What is the “Relief Chest Scheme”?

The Grand Charity also operates the “Relief Chest Scheme”, a term with which all Charity Stewards will be familiar.

Most Lodges and Chapters in Essex maintain a Relief Chest which holds monies deposited by that Lodge or Chapter.  The Grand Charity reclaims the tax for those donations made under Gift Aid and invests the total in money-market interest-bearing investments.  The interest earned is far in excess of that which any Lodge could have earned on its own and is added to the Relief Chests in proportion to their size.

There is some confusion about the nature of a Lodge Relief Chest so it is explained further.  A donation into a Lodge Relief Chest, whether by the Lodge or by an individual Brother, is legally a donation to The Grand Charity.  That is why The Grand Charity is able to reclaim the tax – only charities can reclaim tax.  From that point on, the funds are an asset of The Grand Charity and can be spent only in accordance with its stated objectives.  The Grand Charity’s general funds are under the control of its Council who, for the purposes of the “Relief Chest Scheme”, delegate that control back to each Lodge.

However, this is subject always to their use in accordance with The Grand Charity’s own constitution.  Fortunately this is very wide and would include an onward donation to almost any registered charity.

What is the relationship between Festival 2011 and the Relief Chest Scheme?

The purpose of Festival 2011 is to meet calls on the general funds of Grand Charity.  So, although a donation into a Lodge Relief Chest is legally a donation to The Grand Charity, under the terms of the Relief Chest Scheme, it remains under the control of the Lodge and is not available to the Council of The Grand Charity.

The Festival 2011 Committee have opened their own Relief Chest within Grand Charity which is dedicated to funds raised for the 2011 Festival (No. E1004B). Funds in that account remain under the control of the Committee until 2011 when it is under an obligation to transfer them to The Grand Charity for general purposes.  The Committee may make advances of funds to the Grand Charity before 2011.

As a result, funds will be acknowledged as having been raised for Festival 2011 only when they are received into the Festival 2011 Relief Chest.  The computer system in operation at The Grand Charity is extremely sophisticated and will allocate all donations to the appropriate Lodge and, where it is a traceable individual donation, to the individual Brother.

Important:  It is important whenever collecting money for any charitable purpose to be able to demonstrate that the proceeds have been used for the stated purpose.  This is a duty; it is a moral if not a legal obligation. Money collected for Essex 2011 should, wherever possible, be paid into the Essex 2011 Charity Chest, not the Lodge Charity Chest.  If accompanied by documentation which shows the source, you can rest assured that it will immediately be credited to the Festival, to the Lodge, and to the individual Brother, where appropriate.

If monies raised for Essex 2011 are paid into the Lodge Charity Chest, they will be combined with other funds in that Chest.  The obligation to apply them to Essex 2011 will not have been discharged until those funds are transferred on to the Essex 2011 Relief Chest.

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