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Regularly Asked Questions
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What is a Masonic Festival?
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What is the Masonic Samaritan Fund (MSF or the
Fund)?
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What does the Masonic Samaritan Fund do?
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Who can benefit from the Masonic Samaritan Fund?
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What does the Fund define as a long wait on the
NHS?
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What do I get out of the Derbyshire Festival?
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Will the Masonic Samaritan Fund pay for an initial
consultation?
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Can I apply to the Fund after treatment has taken
place?
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How would I apply for a grant?
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Is there a means test?
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Is it confidential
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How much does the Masonic Samaritan Fund need?
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How much does the
Fund spend on administration?
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Why is Derbyshire running a Festival?
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Why give the money to London?
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What will our Festival aim to achieve?
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How will the Festival be organised?
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What is the role of the Festival Steward?
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What is our Lodge target?
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What do you want from me?
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What about the Provincial Grand Charity?
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How will we be able to give to the Festival?
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Does the Festival have a charity number?
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How will contributions be recognised?
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I am a member of more than one Lodge in Derbyshire, How will my contributions
via each distinguished?
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I have heard there is a Festival tie? Can you please explain
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What about our other charitable efforts?
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How we do we ensure donations go to the Festival
and not other causes?
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How will we know how we are doing?
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Do you have any further questions?
What is a Masonic Festival?
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A Festival is a major fund-raising project, spread over a number of years and
run by a Masonic Province, to benefit one of the four central Masonic Charities,
namely the Grand Charity, the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution, the Royal
Masonic Trust for Girls & Boys and the Masonic Samaritan Fund.
What is the
Masonic Samaritan Fund (MSF or the Fund)?
What does the Masonic Samaritan Fund do?
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The Masonic Samaritan Fund provides financial assistance towards the cost of
medical care and support to Freemasons,
their wives, partners and dependants of Freemasons, and the widows, surviving
partners and dependants of deceased Freemasons who have an identified medical
need, are waiting for treatment on the NHS and cannot afford private medical
care.
Who can benefit from
the Masonic Samaritan Fund?
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Applications for grants can be considered on behalf of Freemasons or the wives
(or partners), widows (or surviving partners) children or dependants of
Freemasons or deceased Freemasons.
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For this purpose, a Freemason is anyone who has been initiated into, or joined,
a Lodge under the English Constitution.
What does the Fund
define as a long wait on the NHS?
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The Masonic Samaritan Fund normally defines a long wait as more than three
months for general surgery and more than two months for cardiac surgery.
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Some conditions may require a more rapid response and the Fund can accommodate
this.
What do I get out of the
Derbyshire Festival?
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You will be replenishing the Fund so that it is available for others and in case
you, your family or other dependants, need it.
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The knowledge that you are helping Brother Masons, and their dependants, get the
medical care and attention they need, when they need it.
Will
the Masonic Samaritan Fund pay for an initial consultation?
Can I apply to
the Fund after treatment has taken place?
How would I apply for a grant?
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Your Lodge Almoner will be able to advise and help you.
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Alternatively, you can phone the Grants Department at the Fund directly on 020
7404 1550.
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Or you can contact the Fund by email on
grants@msfund.org.uk or via their website,
www.msfund.org.uk.
Is there a means test?
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Yes. The MSF is required to determine that an applicant is unable to meet the
cost of their own medical treatment without incurring financial hardship.
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In deciding whether you qualify for a grant, the Fund takes into account your
income and capital, but not the value of your main residence.
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In most cases the Fund will meet the full cost of treatment. In some instances
the Fund will assess that the applicant is capable of meeting some of the costs
from their own resources and will partially fund medical care.
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All those who receive a means tested State benefit will meet the Fund’s
financial eligibility criteria in full.
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It is always worth contacting the Fund direct as soon as possible, to see if you
will qualify.
Is it confidential?
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Yes. All elements of the application process are confidential but there is a
requirement for a visiting Brother to be appointed to help verify the detail on
the application form.
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Under normal circumstances this will be your Lodge Almoner. However, if you
prefer a visiting Brother can be appointed from another Lodge or Province.
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Your private details will not be revealed to any member of your Lodge or
Province.
How much does the
Masonic Samaritan Fund need?
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Last year (2007) the Fund allocated grants of over £3.7 million to 626
applicants, the largest demand since the Fund was established in 1990.
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Its stated aim is to ensure that no potential applicant misses out on the Fund’s
help through lack of knowledge or lack of available funds.
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It expects applications to continue to increase and is budgeting for a 15%
increase within its current financial year.
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It needs to replace the monies spent to support new applications.
How much does the Fund
spend on administration?
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It is the policy of the Board of Management of the Masonic Samaritan Fund to
fund its administrative costs from its investment income.
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All donations made to the Fund are available for allocation in direct support of
medical treatment.
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In 2007 the Fund spent £265,000 on supporting Festivals, donor records and
internal administration.
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The Fund is actively reducing its administration costs and recently saved annual
office rents of £63,000 by moving into offices at Freemasons’ Hall.
Why is Derbyshire running a
Festival?
Why give the money to London?
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The 4 central
Charities have been likened to the four main banks – although their head offices
may be in London, deposits and withdrawals can be made at branches across the
length and breadth of the country.
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London may be the administrative centre of the Fund but the people who benefit
are Freemasons, and their dependants, across the English constitution.
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Seventy-seven Derbyshire Freemasons have benefited from the Fund with grants
totalling £407,000.
What will our Festival aim to
achieve?
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The Festival President, our Provincial Grand Master, R.W.Bro. Graham Rudd, has
set two objectives for the Festival.
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Firstly, for us to raise at
least £2,000,000 for the Masonic Samaritan Fund between now and 2014.
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Secondly, to raise the
profile of the Masonic Samaritan Fund in Derbyshire so that Freemasons, their
widows and dependants know that they can apply to the Fund for a grant to assist
them when needed.
How will the Festival be organised?
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The Provincial Grand Master has set up a separate Festival
Executive,
under the chairmanship of W.Bro. Martin Bates and W.Bro. Richard McDonald, to run the
Festival.
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The Provincial Charity will continue with its own programme of raising funds for
local charities and will support, but not run, the Festival.For the purposes of the Festival, the Province will be organised into seven
areas with an Area Director co-ordinating and supporting efforts in each area.
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Each Lodge is asked to appoint a Festival Steward, who could be the Charity
Steward or another member who concentrates on promoting the Festival.
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Lodges and areas are being asked to raise funds by requesting Brethren to make
regular payments under gift-aid and by initiatives such as events.
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Ideas will be shared and successes recognised across the Province.
What is the role of the
Festival Steward?
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To promote the Festival, to co-ordinate Lodge / Area events and fund raising
activities and to act as the point of communication between the Festival Executive
and the Lodge.
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The Festival Steward could be your Lodge’s Charity Steward, although some Lodges
that raise other funds for charity may wish to keep the roles separate.
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It is up to each Lodge how they plan and organise their donations to the
Festival, but we ask each Lodge to tell us who will be their Festival Steward.
What is our Lodge target?
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Our
Provincial goal, of
raising at least £2,000,000 between now and 2014, is about the same as the price
of a pint of beer per week from every Freemason in Derbyshire.
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We are asking every Lodge in the Province to achieve a target that is based on
this calculation and which is proportional to the number of members of their
Lodge. Lodge targets were sent to Lodge Secretaries immediately after the
launch of the Festival.
What do you want from me?
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We would like all
Derbyshire Freemasons to get involved with the Festival’s events and activities,
to donate to the Festival and to promote the Masonic Samaritan Fund and its
objects.
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Ideally we would like you to donate the equivalent of the price of a pint of
beer a week between the launch of the Festival and 2014.
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The best way to donate is to make regular payments, under a bankers order,
direct to the Masonic Samaritan Fund and, if you are a UK tax payer, to make the
donations under a blanket gift aid declaration.
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You can also help the Festival by organising or supporting fund raising events
and initiatives in your Lodge or Masonic meeting place. Please speak to your
Festival Steward or Area Director if you have any ideas for an event or
initiative.
What about the Provincial
Grand Charity?
How will we be able to
give to the Festival?
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The best method will
be regular giving via a bankers order and a Gift Aid declaration (similar to,
but more flexible than, the old Deed of Covenant).
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This method can be used to donate money directly to the Masonic Samaritan Fund
or to a Lodge Relief Chest.
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Payments made directly to the Masonic Samaritan Fund will be credited to the
Festival in the name of the donor and will count towards his Lodge’s, as well as
the Province’s, total. They will also qualify for interest at the same
advantageous rate as the Relief Chest Scheme. In addition, the donations will
be available for use immediately by the Masonic Samaritan Fund.
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Donation forms are available from your Lodge Festival Steward, at every Masonic
Hall and as a download from the Festival website
www.DerbyshireFestival.org.uk.
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Payments made
to a Lodge Relief Chest will need to be paid over to the Festival by the Lodge
at intervals. Payments should be made using the blue Relief Chest form
and accompanied by a list of donors and their individual contributions, so that
donors can be recognised for their contribution. Relief Chest forms must be
received by the Grand Charity before the fifteenth of each month for it to
appear in Festival statements for the following month. The form to list the
donations made in this way is available on the Festival website.
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In both cases, any income tax paid on the donation will be reclaimed and this
sum credited to the donor. For the three years from 2008, the income tax
reclaimed will be 28p in every one pound donated. Thereafter it will reduce to
25p in the pound.
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You can also make one-off donations, use the Gift Aid Envelope Scheme for giving
via (for example) Lodge
Offertories, and support fund-raising events and
activities.
Does the Festival have a
charity number?
How will contributions be
recognised?
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Individual Freemasons will qualify for the Festival Jewel, and for the Masonic
Samaritan Fund’s permanent Jewel, on donating £100, or on taking out a bankers
order to donate at least £100.
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Both the Festival Jewel and the Fund’s permanent Jewel must be paid for in
addition to the donation to the Festival. The Festival Jewel will cost around £15.00 and the Fund’s permanent Jewel will
cost £5.00.
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The Festival Executive will decide soon how further recognition will be given to
individual Brethren and to Lodges.
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Ask your Lodge Festival Steward to list your donations, and the tax and interest
received on the donations, when paying the donation over to the Festival.
I am a member of more than one Lodge in Derbyshire. How will my contributions
via each be distinguished?
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On receipt of your first
donation the Masonic Samaritan Fund will allocate to you a “unique donor
reference”. The Fund will also allocate a “unique gift-aid reference” to each
gift-aid declaration that you take out.
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These
references will allow the Fund to keep a total of all of your personal
contributions, so that you will be recognised properly as an individual, and
each donation you make via each Lodge, so that Lodges are also recognised.
I
have heard there is a Festival tie. Can you please explain?
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The
Provincial Festival tie went on sale from 12th April 2008. The proceeds from
the sale of the tie will go to support the Festival.
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The
Provincial Grand Master has approved the Festival tie for wear by Derbyshire
Freemasons at Craft Lodges in the Province. In addition, the Grand
Superintendent, E.Comp. Tom Briggs, has approved the tie for wear at all
meetings of Royal Arch Chapters in the Province.
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The
following Provinces have also given their permission for the Derbyshire tie to
be worn by Derbyshire Freemasons at Craft Lodges in their Province
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Lincolnshire
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Nottinghamshire
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Northamptonshire
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Staffordshire
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Warwickshire
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The Province
of Yorkshire West Riding has given permission for the tie to be worn by
Derbyshire Freemasons, who are also members of Lodges in that Province, when
they are attending their Yorkshire West Riding Lodge.
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The tie should not be
worn at meetings of other Orders.
What about our other
charitable efforts?
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Lodges will,
of course, continue to donate money to other charitable causes. It is just that
the Festival President is asking Lodges, and other Masonic groups, to contribute
as best they can to the 2014 Festival.
How we do we ensure donations go to the Festival and not other causes?
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Make
your wishes clear to your Festival Steward so that monies you donate via your
Lodge go to the cause you wish.
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All monies
donated via a bankers order to the Masonic Samaritan Fund using the form headed
“Derbyshire Festival 2014”, will go to our Festival and no where else.
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Any other donations intended for the Festival, whether from Lodges or
individuals, should be sent to W.Bro. Mike Knifton, the Festival’s Finance
Director, who will keep local records.
How will we know how we are doing?
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Lodges will receive regular statements from the Festival’s Finance Director, W.Bro. Mike Knifton.
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The Festival website,
www.DerbyshireFestival.org.uk, will display a running total for the whole
Province and
will be updated weekly
Do you have any further questions?
The pages of this document have been authored by the Derbyshire Festival
communications team.
Copyright © 2008 [Derbyshire Festival 2014]. All rights reserved.
Revised:
Wednesday, 14. May 2008 07:31.
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