According to Third Sector, the UK’s Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into The Park Charitable Trust due to the loss of a large amount of investment capital.

Registered in 2002, the charity is funded by donations and income from investments and gives out grants, mostly to institutions.

But during the year to March 2013 it had losses of £1.1m on investment assets, compared with £29,000 the previous year, according to its most recent accounts. The accounts say the losses “represent value written off property investment syndicates”.

The charity paid out £217,464 in grants in 2012/13, but spent £2.6m on governance costs, most of which went toward interest payments.

Two of the charity’s three trustees are also trustees of other charities. David Hammelburger works with the Jewish education charity Project Seed; Eli Pine helps to govern the FP Limited Charitable Trust.

The commission’s inquiry, which was opened on 13 June, will examine the charity’s approach to investments and the trustees’ decision-making and governance, particularly with regards to conflicts of interest.