What is The Grand Charity?

The Grand Charity is the centre pin of the national Masonic charities.  It is the anchor of the other three charities, topping up their funds when necessary.  It is also the foremost donator of Masonic funds to non-Masonic charities and reacts quickly to represent English Freemasons when emergency aid is needed anywhere in the world.

Grand Charity was established by the United Grand Lodge of England and started operation on 1 January 1981. It took over from the Board of Benevolence the functions of relieving individual petitioners and making donations to Masonic and non-Masonic charities. In April 2003 the Grand Charity assumed responsibility for the payments previously made by the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution (RMBI) for the purpose of providing general relief to Masons and their dependents.  This allowed the RMBI to concentrate on providing residential care to the elderly.

The Grand Charity is governed by its members (i.e. Master Masons who are subscribing members of all Lodges in England, Wales and the Channel Islands, and all members of the Grand Lodge): its affairs are directed by a Council of (not less than) twenty seven members.

 Today, the primary activities of the Grand Charity fall into the following categories:

Masonic Relief Grants which originally provided help for poor and distressed Freemasons and the making of Masonic Relief Grants is still one of the primary activities of The Grand Charity. The Grand Charity also provides financial support, when needed, to the other three main Masonic charities.

Non-Masonic charities which now receive a large part of The Grand Charity's annual allocation of grants. Since 1983, more than £22 million has been given to non-Masonic charitable causes.

Hospices in England and Wales also receive support every year. Over the past 20 years The Grand Charity has given in excess of £4.8 million to hospices and this is now running at more than £0.5 million each year.  Support for local Hospices is one of the Grand Charity’s most popular initiatives and one as we know is very close to our hearts. This is in addition to the considerable sums raised by Freemasons around the country in support of their local hospices.

Emergency Relief Grants are given throughout the year at the discretion of the President of The Grand Charity. Since 1981 over £1 million has been given to support relief efforts for victims of disasters worldwide.  This aspect was recently dramatically highlighted by The Grand Charity’s immediate response to the tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean.

Further information is available from the Grand Charity’s own website:

                    http://www.grandcharity.co.uk/

Charity Stewards with access to the internet are advised to monitor that site regularly and to keep their Lodges informed about activities worthy of note.  This will help not only to promote the work of The Grand Charity but will also keep it at the forefront of the minds of Essex Lodges during the life of Festival 2011.

Charity Stewards who do not have access to the internet can receive hard copies of certain web pages by calling the Essex 2011 Helpline on 01206-385364 (24hr answerphone)

With the non-Masonic grants, the Grand Charity seeks to make a real difference to the lives of those in the greatest need. These grants also offer opportunities to raise the public awareness about the charitable activities of Freemasons.  Grand Charity’s response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami disaster was widely reported in the national press.

Need help with organising your Lodge? In the first instance email your enquiry to:

Essex 2011 Festival email helpline help@essex2011.org.uk  or phone helpline 01206-385364 (24hr answerphone)

All information on this website should be considered as copyrighted.  No information should be published without the express permission of the organising committee or its members.

"Essex 2011" Provincial Grand Charity Relief Chest number: E1004B