FRUITERERS FOUNDATION

Background

Charitable giving is one of the main philosophies of the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers. The Company concentrates its philanthropy in two main directions, namely education & research and general charitable giving. In this way the Company promotes and recognises excellence across all sectors of the fruit industry whilst at the same time is an active provider of fruit to the less fortunate inhabitants of the City of London. In addition, the Master has an annual amount to donate to a range of different charities. These range from causes supported by the Lord Mayor of the City of London, the armed forces and selected charities close to the current years’ Master.

In 2016 the Court of the Fruiterers Company agreed that in order to formalise its charitable activity in line with current charity law, a separate Charitable Incorporated Organisation should be constituted with an independent Board of Trustees and named the Fruiterers Foundation.

Board of Trustees
Chairman
The Immediate Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers for as long as he/she remains in office.
The Master of the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers for as long as he/she remains in office.
Two Past Masters of the Company, each elected for an initial two years with the option of standing for a further two years.
The Upper Warden of the Company Ex Officio for the second six months of his term of office.
Other Members at the discretion of the Trustees.
Secretary: A named individual provided by British Growers.

Current Board
Chairman:
Immediate Past Master Laurence Olins
Trustees:
Master Matthew Hancock,
Past Master John Price,
Past Master John Warner.
Secretary: Lisa Eagles (British Gowers Association)

Sub-committees
Four Committees undertake work on behalf of both the Fruiterers Foundation and Worshipful Company of Fruiterers. The Awards Council; The Finance Sub-Committee; The Membership and Communications Sub-Committee; The Fundraising Sub-Committee. The latter committee directly reports to the Foundation trustees.

Education & Research
The Fruiterers Foundation trustees appoint the Awards Council to achieve its aims, which include:
·To support the fruit industry
· Promote excellence across all areas
· Support education and research
· Contribute to the diet and health of future generations.
These objectives are addressed by encouraging and promoting the study of fruit culture, research and marketing, including the harvesting and post-harvest handling of fruit as well as transportation. The Council is also responsible for the granting of awards for education and excellence throughout the fruit industry.

How our funds are assessed for effectiveness
The Council are collectively responsible for the assessment of projects of major importance to the sector, and submit funding recommendations to the Trustees. Its role is primarily that of providing seed funding to emerging strands of research/innovation.

Recent examples of the use of funds
· Collaborative Training Partnership (CTP) @ EMR – part of a consortium supporting up to 14 PhD projects.
· Several current travel awards for early career researchers.
· Support for the Next Generation Fruit Group
· National Fruit Show education programme
· Nuffield Farming Scholars.
· Several industry leading research projects
· Fruit Culture courses in the Cider/Perry industry
· A major project looking into Climate Change and the production of novel crops in the UK
· Supporting the founding of a Plum Demonstration centre in the UK
· Awarding of prestigious student prizes (including the newly launched David Hohnen prize) for academic excellence in the study of fruit.

General Charitable Giving
The Company supports two main avenues of annual charitable donations:

Firstly the Company supports City Harvest for its Fruit Gifting Programme

Secondly each year the current Master has an allocation of £10k to donate to charities of his or her choice. These range from the Lord Mayor’s Appeal Fund, other City of London causes, religious and armed services funds, to charities close to the Master’s own interests and concern.

In addition, the Company is open to support charities and needs that arise due to unforeseen circumstances. An excellent example being the Livery Kitchen Initiative (LKI) spearheaded by the Drapers Company in 2021/2. The Fruiterers Company supplied £25k of fresh produce during the Covid pandemic to LKI, which went towards the 5,400 meals and refreshment packs per week that were delivered to frontline NHS staff on the wards of the Royal London, Barts and Newham University hospitals.

How to Donate to the Fruiterers Foundation
Upon gaining the Freedom of the Company, Freemen are invited to set up a Standing Order with their bank, that allows them to make an annual (or regular) donation to the Fruiterers Foundation. Freemen may specify which of the two funds they would prefer their donation to go to:
• The Fruiterers Foundation Education and Research Fund (Account No: 08507066)
• The Fruiterers Foundation General Charity Fund (Account No: 00507075)

It is suggested that an annual donation of £100 is made but this is certainly not limited and any donation, no matter how large or small, is of great benefit. Donations are further enhanced by agreeing to apply ‘Gift Aid’ to them. In addition, Liverymen are encouraged to bequeath a sum in their will to the Fruiterers Foundation.

Members are asked to refer to the Members Area under the heading “Bequests”.

For non-members, please refer to the Fruiterers Foundation Bequests page on our website.

If you have any questions about setting up your donation, please contact the Clerk via:

clerk@fruiterers.org.uk