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Charity is at our heart
United Grand Lodge of England says Freemasonry stands out as one of the largest contributors to charitable causes in the country, with a noteworthy almost £1 million donated per week. Frankley Beeches Lodge 5846, a lodge in Freemasonry Worcestershire, has shared that tradition since its first collection in 1942. The figures below are the published national and provincial ones. They are not a claim that every pound is raised by this lodge, or that every grant goes outside Freemasonry. The lodge’s own story, including Fun for Kids, is further down, and the wartime beginnings are on the history page.
“Freemasonry stands out as one of the largest contributors to charitable causes in the country, with a noteworthy almost £1 million donated per week.”
United Grand Lodge of England, Engaged in our communities
In 2023, United Grand Lodge of England described Freemasonry as one of the largest charitable givers in the country, contributing more than £51.7 million to deserving causes that year. Members also give time: more than 18.5 million hours of volunteer work are undertaken every year.
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£27m
Grants in 2024/25
The Masonic Charitable Foundation, the Freemasons’ Charity, awarded over £27 million in grants.
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£6.6m
To other charities
That included £6.6 million to 373 local and national charities, helping an estimated 466,413 people.
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18.5m
Hours a year
Volunteer hours undertaken by members, alongside the money, in the United Grand Lodge’s own wording.
The Freemasons’ Charity
The national picture, 2024/25
These figures are from the Masonic Charitable Foundation’s Impact Report Summary for 2024/25. The charity is registered in England and Wales, number 1164703. It is funded entirely through the generosity of Freemasons and their families. Since April 2016 it has made around 5,000 grants to charities, totalling around £50 million.
- Over £27 million in grants awarded in 2024/25.
- £6.6 million to 373 local and national charities, helping an estimated 466,413 people. That included:
- £4.27 million for early years, children and families
- £1.05 million for isolation in later life
- £600,000 for hospices
- £97,000 for medical research
- £60,000 for disaster relief
- £14.3 million to 2,883 individuals through 4,231 grants, for living costs, health and care, and education.
- £6.4 million towards the care of residents in RMBI care homes. There are more than 1,000 residents across 18 care homes, open to Freemasons and non-Freemasons.
- £5 million given by Freemasons through the Relief Chest Scheme to charities of their choice.
United Grand Lodge of England also records substantial support for local air ambulances, blood bikes and emergency vehicles, including two super aerial platforms for the London Fire Brigade, and for medical research into cancer, diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s. Lifelites, which began in 1999 as a project of the Masonic trust for girls and boys and is now a charity in its own right, brings assistive technology to children’s hospices.
Worcestershire
Close to home
The gifts in this section were made by Worcestershire Freemasons, through the Provincial charity and the Provincial Lottery. They are not gifts of Frankley Beeches Lodge alone, and we do not name the people involved.
- At Easter 2025, Worcestershire Freemasons donated £500 to the Kings Heath Food Bank.
- The Worcestershire Freemasons’ Lottery has given £5,000 to Acorns Children’s Hospice and £3,000 to Midlands Air Ambulance, and has pledged £3,000 a year for ten years to each.
- The Lottery has raised and distributed over £209,000 to charities.
- 200 bleed kits are located throughout the Province with Worcestershire First Responders. £20,000 was given jointly by the Provincial Charity and the Masonic Charitable Foundation to help provide a new blood bike for the county.
“I don’t know you, but I want to thank you for helping me put food on the table for my family this Easter — and for the first time in a long time, give my children an Easter egg.”
Frankley Beeches
Our own record
The lodge is a Patron Lodge of the RMIB, the RMIG and the RMBI, the historic Masonic charities for children and for older people, and a Double Grand Patron of the Royal Masonic Hospital. In 2011 it became a Vice Patron of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys and Girls.
The first collection, in 1942, raised £6 7s 6d. The following April, two lemons sent home from the Middle East were auctioned for £14 14s for the Worcestershire Masonic War Relief Fund. That story is on our history page. The lodge has in the past finished second in the Province for a Festival appeal.
In 2017 the lodge presented £4,000 towards the Province of Worcestershire’s 2022 Festival.
From around 2001 the lodge held a Fun for Kids fair under the Freemasonry in the Community banner. About 200 children came in the first year. After sixteen years, more than 500 disadvantaged children were attending each year.
Sources
- United Grand Lodge of England, “Engaged in our communities”. The weekly figure, and the account of the Freemasons’ Charity.
- United Grand Lodge of England, on charitable giving in 2023 and on volunteer hours. Quoted from the UGLE article “North Wales Freemasons Donate £2,000 to Samaritans”.
- Masonic Charitable Foundation, Impact Report Summary 2024/25.
- Worcestershire Freemasons, Provincial Lottery, for the food bank, Acorns, Midlands Air Ambulance and the Lottery total.
- Worcestershire Freemasons, local giving, for the bleed kits and the blood bike.
The lodge’s own patronage, the 1942 collection, the lemons, Fun for Kids and the 2017 Festival presentation are from the lodge history and the anniversary photographs.
Service is one of the reasons men join
If you would like to know how the lodge gives its time, as well as what membership involves, start with a conversation.