For too long, London Freemasons had kept rather quiet about their record of success at charitable giving. How so? The truthful answer is more complicated than I would like.
London Freemasons are a large body of likeminded men when it comes to charitable giving. London is the largest single masonic organisational unit in the UK and so I guess, based on membership numbers alone, there should be a large amount of giving power available. The organisation is not a charity as such but much of what we do in the community is motivated by a charitable desire among nearly all Freemasons.
Until quite recently, large cheques were written and sent to a vast range of charities. Yet, little was done to take advantage of the public relations opportunities that flow from such things. Gladly, losing those opportunities to help win public support is a thing of the past. Now, as well as supporting hundreds of charities with regular payments, London Freemasons run “flagship” charity giving campaigns.
For a number of years ending in November 2017, we acted as a main sponsor and contributor to the London Air Ambulance service with a total payment of £2.1 million. This was enough to make sure London is supported by two air ambulances plus a set of 5 rapid response cars to work alongside the helicopters.
Now our flagship project is to raise £2.5 million to provide London with two extended super-Aerial appliances for the London Fire Brigade. These are special purpose vehicles able to reach up to 24 storeys. At the moment London owns no such equipment. Our first payment of £375,000 has already been made.
How’s that for charitable impact!