The Consortium has a charitable arm:
The York Foundation for Conservation and Craftsmanship
It was created to raise funds tax-efficiently for those heritage-related objects of the Consortium which can be considered charitable. Its first project was designed to make a contribution to remedying the worrying and increasing shortage of the skilled craftsmen and conservators necessary to ensure the conservation and restoration of the nation’s heritage. The Foundation’s Trustees therefore set out to create a fund capable of generating annual bursaries to assist the training of craftsmen and conservators, and to encourage existing experts to take on new apprentices/trainees.
Since its launch in the year 2000 the Foundation has received the support of many generous donors, both individual and corporate, and has now built up a Fund of over £180,000. The interest from this invested money has allowed the Trustees to award bursaries to a total value of £52,000 since the Fund’s inception. Some of these bursaries have been directly funded by gifts specifically for the purpose by donors whose constitutions do not permit them to contribute to endowment funds. Click here for a full list of those who have made donations to the Fund or for specific bursaries.
Click here for a list of the bursaries awarded, together with their intended purposes. In all 48 craftsmen and conservators have been assisted, 41 to further their skills and knowledge, and seven to take on new apprentices/trainees.
The Fund is now generating annual interest to permit a total of £7,000 to be offered, and this may well be supplemented by donations to be used immediately for additional bursaries. Applications are invited in October/November each year, with a closing date at the end of March of the following year. Click here to find out about the bursary winners for 2009. The awards are announced and presented at the Annual General Meeting of the Consortium, held at the end of May in the evocative setting of York’s medieval Merchant Adventurers’ Hall (by kind permission of the Governor and Company).