We’re often approached by parents and teachers re - sources of possible sponsorship for children attending our courses. This can often be a time-consuming and dispiriting exercise for anyone embarking on it for the first time. The following guidelines extracted from ‘Gifted’ might be useful.
Small sums of money for weekend courses or Saturday masterclasses can often be raised by making a written request to local organisations like:
- British Legion
- Inner Wheel
- Lions Club
- Masonic Lodges
- Soroptisomoists Club
- The Chamber of Commerce
- The Rotary Club
- The Round Table.
Small sums and larger sums (for Easter/Summer schools) can be obtained form local educational trusts and charities. A list of these is held at most local reference libraries. The charities are peculiar to your own parish and county and are sometimes obscure and ancient requiring strange application criteria e.g. form the 3rd (left-handed) son of a wheelwright born within the parish of Shellow Bowells. the county trusts and charities are almost always straightforward.
For larger sums you need to approach the minefields of the standard registers of charitable trusts. All libraries hold copies of these. The main registers are:
- The Directory of Grant-Making Trusts
- A Guide to the Major Trusts (2 Volumes)
- The Grand Register of Charitable Trusts
- The Educational Grants Directory
The Potential Trust
Shepherds Close
KINGSTON STERT
Oxfordshire
ENSURE THAT YOUR REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE FULFILS THE APPLICATION CRITERIA. THEIR RULES CANNOT BE BENT.
The Charity Commissioners are always very good when approached with requests. The public are encouraged to use their records and staff are very helpful in the use of computer terminals. They will happily talk the computer illiterate (me) through the system BUT they will not extract the information for you. Their record and public access centres are at:
The Charity Commissioners.........
St Albans House. 57 Haymarket. LONDON. SW1Y 4QX. 0171 210 3000.
Graeme House. Derby Square. LIVERPOOL. L2 7SB. 0151 227 3191.
Woodfield House. Tangier. TAUNTON. Somerset. TA1 4BL. 01823 34500.
Department of Finance and Personal Charities. Charities Branch. Rosepark House, Upper Newtowns Road, BELFAST. BT4 3NR. 01232 284567.
Scottish Health and Home Department. Charities Division, New St. Andrews House, EDINBURGH. EH1 3DE. 0131 244 2206.
Whatever the application, make your point clearly and concisely and do not underestimate your difficulties. Many trusts have small amounts of money that are difficult to disperse and will be only too pleased to offer assistance. Trusts and charities must abide by their constitutions and their rules are strictly enforced by the Charity Commissioners. If in doubt, ask the trust for the best way to present your application. The NAGC are pleased to acknowledge
Email: youthagency@rmplc.co.uk