Your Charity – Working in Your Community
Autumn/Winter 2016
The Buckinghamshire Masonic Centenary Fund was established in 1991 to aid non-Masonic charitable causes with strong Buckinghamshire connections. The Fund makes donations to these causes on behalf of the 3,500 Buckinghamshire Freemasons, who are the sole source of its financial support.
A major milestone was reached in 2011 when the total donated by the fund passed £1 million. The Treasurer broke down the grants into:
- 64 to hospitals and hospices, £132,260
- 61 to schools and pre-schools, £109,797
- 52 to private individuals, £70,240
- 74 to scouts, guides and youth, £189,783
- 16 to residential homes, £40,221
- 82 to day-care centres, £127,999
- 55 to nursing services, £79,702
- 20 to local charities for the blind and deaf, 23,723
- 15 to ex-servicemen and Red Cross, £22,890
- 37 to victim support charities, £48,866
- 11 to special ventures such as churches and mayoral appeals
This amounts to 487 beneficiaries in the first 20 years of the work of the Fund.
Guidance for Applicants
The Centenary Fund will normally give consideration only to:
- Non-Masonic charitable causes with a strong Buckinghamshire connection.
- Specific projects or facilities, rather than general appeals or requests to fund routine activities.
- Buckinghamshire Charities that deal solely with cases in Bucks and Bucks Charities that also have connections in adjacent areas.
- Individual cases within Bucks, or individual cases outside Bucks only if there is a strong Bucks connection. These should come through, or be supported by, community welfare or health agencies because of the implications for the provision of State benefits.
National charities are not considered. They conduct their own fund-raising activities and may well have received grants from the Freemasons’ Grand Charity, one of our four national charities.
- The Centenary Fund Committee needs to be assured of the viability and financial prudence of the applicant and will need:
- A concise statement of the aims, objectives and organisation of the charity or cause.
- A named contact, together with postal address, phone numbers and email address
- A copy of the latest Annual Report and Audited Accounts
- A description of the specific project, facility or activity for which funding is sought
- A detailed budget, itemising and costing each area of the project, facility or activity
- A time-scale
- A forecast of how and where it is planned to raise the required funds and how much has been raised to date
- Any concise and relevant additional information such as a website address.
Applications cannot be considered for the same recipient or charity within a three year period of receiving a previous grant.
The Committee normally meets on the
- 4th Tuesday in January
- 2nd Tuesday in May
- 1st Monday in September
If in doubt, please discuss your application beforehand with the Centenary Fund Secretary, to whom applications should be sent at least two weeks before a meeting:
Andrew Hough
01280813922