How we help

For over 70 years, the Benevolent Fund has been helping IStructE members, and their dependants, encountering financial difficulties as a result of circumstances such as:

• Unemployment
• Illness, accident or disability
• Family problems
• Difficulties during retirement
• Bereavement.

Financial help is provided 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.

Grants are given 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 2007, £79,000 was provided in grants. Payments ranged from under £300 to over £8,000, and were made to 24 beneficiaries aged from 31 to 93, each of whom had particular difficulties. For details of the help given in 2007, click here. Assistance is given in many cases jointly with the Institution of Civil Engineers' Benevolent Fund.

The Fund responds to a request for help as soon as possible. However, circumstances can be complex and the normal assessment process inevitably takes 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 structure
The Benevolent Fund is governed by a Board of Trustees, each of whom is an IStructE member. They consider each application sympathetically and confidentially, usually with the benefit of a report from the local representative of the Fund who has visited the applicant. The Trustees are advised by a Benefits Consultant, with a view to ensuring that all applicants in the UK 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 fifty registered care homes spread throughout England. Details are available on request to the Fund.

The Benevolent Fund also benefits from the advice of a Benefits Consultant, whose specialist expertise is deployed in reviewing applications, with particular reference to UK state benefit entitlements.

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 9,000 IStructE 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.

For members who pay UK income tax, any donations made under Gift Aid allow the Fund to boost the amount given through tax recovery from the government. Please click here to donate by completing a Gift Aid declaration form. Some members generously make the Benevolent Fund a beneficiary in their will. Such thoughtfulness is appreciated and remembered. In addition, a number of branches undertake fund-raising at social events and other occasions. This support is also greatly valued.

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 to consider doing so. Please think of the Benevolent Fund among other worthwhile causes; it is the charity of your chosen profession. Please continue to help us help those in need.

Finally, if you know of someone who may be eligible for help by the Benevolent Fund, please encourage them to contact us.

Further information

For details of the Fund's vision statement and strategic objectives, click here.

More detailed information is contained in the Fund's 2007 annual report and accounts.

The Institution of Structural Engineers Benevolent Fund
11 Upper Belgrave Street
London SW1X 8BH
United Kingdom
T: +44(0)20 7235 4535
F: +44(0)20 7235 4294
E: Benevolent Fund

Registered Charity Number 1049171