Its strategic objectives are:
- To be an approachable organisation operating to the highest professional standards and treating all applicants and beneficiaries fairly, equally and with empathy
- To provide appropriate financial help efficiently, where relevant in co-operation with other organisations
- To promote the Benevolent Fund as widely as possible to potential applicants
- To make effective and efficient use of the Benevolent Fund’s human and financial resources
- To seek to ensure that adequate funds continue to be available to meet expected needs
- To optimise incoming funds, whether donations, legacies or from investments
How we help
For over 70 years, the Benevolent Fund has been helping Institution members, and their dependants, who have encountered financial difficulties as a result of circumstances such as:
- unemployment
- illness, accident or disability
- family problems
- difficulties during retirement
- bereavement
Financial help is given according to each person’s needs, and regardless of age, class of membership or country of residence. There is no requirement for an applicant to have subscribed to the Benevolent Fund.
Help may be a one-off grant to deal with an emergency, or regular payments to meet continuing needs, or perhaps a loan for a specific purpose. A loan may be interest-free and may be secured on the beneficiary’s property.
Grants are given, among other things, for house repairs and household equipment, for adapting property or purchasing equipment for use by disabled persons, for carers’ breaks and for daily living costs for those on very modest incomes.
In 2008, £77,000 was provided in grants. Payments ranged from £1,050 to over £7,000, and were made to 25 beneficiaries aged from 41 to 94, each of whom had particular difficulties.
Details of the help given in 2008 is available for download
.
Assistance is given in many cases jointly with the Benevolent Fund of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
The Benevolent Fund is governed by a board of trustees, each of whom is an Institution member. They consider each application sympathetically and confidentially.
The Fund responds to a request for help as soon as possible. However, circumstances can be complex and the normal assessment process can inevitably take some time to complete.
Where there is a genuine emergency, however, the Fund can pay up to £500, as a loan, normally within days.
The Benevolent Fund has a straightforward, but rigorous, procedure for assessing applicants for financial help. So that the trustees fully understand the circumstances, the applicant is asked to complete a form, which gives all relevant information.
Additionally, the applicant is visited by a local representative of the Benevolent Fund. This establishes personal contact, and allows a confidential discussion to take place.
The representative then makes a written report to the trustees, which is very helpful when they are considering the form.
The Benevolent Fund makes use of the advice of a Benefits Consultant, whose specialist expertise is deployed in reviewing applications, with a view to ensuring that all applicants in the United Kingdom are aware of, and claim, all state benefits to which they are entitled.
Through the Fund’s association with Careways Trust, it has access to over 50 registered care homes spread throughout England.
How you can help
To provide financial help at a realistic level, the Fund needs a sustained flow of income, and it relies on regular contributions from Institution members.
The Fund’s trustees are extremely grateful to around 8,500 Institution members who give financial support to the Benevolent Fund each year, mainly through the suggested contribution included on the annual subscription notice.
Some members additionally make larger donations. This is greatly appreciated by the trustees, and particularly by those who are helped by the Benevolent Fund. Thank you to all concerned!
For members who pay UK income tax, any donations made under gift aid allow the Fund to boost the amounts given through tax recovery from the government. Please donate by completing a Gift aid declaration form, which should be returned to the Benevolent Fund when completed.
It is good to keep one’s affairs in order, and to look to the future. If you have not yet written a will, as a matter of prudence you may wish doing so. Please give to the Benevolent Fund among other worthwhile causes; it is the charity of your chosen profession.
You can download suggested wording for a bequest.
A number of branches undertake fund raising at social events and other occasions. This support is also greatly valued.
Finally, if you know of someone who may be eligible for help by the Benevolent Fund, please encourage them to contact us.
Further information
More detailed information is contained in the fund's 2008 annual report and accounts and you can also download relevant sources of advice and information.
The Institution of Structural Engineers Benevolent Fund
11 Upper Belgrave Street
London SW1X 8BH
United Kingdom
Tel: +44(0)20 7235 4535
Fax: +44(0)20 7235 4294
Email: Benevolent Fund
Registered Charity Number 1049171