There is a sense of frustration at the Grand Charity, the flagship of the United Grand Lodge of England’s charitable work around the world. They desperately want to give away more money.
    Despite donating millions to charity every year – both non-masonic as well as masonic – they believe there are worthy recipients who are not being helped because Lodge Almoners in particular, and Freemasons in general, are not putting names forward.
    There are three priorities for the Grand Charity: relief of masonic petitioners, support for other masonic charities and giving to non-masonic charities.
    There are major grants up to £50,000 as well as intermediate donations up to £10,000 including support for hospice services, and emergency grants.
    Richard Bate, chairman of the Petitions Committee said: "We look solely after masons in trouble, their wives, widows and daughters."
    The qualifications for help are laid down in guidelines contained in the Constitution and Regulations of The Grand Charity (see separate box).
    Mr Bate continued: "People do not know what is the criteria for submitting petitions. It is very straightforward. If anyone knows of a mason who is in trouble and needs financial assistance, let us know. Ring us up straight away and we will tell you if he is roughly in the right ball park or not."
    Dudley Wensley, secretary to The Grand Charity echoed this plea. He said: "Please send in your petitions. Sadly we do not get enough petitions. We have around 350,000 Freemasons under the UGLE, and with widows and other dependants there are about 600,000 to 700,000 people who might qualify.
    "We are here to help. Our concern is that we do not get enough applications from people who need help. However, we are getting more first time applicants."

Road Shows

For the past three or four years the Grand Charity has been organising road shows around the country for Provincial and Lodge Almoners, explaining what the Masonic charities do.
    Dudley Wensley complained: "There are some Provinces that we hardly ever hear from." Richard Bate agreed, adding: "We often get stuffy responses from Provinces.
    "They think we are trying to interfere. Action is really needed at Lodge Almoner level, although every Freemason has a responsibility to support the Lodge Almoner.”
    Mr Bate added: "We do have guidelines. They are quite detailed because we have to work out how much assistance petitioners need. We work out what we think it should cost for an elderly couple to live. We then see if they have a pension or other contributions, see what their income and expenditure is, and then, if there is a gap, we try to fill that gap."
    A successful petitioner will receive a minimum of £250 and a maximum of £3,500 or £4,000 annually, although a petition has to be resubmitted each year. The money is given to the Provincial Almoner, who then gives it to either the Lodge Almoner or visiting brother.
    Mr Bate explained: "If we gave the money to the individual we might be breaching Department of Social Security (DSS) rules. For example, the Lodge Almoner will pay the gas bill.
    This approach is different to awards such as Royal Masonic Benevolent Institute (RMBI) annuities that do go direct to the individual, because that does not breach DSS rules.
    Mr Bate said his committee did take RMBI annuities into account as well as other contributions from Provinces when deciding on the level of awards.
    He added: "If a Province donates regularly to a petitioner we take a portion of that into account. Many Provinces provide a one-off payment, so we do not take that into account and we also disallow the first £250. However, we take into account accommodation costs, heating and lighting – particularly important for elderly people."
    The committee also scrutinises income and capital. If a petitioner has more than £3,000 of capital they will probably not look at the petition. However, Mr Bate said the committee looks at two things regarding a petitioner’s capital assets: what money they have in their bank account and the value of their house. However, he emphasised that the guidelines are precisely that – they are guidelines. For example, there is a huge disparity in property values in the UK.
    He added: "We have to look all cases individually, and we use our discretion. For example, we wonder whether we should have the property guideline. The reason is that if somebody comes along to us and they are living in a lovely old house worth £300,000-£400,000 they really owe a duty to themselves to sell that old house and buy a smaller one.
    "We are not in the business of helping Masons’ children to inherit their family pile at the expense of The Grand Charity. We find that most petitioners have done their best before we get a look in. We have the guidelines to make sure self-help has happened, but we can’t tell people what to do, or even advise them what to do."

Committee Receives Petitions

Every month the committee receives about 120 petitions. They are then processed through a highly computerised system. The computer will say what the grant ought to be, based on the guidelines. Although the committee will often agree with the amount suggested by the computer, they each have a personal input.
    Mr Bate explained: "Quite often a committee member will say, for example, that a petitioner has diabetes and the computer does not know this. We will then allow additional money for special diet and for heating, perhaps.
    "The human adjustment factor is the value of the committee because we don’t like leaving everything to the computer. Time and again, out of the 120 monthly petitions there are probably 20 or 30 that we stop and discuss, often in great detail. "Sometimes the computer is way out. Sometimes the visiting brother’s reports are extremely helpful and we can give additional assistance."
    There are also one or two petitions each month from abroad emanating from District Grand Lodges.
    A Provincial Almoner should review his petition list at the end of year and reapply on the petition form. Before this, the visiting brother has to visit the petitioner to see if the health or financial position has changed.
    An innovation pioneered by the committee is a special discount arrangement for bulk purchase of stairlifts and wheelchairs arranged through a specialist manufacturer Orthokinetics.
    Richard Bate commented: "We have been very frustrated that we fund a wheelchair or stairlift for an elderly person, and when that person dies, often the relatives strip out the stairlift or remove the wheelchair - and they are expensive."
    He added: "These appliances go into the home, they belong to The Grand Charity, so the money does not go to the petitioner, but to the manufacturer. When the appliance is no longer needed it is taken back by the company – not by us – and can be used again."
    Dudley Wensley said: "They are specialists, so at our request Orthokinetics visit the petitioner and, liaising through the Lodge Almoner, they ensure the appliance is the one most suitable for the applicant.
    "We are trying to publicise that Orthokinetics are doing this for the Grand Charity – and Freemasonry in general – so that if a Lodge has a member who needs an appliance they do not have to be a petitioner to obtain a good price that we have negotiated.
    The more people from Freemasonry at large who channel their requests through Orthokinetics the better."
    Mr Wensley said that in the first year of the arrangement they have given the company about £60,000 of business and about £40,000 from Freemasonry in general. For non-petitioners, Lodge Almoners can go direct to Orthokinetics
    But what about dire emergencies? How do petitioners fare then? Dudley Wensley explained: "Sometimes there is a petition so urgent it cannot wait for the monthly meeting of the Petitions Committee. In that respect I have delegated authority to act, providing I am acting in line with the guidelines and report it to the next committee meeting.
    "The key is that Freemasonry can act quickly if the need is urgent. For example, on the Thursday before Good Friday, when most people were starting the Bank Holiday, we were notified that a frail and elderly man needed respite care and not money.
    "An RMBI home could take him that weekend and for a week or so after that, but they did not have the funds. We had a phone call from the RMBI home, and the decision was taken to admit him. He also needed things such as clean clothes and we paid for these as well."
    On non-masonic grants, had there been criticism that the Grand Charity should be giving more to Craft members? Richard Bate said: "The opposite is true. Indeed, it is actually part of the remit of Grand Charity that we are supposed to do this, having satisfied our primary responsibility, the masonic petitioners. It is not in the remit of any other masonic charity."
    Much of the donations for non-masonic relief go to victims of natural disasters, but the Kosovo grant – a man-made disaster – was an exception. However, £75,000 of the £100,000 grant was used to purchase 7,500 baby kits.
    The Grand Charity acts through the British Red Cross, who deal with the International Committee of the Red Cross. Mr Wensley said: "We can act very quickly and the British Red Cross tell us that we are very pro-active."
    He added: "If we were giving money to non-masonic charities to the detriment of masonic giving we would be criticised, but we do not."
    Surprisingly, a growing number of petitioners are in the younger age groups. Statistics for 1998 show that 4% of petitioners were in the 30 to 49 age group. During 1998,
    Dudley Wensley and Richard Bate are proud that the new grant of £223,278 to the Cancer Research Campaign to finance a specific prostate cancer research programme, is four times as much as central government has given for this programme.
    Internationally, sums of £10,000 have been provided to Antigua following destruction in the wake of Hurricane George, floods in China, aid to Bangladesh, and the aftermath to the Colombian earthquake.
    There was £25,000 for relief following Hurricane Mitch and to assist the victims of the Turkey earthquake and £15,000 to Bahamas & Turks following Hurricane Floyd, and many more besides.
    The Grand Charity also organises the Relief Chests, an easy to open and free service, in which payments are made only on the instructions of the Lodge – the Relief Chest holder. Sums are invested at premium rates and tax-free interest is credited monthly. There are tax refunds on gift aid claimed on the Lodge’s behalf and credited to the Chest.
    Dudley Wensley said: "The Grand Charity is able to do its work thanks to the contributions from Lodges, donations and legacies from individuals and the wonderful support from Festival provinces.
    This includes the splendid total of nearly £2.5m from the Province of Buckinghamshire in 1999."