinion here as I usually do, but I think that using the SBR foundation to push a financial product like this is wrong.
Of course, I’m not against donating money to SBR’s charity at all, but 2.66% is a pretty low rate of interest for a cash ISA, of which only 0.1% is being offered to Sir Bobby’s charity. Surely it’s better to put one’s money in an ISA which realises over 3% (which isn’t unusual at all), then donate the extra money, which is considerably more, into Sir Bobby’s Charity?
It’s a cynical marketing tactic using sentimentality to push a lower rate product, where the Newcastle Building Society will make far more out of it than the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.
But that’s just me I suppose.