Charity Policy
The Coachmakers Charitable Trust Giving Policy
The Worshipful Company of Coach Makers and Coach Harness Makers has, compared with many Liveries, modest funds for charitable disbursement. This is, largely, because in the bombing of London in the Second World War the Company lost its hall, its history, its heritage and many of its treasures.
As a consequence, some 10 years later it was decided that charitable donations for the future would be focused on training, most especially in the aerospace and automotive industries, creating the modern equivalent of coaches, but with resonances in those crafts associated with the manufacture and driving of traditional horse drawn vehicles.
The Court also decided that its donations should be as substantial as possible with the aim of ‘making a difference’. However, bursaries would be allocated on an annual basis and, because funds could not always be guaranteed, the Livery would not accept commitments to individuals for long term educational courses.
Accordingly, the company provides bursaries for students studying motor vehicle design at The Royal College of Art and aerospace sciences at Cranfield University. In addition, a flying scholarship is provided for an individual who, in competition, has shown aptitude and determination to become a pilot. The Livery also supports the Lord Mayor’s annual appeal and makes regular payments to the RAF Benevolent Fund and to BEN, which helps motor industry employees who require care.
The Livery receives in excess of 400 requests each year for charitable funding and as a consequence the decision to support a particular charity, outside the Livery’s established policy and sphere of interest, is a matter for careful consideration by the Court which meets in November and June for that purpose.
All would like to do more in the field of charitable giving but this is an aspiration which is extremely difficult to fulfil, especially in the adverse financial climate which has recently surrounded investment. The Coachmakers has thought carefully about placing limited funds to achieve best effect, and in making an application to the Company this should be borne in mind to avoid understandable disappointment.