The Feltmakers Charitable Foundation (Registered in England Charity Registration No. 259906)
The Worshipful Company of Feltmakers of London has always enjoyed a tradition of charitable giving. The present Foundation was formed by the Worshipful Company of Feltmakers in the 1960’s as a Registered charity. We subsequently rolled our other charitable funds, with Charity Commission approval, into the Foundation. Under the present Trustees it is very much focused on the 21st Century supporting charitable objectives where needed and relevance are identified at the outset.
Some background to the Company’s Charitable and Philanthropic work
Like other Liveries, the Worshipful Company of Feltmakers of London recognised from the time of receiving its Charter, that the privileges it provided in respect of trade were accompanied by obligations in respects of training apprentices and the maintenance of the highest standards of work, and also for charitable conduct towards the society in which the Livery operated. Although trade links today are not what they were two hundred years ago and more, (not least because the railways brought competition that effectively ended the exclusive rights formerly held by Liveries in London) Liverymen today continue to be active in their support of charitable work, and the total charitable giving of Liveries and the City of London Corporation together is currently some £75 million each year.
Feltmakers contribute part of this total – we would like to be able to give more – and as well as continuing to support Charitable work focussed mainly within the City of London, we choose to rotate periodically part of our giving to include charities with a wider geographical reach such as Treloars College. Naturally this also involves careful selection in the first place. The Livery is currently supporting Brain Tumour Research.
Self-evidently, financial support for charities, requires financial resources and some Liveries, particularly those whose power and influence was significant before the rapid expansion of London took place from the mid 1600’s onwards, and who were able to acquire and retain substantial land holdings, have subsequently been able, through careful management of their assets, to accumulate very significant charitable funds, which generate substantial annual sums which they distribute with great care, and thought. Our charitable resources are not on that scale, although we are indebted to the considerable generosity of some recent Liverymen for their endowments legacies and bequests and we are also deeply grateful for the committed skill and wisdom of our investment committee members which has helped us to grow our assets significantly. A note about how Liverymen can make such gifts comes at the end of this summary.
Our charitable Foundation (The Feltmakers Charitable Foundation (Registered in England Charity Registration No. 259906) was formed by the Worshipful Company of Feltmakers in the 1960’s as a Registered charity and subsequently older and other charitable funds with Charity Commission approval were merged into the Foundation.
The way the Charitable Foundation operates
The Trustees of our Charitable Foundation recognise their responsibilities under the Trust Deed for careful stewardship of the assets which it owns. They meet regularly to ensure that its activities continue to be managed thoughtfully and wisely in both optimising the available funds for distribution and in the choices made about how those charitable funds are the disbursed, naturally including careful thought about needs and relevance of those beneficiaries selected.
Their deliberations also include a thoughtful review of changes in legislation and practice with regard to the area sf the Trustee responsibilities, so as to ensure that the conduct of the foundation remains in accordance with best practice at all time. The Foundation’s audited accounts show clearly how such matters have been dealt with. Trustees receive no remuneration and bear their own costs of serving as Trustees.
All Liverymen are strongly encouraged to consider including the Feltmakers Charitable Foundation as a nominated beneficiary in their wills, in the knowledge that there is very good reason to believe that such giving can be expected to benefit many generations to come.
Other Charitable and Philanthropic Relationships
As already noted above, The City of London Corporation and Livery Companies are major charity donors and promoters of old and new traditional crafts, industries as well as key modern City services.
The Feltmakers have a historic affiliation with a type 23 Destroyer being HMS Lancaster, currently on active service in the Gulf protecting shipping and part of the vitally important international navy task force. We support the Officers and Crew and their families and dependents.
Other Charitable Support provided
- The Feltmakers Design Awards
- Pensioner Hatters
- Promotion of Aspects of Feltmaking whether supporting current research and/or historical aspects of Feltmaking.
- City of London based charities.
- Charitable endeavours of individual liverymen of the Feltmakers Company.
Summing up – our commitment to Charitable support is fundamental, this has changed from simply giving cash donations, to encouraging active engagement and participation by our members using their own professional skills and talents to help and assist our charities. Likewise, sometimes simply providing extra ‘pairs of hands’ is what the charity needs and this provides members of the Company with a good opportunity to work at grass roots level and to understand the needs of the organisation; it is also immensely fulfilling. But financial support remains of great importance and the Trustees are grateful to individual Liverymen for creating fund-raising opportunities for the Charities we support.
For the Annual Reports and Financial Statements of the Feltmakers’ Charitable Foundation, please click here.
How Liverymen can help financially
Donate now via Justgiving
You can donate to the Feltmakers’ Charitable Foundation by using the following link:
https://www.justgiving.com/feltmakerscharitablefdn
Legacies – By Will
The Foundation has received from deceased Liverymen a number of generous legacies. Leaving a legacy to charity in a will is a very tax-efficient gift. It will suffice to have a simple clause in your will. We suggest the following clause could be used:
“I give to the Trustees of The Feltmakers Charitable Foundation (Registered charity No. 259906) care of the Clerk to the Trustees at 13 Birch Close, Farnham, Surrey, GU10 4TJ the sum of x pounds (£ ). The receipt of the said Clerk to the Trustees shall be sufficient discharge of my executors and trustees”.
Life-time Gifts – By Gift-Aid
Donations are always welcome and lifetime gifts to the Foundation are very tax-efficient for the donor.
Mentoring support
Liverymen can offer mentoring support if they are willing to do so; and they are asked to let the Master and the Clerk know of that offer, who will then be pleased to arrange the contacts with relevant Charities and the preliminary safeguarding interviews required for the DBS approval before such arrangements can normally be taken forward.
For enquiries about the Foundation please contact:
The Pro Tem Clerk Emma Whitaker
clerk@feltmakers.co.uk