Mrs F B Laurence's Charitable Trust

The Mrs F B Laurence's Charitable Trust's preference is to make grants for the care and improvements of conditions experienced by disadvantaged members of society both within the United Kingdom and overseas for whom the UK owes a duty of care.

This has included in the past organisations benefitting ex-service and service personnel, retired people and those who are unemployed. 

The trustees are keen to support small registered charities, particularly those that, by the nature of their work, find it difficult to attract funding.

In particular, The Trust wishes to fund projects that are hands-on, new and innovative, especially in the following fields:

o Social welfare;
o Accommodation and housing;
o Community facilities and activities;
o Protection of the environment and wildlife;
o Health and disability;
o Older people;
o Vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals;
o Justice and human rights;
o Service and ex-service men and women; and
o Special schools and special needs education and literacy.

Previously grants have ranged between £500 and £4,000. Match funding is not an essential requirement, although applicants are required to state what other funding has been secured for their project.

The trustees aim to make grants of at least £80,000 per annum.

PLEASE NOTE: the Trust does not make donations to individuals. Neither is it likely to support the following types of application:

o Appeals for endowment or sponsorship;
o Overseas projects;
o The maintenance of buildings or landscapes;
o The provision of work or materials that are the responsibility of the state; and
o Charities whose administrative expenses are considered by the Trust to be excessive.

The Mrs F B Laurence's Charitable Trust does not maintain a website or provide an email address or a telephone number.

Further information is, however, available on the Charity Commission website.

Requests for funding should be made to the Trust in writing and with the applicant's latest set of accounts.

Applications should be no more than two pages of A4 and should include:

o Who you are;
o What you do;
o What distinguishes your work from others in your field?
o A description of the project that funding is being requested for;
o A business case and budget;
o Details of funds that have already been raised;
o How much you are seeking from the Trust;
o How the potential benefits of the project will be measured.

Contact details for the Trust, which meets twice a year to consider applications, are:

Mrs F B Laurence's Charitable Trust
BM Box 2082
London WC1N 3XX  

(Source: GRIN)