What we do – Charitable

CHARITY

Charity always was and remains today a core principle of Freemasonry and we have a long and proud 300 year history of charitable giving.

Where does this money come from?

Individuals can make an important contribution at local, national and global level by giving both their time and money. For Freemasons, for families, for everyone

Freemasonry is one of the largest charitable givers in the country, for example by contributing more than £48m to deserving causes in 2018 alone. Freemasons do not only donate money – more than 18.5 million hours of volunteer work was undertaken in 2018.

If you become a Freemason (a “Brother”) your attention will be drawn to the importance of charity.  It will be explained to you how you can donate, should you choose to do so  It is important to understand that this is both voluntary and confidential. Each masonic lodge has a “Charity Steward” – a senior member of the lodge who will be your point of contact in this regard.  No-one else in the lodge knows whether you donate or not and if you do, how much.

You may choose to donate at the dinner held after each lodge meeting (we call it our Festive Board) by putting cash into an envelope which the Charity Steward will have laid at each place setting and which he will collect afterwards, already sealed by yourselves.  Alternatively, you may choose to set up a monthly Standing Order with your bank for whatever amount you decide.

All monies collected this way are held initially by the Lodge Treasurer and subsequently passed on to the central Masonic Charities Foundation. This is a registered charity which is able to claim tax relief from the government

Where do the Caius Lodge donations go to?

Caius Lodge is administered  by the Metropolitan Grand Lodge of London (MetGL) and, as such, many of the larger donations from the members of all Lodges are made in response to specific Appeals from MetGL.  Our Lodge has made very significant contributions to a number of worthy causes in recent years, for example for:

  • the purchase of a ” Cyber Knife”  (a robot-controlled high-energy radiation beam which destroys cancerous tumours) for St. Barts Hospital in London.
  • a second Air Ambulance Helicopter for London and  grants to the other 22 Air Ambulances and other rescue services across England and Wales to assist with their operating costs (£2million from freemasons).
  • the purchase of two special “high-rise” fire engines for the London Fire Brigade, enabling better access to very tall tower blocks (£2.5 million from freemasons).
  • further donations have provided for first-responder vehicles, lifeboats and small buggies which can carry patients with mobility difficulties around inside hospitals.

Our universally-recognised “Square and Compasses” emblem can be seen on many of these emergency vehicles, all of which were funded by the generosity of freemasons.

The freemasons in Caius Lodge additionally help our own College by funding Bursaries to support directly our students.  In particular, in 2000 our Lodge established the “Harold Gillies Bursary” to help students financially.

Each year since then, at our summer meeting, the lodge Brethren, have voted favourably on a proposal made by the Charity Steward to add a further sum, thereby increasing the capital value of this Bursary.

Sir Harold Gillies(Matriculation: 1901) studied medicine at Caius and subsequently became the Master of the College.

Sitting in the centre in the white suit is Sir Harold Gillies (1901)

He is widely considered to be the father of plastic surgery for developing techniques of facial reconstruction during the First World War. He is remembered at Caius today through the Sir Harold Gillies Bursary, established by Caius Lodge in 2000.

OTHER MASONIC CHARITABLE ORGANISATIONS

ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION

The RMBI is part of the Masonic Charitable Foundation – a charity for Freemasons, for families, for everyone.  Caring has been its way of life since 1842 and it provides a home for more than 1,000 people across England and Wales in 18 separate Care Homes – while supporting many more.

THE FREEMASONS FUND FOR SURGICAL RESEARCH

The Freemasons Fund for Surgical Research is a further Charity with the aim of supporting the Royal College of Surgeons of England. For many years, it has supported the College by funding Research Fellowships.

The fund was set up by donations raised as part of the 250th Anniversary celebrations of the United Grand Lodge of England in 1967. It received a second significant sum in 2014.