The Prince's of Wales's Charitable Foundation
The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation
HRH The Prince of Wales established his Charitable Foundation in 1979.
A grant-making Trust, The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation uses the income it earns from its commercial ventures to support charitable causes across the UK. It also supports its own projects for international sustainability and disadvantaged young people.
In recent years, The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation has funded initiatives in the following diverse areas: Community Projects; Education and Young People; Conservation; Armed Forces Welfare; Emergency Relief; International Sustainability; and The Built Environment.
The trustees of the Foundation are: Leslie Ferrar (Interim Chairman); The Rt Hon The Lord Rothschild; Sir Michael Rake; and Dame Amelia Fawcett CBE.
Grant-Making
The Foundation has two categories of grants - small grants and major awards.
The criteria for future major awards and guidance will be available on this page from Autumn 2012.
The Foundation is open to applications for small grants to a maximum value of £10,000. Grant applications are considered four times a year. The Prince of Wales and the trustees are keen that awards from the Foundation help to make a significant difference to people and their communities. Therefore the Foundation is particularly interested to receive applications from grassroots community-based projects in the UK.
How to apply
Applying for a grant from The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation is a straightforward process. Applicants need to:
1) Write a letter setting out brief details of the project for which you are seeking support and how it fits The Foundation’s criteria. You should include details of your beneficiaries, where you work and any other charities or agencies that work with you;
2) Include the latest audited accounts for your charity and a note from your treasurer of your current financial position and how this award will help;
3) Send the application to:
David Hutson Esq, MVO,
The Secretary,
The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation,
Clarence House,
London,
SW1A 1BA.
Please note, the Foundation does not give grants to individuals and normally only supports UK registered charities.
Examples of smaller grants by the Foundation awarded in recent years
Youth United
Youth United is a coalition of charities and agencies working together to encourage more young people and adults to volunteer in their local communities. The members, including The Prince’s Trust, the police force and youth organisations, believe they can achieve more working together than separately. This was seen to great effect after the riots in August 2011, when together as Youth United, the partners were able to deploy over 1,000 young people in London and Manchester to help the recovery. The young volunteers enthusiastically took on the task, showing a desire to contribute to their communities in a positive way. This is not something any one of the organisations could have delivered alone and showed the strength of the coalition in action. The Foundation has provided funding to enable Youth United to develop and reach more communities and involve more young people.
Community projects
The Foundation is particularly keen to support a wide range of local, grass-roots projects, where small amounts of funding can make a big difference. Projects funded include:
The development of a new youth wing for young people at Queen Mother Theatre; a contribution towards new play facilities for local children at Bettyhill Play Park; and funding towards new football kit for the youth team at Tetbury Town Football Club.
Also awards for repairs were given to a number of churches and restoration projects, including: Litchfield Cathedral; Southwark Cathedral; Church of the Holy Cross; Sherston and Church of the Holyrood; Dalingworth; Church of St. Peter and St. Paul; Walpole St. Peter and the St. John the Baptist Windsor Tower Appeal.
Emergency Relief
All too often disasters occur that can have devastating consequences for local communities. The Foundation is particularly keen to respond quickly when events like this occur. In recent years, the Foundation has supported appeals for the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal, the famine in East Africa, and the severe flooding in Pakistan, Queensland, and closer to home, in Moray and Cumbria. Financial support also went to the Morecambe Bay Victims Fund after 23 Chinese cockle pickers died in 2004 and the Farms Crisis Network after the Foot and Mouth disaster of 2001.
Military
Supporting Armed Service personnel and injured and returning servicemen and women, is a priority for the Foundation.
In recent years, it has given support to the following: Reserve Forces Ulysees Trust; Help for Heroes; Black Watch Regimental Association; Mercian Regiment Benevolent Fund; Welsh Guards Afghanistan Appeal; Airborne Forces Charities; Project 65 – Pegasus Bridge, and 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards.
Major Awards from the Foundation
The Foundation makes major awards. For example to:
Dumfries House
Built between 1754 and 1759 for the 5th Earl of Dumfries, and with a unique collection of Chippendale furniture, Dumfries House has been described as an 18th Century time-capsule, as the principal rooms and their contents have remained virtually unchanged for more than 250 years.
In June 2007, The Prince of Wales through his Charitable Foundation, provided £20 million of the total asking price of £45 million to purchase this unique house. A consortium of charities and heritage bodies provided the rest of the money, saving for the Nation the house, the unique contents and wider estate, in order to keep this historical jewel intact and accessible to the public.
Since the purchase, Dumfries House has been restored and a number of projects have been developed that will not only reinvigorate the surrounding area, but will also create a lasting and creative legacy for many years to come. These heritage-led regeneration projects include, among others, apprenticeships in skilled crafts and labour such as animal husbandry, stone masonry, and sustainable organic farming. A petting farm will be created, and a large portion of land will be given over to allotments for the local community.
The most exciting and challenging project will be the creation of new sustainable development called Knockroon, which will provide environmentally-friendly, affordable housing to the public.
The Prince's Charities Foundation - supporting other projects
The Charitable Foundation supported The Prince’s Rainforests Project, where we worked with over 300 partners across the business, non-profit and educational communities to help raise awareness of the link between rainforests and climate change and encourage rainforest nations to slow their deforestation rates.
Through the Charitable Foundation’s support for the International Sustainability Unit (ISU), it continues to help bring partners together across government, private and NGO sectors together to pilot practical projects to slow deforestation in Ghana, Indonesia, Liberia and Brazil. It has also published two key pieces of research on the economic opportunity of sustainably managed fisheries and sustainable food production.
The Foundation is also encouraging the responsible business community through its work with The Prince’s Accounting for Sustainability Project and the International Integrated Reporting Committee (the IIRC) to establish a global framework for integrated corporate reporting. In time, this approach will help organizations embed sustainability in decision-making, ensuring the social, environmental and long-term economic context within which the business operates are taken fully into account.
Income Generation
Sustainability plays an important role in the work of the companies that make up the Charitable Foundation’s commercial arm. These companies gift their profits to the Foundation, providing the income needed for the Foundation’s charitable giving.
Duchy Originals Ltd
Duchy Originals and Waitrose are in partnership to provide great British organic food, grown and produced sustainably, through Waitrose stores.
Products in the Duchy Originals from Waitrose range are made with high-quality organic ingredients, using meat sourced with sound animal husbandry and high welfare standards. A percentage of the profits of sales of these products goes to the Foundation. The Partnership between Duchy Originals and Waitrose aims to encourage British organic farming, thereby helping to preserve our heritage in the countryside. To find out more visit www.duchyoriginals.com.
Highgrove Enterprises Ltd
Highgrove Enterprises Ltd. manages the Highgrove shops (currently open at Highgrove. Tetbury and Bath), the Highgrove websites and tours to The Prince of Wales’s organic garden at the Highgrove Estate in Gloucestershire.
The shops all sell organic foods and exclusive branded products for the home and garden. The products are inspired by the Highgrove Garden and the wide-ranging interests of The Prince of Wales.
All products meet rigorous buying criteria and are sourced responsibly with regard to environmental issues. To find out more visit www.highgroveshop.com.
Trustees
Leslie Ferrar (Interim Chairman)
The Rt Hon The Lord Rothschild
Sir Michael Rake
Dame Amelia Fawcett CBE
Senior Management Team (as at October 2011)
Chairman - Leslie Ferrar
Finance Director - Polly McGivern
Executive Director, Commercial Enterprises - James Furse
Secretary - David Hutson
Project Director - Nicola Brentnall
International Sustainability Unit
Director - Justin Mundy
Chief Operating Officer - Andy Togher
Director, Accounting for Sustainability - Jessica Fries
A Registered Charity, No. 1127255.
Prince's Charities Canada
Working in a similar way is Prince's Charities Canada which supports the Canadian work of The Prince of Wales. Prince’s Charities Canada cooperates with existing Canadian charities and facilitates new opportunities for charities in Canada to work with similar organisations in the United Kingdom. Partner organizations include The Canadian Youth Business Foundation, The Heritage Canada Foundation, The Royal Conservatory of Music, SIFE Memorial, UforChange, The Yonge Street Mission, Canadian Business for Social Responsibility and The Wellesley Institute.
Visit the new Prince's Charities Canada website