The sum invested will allow the bank to provide finance for hundreds of charities, but will still belong to ShareGift and can be reclaimed in the future.

Charity Bank chief executive Malcolm Hayday said: “We’d like to see even more charitable organisations putting their reserves to good use to further their charitable missions. Charity Bank is subject to the same rules as any other bank and therefore offers the same level of safety to its depositors. Unlike other banks, Charity Bank exists to help organisations address important social concerns and breathe life into under-invested communities.”

ShareGift converts unwanted shares into funds to make donations to other UK charities. Bridget Franklin, charity director at ShareGift, said: “Our remit is to support charities by taking a financial asset that is going to waste and leveraging it for charitable good. So it made complete sense for us to use our reserves in the same way by depositing them with Charity Bank and making our money work twice as hard for the good of charities.”