The two charitable trusts that own West estate agency and property group Andrews are to share nearly £500,000 in annual dividend payments.
Andrews Charitable Trust (ACT) and the Christian Book Promotion Trust are the sole shareholders of Keynsham-based Andrews Property Group, which has 56 offices across the South of England. 
The ownership structure, which is unique in the property sector, reflects the philanthropic work of Andrews’ founder Cecil Jackson Cole, who was instrumental in the founding of a number of leading charities including Oxfam.
The charitable trusts have supported countless projects through the annual dividend payments, which in the last five years alone have totalled more than £2.7m.
ACT is backing Andrews’ recently launched social housing project called Establish, which is supporting young people leaving the care sector. It also supports early-stage initiatives that address social needs in innovative ways and provide grants to individuals and organisations, including, over the past year, projects as diverse as The Together Group, which creates full-time jobs for ex-offenders, by bringing empty properties back into use, and Dementia Adventure, a group Dementia Adventure, a group connecting people living with dementia with nature.
Andrews chief executive David Westgate, pictured, said: “Andrews is built on an unwavering belief that commercial profit should be used wherever possible to benefit those who suffer hardship both in the communities in which we operate, as well as those further afield.
“To be able to hand over such a significant figure to the charitable trusts serves as a powerful reminder to the entire Andrews family without whom it would be impossible to make a payment of this kind.”
ACT received £420,000 of the total dividend pay-out, while the Christian Book Promotion Trust received £65,880.
Cecil Jackson Cole, who founded Andrews in 1946, was also pivotal in founding Help the Aged and Action Aid.
