MCF issues further update to close the year

At the start of this year, we reworked our entire Charity Grants pages on our website to help applicants get the support they need for their charity more easily. In doing so, we’ve focused on four priority areas for our funding:

• Improving the health and wellbeing of older people with dementia and their carers
• Early years (0-5) with a focus on extreme poverty and neglect
• Children affected by domestic abuse
• Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

Masonic Support

This year, we were delighted to celebrate a successful 20 years of the TalentAid scheme, which supports exceptionally talented children and young people from the Freemasonry community. As you may have seen on our social channels, back in September we invited six talented young stars to show us their talents and tell us all about the impact of our support, which is only possible thanks to the generosity of Freemasons and their families. You can watch the video here.

Relief Chest

In July, the Relief Chest team hosted their second London Open Week in Freemasons’ Hall. This event highlighted our services and provided one-to-one support to Relief Chest holders, with a special emphasis on digital services. The event attracted over 200 Charity Stewards from London and surrounding Provinces, and it was a great success. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with 95 per cent of attendees reporting that they now feel better equipped to fulfil their responsibilities as Relief Chest Representatives.

Communications

Back in April, our Communications team launched our newest social media channel on WhatsApp. The channel quickly grew in numbers, and we are proud to have built a tight-knit community of Freemasons and others, where everyone is welcome. We enjoy sharing behind-the-scenes content and particularly value engaging with our audience through polls and reactions. If you haven’t already, why not follow us?

Join the community: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaV17az2f3EKEZQxTd0U

Fundraising

The Provinces of Gloucestershire, Nottinghamshire, Suffolk and Yorkshire, North & East Ridings all launched their 2029 Festivals this year. The MCF wishes these Provinces all the best for their five years of fundraising ahead.

Cornwall, Monmouthshire, Northamptonshire & Huntingdonshire and Staffordshire celebrated their festival finales this year. These four festivals raised a combined total of over £6 million, which will play a key role in supporting the Freemasonry community and wider society in the near future.

Governance

We began the year with a new Chairman, as James M Long, was appointed to replace the retiring Sir Paul Williams. James is also the President of the MCF and has been a Trustee since April 2022. In January hesaid: “This is a critical period for UGLE, as it embarks upon its ambitious new strategy, and I am determined that the MCF will continue to play a key role in its delivery, particularly in the “Third Pillar”, where we represent such a significant and highly visible aspect of UGLE’s engagement in our communities. Being fully engaged with UGLE, both centrally and at Provincial level, we will focus on efficiently delivering the maximum possible impact from deploying the generous donations of our members, present and past.”

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