Warwickshire Mark Benevolent Fund
Charity 213476
Overview
Summary
Warwickshire Mark Benevolent Fund appears to be a relationship-rooted relief charity: it is anchored in the Mark Master Mason community but designed to extend support beyond it through donations to both Masonic and non-Masonic charities. Its role is less that of a direct service provider than a flexible funding mechanism, able to respond to financial distress among connected individuals while also channeling resources into wider charitable need.
Operational geography
Coverage: Regional
Operational areas:
Evidence and reasoning
Supporting evidence
Remaining uncertainties
- The Charity Commission directly records Birmingham City among the local-authority areas in which the charity operates, but does not identify Birmingham wards, places, grant recipients or service locations. The available evidence therefore does not justify assigning activity to any supplied Birmingham area identifier.
- The charity's principal activity is grant-making to individuals and organisations, rather than delivery from a known service site. Individual-support petitions are handled confidentially, so beneficiary locations cannot be inferred or disclosed from the available evidence.
- The registered contact address is in Solihull and the Charity Commission states that the charity does not own or lease land or property. This does not establish a Birmingham physical site, but does not rule out use of third-party or occasional venues.
- The provincial Mark Masonry website describes a wider Mark Benevolent Fund charity with a different charity number (207610). It indicates an organisational relationship in fundraising and support processes, but does not establish a material Birmingham operational partnership for charity 213476.
Additional evidence needed
- A current grant register, annual report or trustee report identifying Birmingham-based recipient organisations or the localities served by grants, with confidential individual cases excluded.
- Confirmation from the charity of any current Birmingham meeting, administration, grant-distribution or partner-delivery venues.
- Evidence from named partner organisations showing that grants from charity 213476 currently support delivery in particular Birmingham wards or recognised places.
Areas of work
- General Charitable Purposes
- The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives
- The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty
Who they help
- Children/young People
- Other Charities Or Voluntary Bodies
- Other Defined Groups
- People With Disabilities
- The General Public/mankind
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 membership-rooted fund with an outward-facing charitable role
The fund appears to use a Masonic network as its primary basis for identifying and supporting people in need, while retaining an explicit mandate to benefit charities beyond that network.
Why it matters
This suggests the organisation may act as a bridge between a close-knit mutual-aid tradition and the wider voluntary sector, rather than serving only its own members.
Show evidence
“To provide a relief fund for beneficiaries and make donations to Masonic and non-Masonic charities.”
Source:Charity Commission“To provide relief of distressed Mark Master Masons or their dependants.”
Source:Charity Commission
Flexible grant-making may be its central operating model
The organisation appears to respond through financial assistance rather than through ongoing programmes or specialist services, using grants to individuals and organisations to address varied needs.
Why it matters
This indicates that its value may lie in speed, discretion and adaptability, particularly where needs do not fit a standard service offer.
Show evidence
“Makes grants to individuals and makes grants to organisations.”
Source:Charity Commission“Providing assistance and aid of an emergency or charitable nature.”
Source:Charity Commission
Its stated beneficiary range is broader than its core identity
Although its activities foreground distressed Mark Master Masons and dependants, its reported beneficiary groups include children, disabled people, voluntary bodies and the general public. This may indicate that wider giving is a meaningful part of its charitable role.
Why it matters
This raises a useful question about whether the fund mainly operates as internal welfare with occasional external grants, or as a broader local philanthropic resource.
Show evidence
“To meet present day needs of freemasons and all connected therewith.”
Source:Charity Commission“Children/young people, people with disabilities, other charities or voluntary bodies, other defined groups, and the general public/mankind.”
Source:Charity Commission
- Whether external charitable grants are primarily local, regional or wider in scope.
- How much of the fund supports individuals compared with organisations.
- Whether beneficiaries access support directly or through Masonic referral networks.
Remaining uncertainties
- Recent annual reports or accounts showing grant recipients, values and geographic distribution.
- Grant criteria, referral routes and examples of funded support.
- Information on partnerships with non-Masonic charities.
Additional evidence needed
Charity Commission profile
Activities
To provide relief of distressed Mark Master Masons or their dependants. To meet present day needs of freemasons and all connected therewith as well as supporting the masonic principle of helping others and providing assistance and aid of an emergency or charitable nature.
Charity objects
TO PROVIDE A RELIEF FUND FOR AND SUPPORT TO OTHER MASONIC AVENUES OF FINANCIAL RELIEF FOR THE BENEFICIARIES; AND TO MAKE DONATIONS FROM THE FUND TO MASONIC AND NON-MASONIC CHARITIES