Funds for Historic Buildings

The Trustees of the Foundation are prepared to consider applications covering a wide range of charitable activity.  Under the heading of "Religion" the Foundation will consider giving grants for the preservation of religious buildings of historic or architectural interest.  This heading accounted for the largest number of grants in the year to April 2008.  Under the heading of "Other" the Foundation also supports the preservation of the secular built heritage.

In assessing applications, the following criteria are taken into consideration:
•  The financial viability of the organisation;
•  The degree of need for the project;
•  The amount spent on administration and fundraising as compared to the activity itself;
•  The ability to raise sufficient funding to meet the appeal target;
•  Whether the aims of the organisation meet the Trustees' aspirations;
•  Whether the organisation has the right priorities;
•  Where possible, the ability of the organisation to achieve the goals.

It follows that the Foundation will rarely consider making a grant to an organisation that cannot demonstrate significant progress with fundraising; they look for organisations to have raised the majority of funding through local or statutory sources before an approach is made.

Extracts from the Foundation's Annual Report for the Year to April 2008 give some idea of its charitable interests and activities.

Under the heading of "Religion" the Foundation distributed 389 grants totalling £2,580,000 - making it the largest category in terms of numbers of grants.  The majority were for £10,000 or less for fabric repairs and re-ordering, the exceptions being cathedrals and some important churches with major capital appeals towards which the Trustees provided more significant support.  Ely Cathedral received the largest grant, £250,000.  As with most ancient heritage buildings urgent fabric repairs were required, and they also aim to build an endowment fund to support the Choir. The Trustees helped to provide music scholarships.

Grants of £100,000 were provided to the Cathedrals of Hereford, Bristol and Rochester and £50,000 to the Selby Abbey Appeal, all for capital requirements.  £50,000 was donated each to St James’s Church on Piccadilly, Worcester Cathedral, Clonard Monastery in Belfast, Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff and Wells Cathedral. The latter topped up an earlier substantial grant towards a £6 million appeal to open up and restore the medieval spaces, including the Undercroft which was previously not accessible to the public. The appeal aims to improve access throughout, provide purpose-built facilities for the music, a dedicated education space and an interactive interpretation centre.

The challenges facing St Pancras Parish Church are typical of many churches throughout the UK and illustrate the commitment of local communities to raise the funding they need to carry out their ministries. In addition to normal Sunday and weekday services Saint Pancras provides advice and support and runs projects for both the elderly and the young. In addition there are regular recitals, lectures, discussion groups and social welfare activities. The Trustees recognise that this level of community activity can put strain on the facilities so a grant of £25,000 was provided towards improved access, toilets, kitchen facilities and meeting space.

Another typical example is the case of St Mary’s Church in Chiddingfold, where the cramped Grade I listed building struggles to meet the growing needs of the community, particularly the expanding Sunday School and youth groups. A new church room, specifically designed to minimise the visual impact on the ancient church, is planned to solve these problems and the Trustees provided a grant of £5,000 in support of this.

Under the heading of "Other" the Trustees distributed 3 grants totalling £60,000.  The largest grant in this category was to the Landmark Trust.  The current £50,000 grant is towards the restoration of the Grade II listed Silverton Park Stables in Devon, a rare example of an unconverted stable block built in the mid-19th century and in itself the size of a large country house.  Friends of Anne of Cleves House in Lewes, Sussex, received £5,000 towards renovation work and a similar amount was provided to the Heritage of London Trust for the restoration of the Minnie Lansbury bracket clock which hangs in Bow Road, Tower Hamlets.