Organisation

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 £30,000, 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 fellowships 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 at both Leeds and Reading University for at least one student from each country, which is jointly funded by the Trust, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the relevant university. The Trust also funds Medical Research fellowships.

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 is now affected by the land distribution issue in Zimbabwe, and Trustees have funded ecological education in schools serving adjacent communal areas, and have extended their support for wildlife programmes to Malawi and Zambia.

The Beit Memorial Fellowships for Medical Research. The Beit Trust makes a large annual grant to the Trust administering this highly prestigious fellowship, which is also extended to one fellow from the beneficial area every alternate year. The three year research fellowship covers a subject which is of pertinence to the beneficial area. The original bequest to establish the BMFMR fellowships was made in 1909 by Sir Otto Beit, brother of the founder, and no less than six fellows have gone on to become Nobel laureates. These fellowships are not handled by The Beit Trust, but, for further information e-mail: beit.fellowships@hammer.imm.ox.ac.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.

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.

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