The Present Organisation of the Trust

The Trust has its Headquarters at Beit House in Woking, Surrey, and also has an office in Harare, Zimbabwe, staffed by the Trust’s Representative in Africa and his staff. At present, there are six Beit Trustees whose Chairman is Sir Alan Munro, great nephew of the Founder. The Trustees meet in London twice a year to decide upon the grants to be allocated. They are advised by a committee of local Correspondents in Africa, two or three per beneficial country, who meet shortly before the Trustees’ meetings to give their expert advice on each application. New grants are normally in the order of up to £40,000, and the Trust also operates a system whereby contingency grants of up to £4,000 can be authorised out of committee for subsequent ratification by Trustees.

The Trust’s Finance Committee meets four weeks prior to full Trustees’ meetings, with the investment managers in attendance, to address finance and investment policy. In November each year the Finance Committee submits a proposed budget of income and expenditure for the forthcoming year to the Trustees for their approval.

Grant Making Policy

Applications for grants are considered on merit. The Trustees seldom give grants to government organisations, preferring to support independent institutions, in particular schools, hospitals and health centres associated with missions. Support is also given to selected environmental programmes. Trustees seek so far as practicable to maintain an appropriate distribution of grants between the three countries and between education, health and welfare. Strict rules are applied for grants of an infrastructure nature to ensure that detailed and serviceable plans are submitted before a grant is paid. In the case of building grants, the final 25% of a grant is withheld until completion of the project. Regular visits within the beneficial area by Trustees, Correspondents, the Representative and the Secretary afford the opportunity to judge an application before it is considered by the Trustees, to see a project under construction, or when it is completed.

The Beit Trust Postgraduate Scholarship Scheme

The Trust offers a small number of scholarships to Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia nationals. These scholarships can be undertaken at any university in the United Kingdom, Ireland or South Africa for study in a subject of the individual’s choice appropriate to the needs of the beneficial area. The Trust also offers Chevening scholarships jointly funded by the Trust, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the relevant university at both Leeds and Reading University. In Africa, The Trust funds long surgical training courses administered by The College of East Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA). It also provides scholarships at Rhodes, Grahamstown in co-operation with the university.

Beit Bursaries for Medical Electives and Medical Secondments. The Trust offers small bursaries to assist fourth year medical students at British universities to undertake electives at rural or mission hospitals or clinics in the beneficial countries. Needs are greatest in Zimbabwe. Students are expected to spend a minimum of eight weeks in one place, and offer hands-on help with the day-to-day work of these under-resourced hospitals. This scheme is administered by the Medical Schools Council (for all UK medical students) and the John Radcliffe Hospital (for Oxford medical students only). Oxford medical students should contact Dr Bee Wee or Dr Tim Lancaster. All other universities should contact MSC Policy Officer at: mailto:Jocelyne.Aldridge@medschools.ac.uk

In 2008 the Trustees also funded a trial scheme to assist a small number of junior doctors to work in hospitals in the beneficial area for a minimum of six months. Initial enquiries should be sent to the Secretary at: enquiries@beittrust.org.uk

The Beit Fellowships for Scientific Research. The Trust has made substantial grants to sustain annual fellowships awarded at Imperial College for advanced research study, the product of which is made available to universities in the beneficial area.

Beit Memorial Fellowships for Medical Research, originally established by Sir Otto Beit in 1909 and are now known as Wellcome-Beit Prize Fellowships. For further information and application please see the following link: www.wellcome.ac.uk/beit

Computers for African Schools is a registered charity which supplies schools in the three countries with second hand computers donated by firms in the UK. Several thousand computers have so far been sent to schools in the beneficial area. The Beit Trust has provided substantial core funding for the project, including this one at St Mary's Girls' School in Zomba, Eastern Malawi.

Book Aid International is a registered charity which supplies a very broad range of books, educational materials and assistance to beneficiaries in developing countries worldwide. The Beit Trust makes a major annual grant to cover logistic costs to the three countries of the beneficial area, including this one in the Malawi National Library, which was originally built in 1978 with funds provided by the Beit Trust.

Association of Trust Schools, Zimbabwe. At a time when most Zimbabwean teacher-training colleges are under severe pressure, the Beit Trust funded a temporary trial scheme to sponsor young Zimbabwean teachers to gain their qualifications at Rhodes University in South Africa. Here young trainee music teacher, Susan Moyo, shows off the traditional mbira instrument she has mastered.

The Trustees hope that when conditions in Zimbabwe normalise, teacher-training can again be successfully achieved at home.

Charitable ventures associated with The Beit Trust

The WWF/Beit Trust Rhino Conservation Project. This project was established in 1989 as a joint project with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The Trustees then resolved to set aside the sum of £1,000,000 as a designated fund for preserving the remaining stock of black rhino in the beneficial area of the Trust. The basic objective having been achieved, the Trust ceased to provide core funding for the project on 31 December 1998, but an annual grant is still made to the project. Although the programme was highly successful in its initial aim of re-establishing a self-sustaining number of black rhinos, it has been seriously affected by the land distribution issue in Zimbabwe. Poaching has greatly increased, so Trustees have turned their attention to ecological education in schools serving adjacent communal areas, and have extended their support for wildlife programmes to Malawi and Zambia.

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