The Provincial Grand Chapter Of Warwickshire Benevolent Fund
Charity 1099086
Overview
Summary
The fund appears to operate as a locally rooted charitable distribution mechanism connected to Warwickshire’s Royal Arch Freemasonry. Its role is not primarily to deliver services directly, but to convert donations from a defined membership community into discretionary grants: first for members’ households facing need, and also for recognised Masonic charities and other Warwickshire charities. This gives it a dual identity: a mutual-support fund within a fraternal network and a potential source of flexible support for the wider local voluntary sector.
Operational geography
Evidence and reasoning
Supporting evidence
Erdington
Confidence: medium
Direct evidence identifies Yenton Assembly Rooms in Erdington as the contact location for the Provincial Grand Lodge and Provincial Grand Chapter of Warwickshire, whose official Royal Arch Benevolent Fund page describes the fund's management and operations. However, a contact location is not itself evidence of operational activity, and the source does not explicitly state that the fund itself owns, occupies or delivers grants from this site.
- Provincial Grand Chapter of Warwickshire, 'Warwickshire RA Benevolent Fund' official webpage
The page identifies charity number 1099086, describes the fund's committee, trustees and grant-making arrangements, and gives the Provincial Grand Lodge and Provincial Grand Chapter contact address as Yenton Assembly Rooms, Erdington, Birmingham.
Remaining uncertainties
- The strongest direct evidence describes the fund as supporting charities and people throughout Warwickshire/the Province, rather than identifying a current Birmingham-wide programme or a defined set of Birmingham service areas.
- The fund's Charity Commission registered address differs from the Provincial Grand Chapter's published contact address. The available evidence does not establish which location is the fund's principal day-to-day administrative base.
- An official webpage records previous support for Free@Last in Nechells, but the material is not sufficiently dated to evidence current activity there; it has therefore not been treated as a current operational area.
- The evidence shows that local Chapters can nominate charities and that grants may be supplemented through the Chapter Charity Support Scheme, but it does not identify the currently active Chapter network or current Birmingham recipients.
Additional evidence needed
- The fund's latest annual report, grant schedule or trustee report showing grant recipients and locations for the most recent financial year.
- Confirmation from the fund or Provincial Grand Chapter of whether Yenton Assembly Rooms is used by the fund for administration, trustee meetings or grant-making activity.
- A current list of Chapter Charity Support Scheme awards or partner charities, with beneficiary locations, to establish whether there is ongoing activity in particular Birmingham wards.
Areas of work
- General Charitable Purposes
Who they help
- Children/young People
- Elderly/old People
- Other Charities Or Voluntary Bodies
- People With Disabilities
How they help
- Makes Grants To Individuals
- Makes Grants To Organisations
Discoveries involving this organisation
The Atlas has not published any Discoveries involving this organisation yet.
Observations
A bridge between mutual aid and wider civic giving
The fund appears designed to balance responsibility toward its own Royal Arch community with charitable support beyond it. Its objects prioritise grants to needy companions and their dependants, while also permitting grants to Masonic and other local charities.
Why it matters
This helps distinguish the fund from a general grant-maker: its local civic contribution is shaped by, and may depend on, a membership-based mutual-aid purpose.
Show evidence
“The fund may make grants to needy companions of the Royal Arch Province of Warwickshire and their wives, widows, children or other close dependants.”
Source:Charity Commission“The fund may make payments to recognised Masonic charities and other charities in the province falling within its objects.”
Source:Charity Commission
A discretionary rather than entitlement-based safety net
Support appears to be awarded case by case, with the committee retaining broad discretion and requiring proof of need for individual grants. This may enable flexibility, but makes the criteria and accessibility of support especially important to understand.
Why it matters
The organisation’s practical role may be determined less by broad beneficiary categories than by how discretion, evidence of need and committee judgement are applied.
Show evidence
“Grants to needy companions and their dependants are made in the absolute discretion of the committee, upon satisfactory proof of need.”
Source:Charity Commission“The committee may further such charitable purposes as it thinks fit.”
Source:Charity Commission
The organisation may be a quiet connector of local charitable resources
By collecting donations from Warwickshire Royal Arch Freemasons and redistributing them through grants, the fund appears to channel resources from a structured social network into both individual welfare and local organisations.
Why it matters
This suggests potential value as a relationship-based funding source, particularly for charities whose work aligns with the fund’s broad charitable purposes.
Show evidence
“Donations are collected from the Royal Arch Freemasons of Warwickshire for distribution to deserving causes in Warwickshire.”
Source:Organisation“The charity makes grants to individuals and grants to organisations.”
Source:Charity Commission
- How much funding reaches members’ households, Masonic charities and other Warwickshire charities respectively.
- What needs, places or types of organisation the fund prioritises in practice.
- Whether potential beneficiaries and local charities can readily identify and access grant opportunities.
Remaining uncertainties
- Recent annual reports or grant lists showing award amounts, recipients and purposes.
- Grant criteria, application routes and committee decision-making guidance.
- Evidence of relationships with local charities, advice services or referral organisations.
Additional evidence needed
Charity Commission profile
Activities
Collection of donations from the Royal Arch Freemasons of Warwickshire for distribution to deserving causes in Warwickshire, for the benefit of the people of Warwickshire
Charity objects
TO FURTHER SUCH CHARITABLE PURPOSE OR PURPOSES AS THE COMMITTEE IN THEIR ABSOLUTE DISCRETION THINK FIT AND IN PARTICULAR BUT WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING (A) PAYMENT OF A GRANT OR GRANTS TO NEEDY COMPANIONS OF ROYAL ARCH PROVINCE OF WARWICKSHIRE, THEIR WIVES, WIDOWS, CHILDREN OR OTHER CLOSE DEPENDANTS AS IN THE ABSOLUTE DISCRETION OF THE COMMITTEE, UPON SATISFACTORY PROOF OF NEED (B) PAYMENTS TO ANY RECOGNISED MASONIC CHARITY (C) PAYMENTS TO OTHER CHARITIES IN THE PROVINCE FALLING WITHIN THE OBJECTS OF THE FUND