Funding policy - priorities

Details of the main areas of activity supported by the Trust are as follows:

Youth and Education
This is the Trust’s largest area of activity and is concerned in the main with help for disadvantaged youth. The Trustees are also keen to assist deserving youngsters who would otherwise be unable to achieve their true potential. In view of the enormous number of appeals within this category, priority will always be given to those which are open to all members of the community and are not aimed at any particular sector of society. The Trustees are also concerned with promoting an understanding of the importance of industry and good industrial relations, and any such appeals will normally be considered in this category.

General Welfare
Particular emphasis is placed upon those appeals dealing with the very young and the problems suffered by the increasing proportion of elderly people within the United Kingdom. Support for those caring for others, especially young carers, is an area of particular interest as is the importance of marriage and the problems encountered within the family in the 21st Century.

Conservation
General conservation issues within the United Kingdom are of prime importance with the emphasis being on the protection of wildlife habitats. Single species appeals are rarely considered.

Religion
This category of appeal is concerned predominantly with the teaching of religious education in schools, especially at secondary level.

Preservation
This is concerned with the preservation of heirlooms of outstanding historic and national importance. Whilst it occasionally includes support for churches and cathedrals, individual appeals can rarely be addressed due to the very large numbers of applications received. In order to provide some assistance in this area of activity, the Trust makes annual awards to the Historic Churches Preservation Trust and the Scottish Churches Architectural Heritage Trust.

Peace and Security
The Trust provides very limited support in this category, mainly through the awarding of annual grants to organisations that have a high degree of expertise in this area of activity.

Africa
Unless there are exceptional circumstances, assistance is given only to a very small number of organisations operating in East Africa, or occasionally South Africa, which have a long association with the Trust.

Miscellaneous
This category embraces appeals considered to be of particular merit in areas normally excluded by the Trust, if they are recommended personally by a Trustee. It also includes a limited number of appeals from charities that provide services for the benefit of the charitable sector as a whole.