A pdf version of this leaflet is available for printing.

         
         PLEASE NOTE THAT BIOS ITSELF GIVES ONLY ADVICE, NOT ACTUAL GRANTS FOR ORGANS

One of the best sources of essential advice for owners of all pipe organs is a Council for the Care of Churches [CCC]
publication: Sounds Good - A Guide to church organs, for incumbents, churchwardens and PCCs, available from Church
House Bookshop  (Tel. 020 7799 4064), price £6.95. Also there is a leaflet  (available online) Sound Advice, produced
by the British Institute of Organs Studies (BIOS) . The thrust of recommendations in both publications will assist
applicants for Your Heritage grants (see below for further details) distributed by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the
criteria are relevant to applicants to all grant-giving bodies.

Grant-awarding bodies, not least the Heritage Lottery Fund, need to show public - as well as heritage  - benefits from
schemes they fund.  It is essential that your application shows awareness of this and includes realistic benefits for
public access and education.  Your application is likely  to be taken more seriously if it includes a carefully considered
scheme of work, specified by an appropriately experienced organ-builder,  and endorsed by a professional consultant. It
is unlikely that grants will be given for work to an organ where its original character has been largely lost through
successive alterations, or where the work proposed involves modern modifications. A list of professional consultants
with specialist skills, who can assist owners in the choice of a builder and the preparation of a complete scheme, is
available from: the Administrator, the Association of Independent Organ Advisers,  47 Constable Road, Ipswich IP4 2UZ.  
Tel.& Fax.01473- 219102;  E-mail.  Churches are also encouraged to seek the views of their DAC or denominational
Organ Adviser when they start considering works to the organ, since this enables the advisory system to function most
effectively. For an important instrument it may be worth seeking a grant for a consultant's report before any work is contemplated.

Some fund-raisers may not wish to apply for lottery grants; for that reason such sources are dealt with separately.  

General information

The major source for identifying suitable trusts is the Directory of Grant-Making Trusts, published by the Charities Aid Foundation, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4TA. It is available at main public reference libraries. The Directory lists a large number of organisations that may accept applications for grant-aid, states their relevant criteria, and indicates the approximate annual income of each charity. It also contains important advice on how to present your applications. You are advised to read this very carefully and be guided by it. It is now also available on CD-ROM. The Directory is updated twice yearly.

Where appropriate, information on fund-raising from the USA may be obtained from the Charities Aid Foundation America,  at 114-118 Southampton Row, WC1B 5AA (020 7400 2300).

The Directory of Social Change is a registered charity which publishes some useful guides on major trusts and companies which offer grants and donations to, among others, arts and heritage projects. They also produce books on arts fund-raising techniques. For a current list, contact their Publications Department, 24 Stephenson Way, London NW1 2DP (020 7898 5151).

The Charity Commissioners' web site includes the Register of Charities,  that can be searched to highlight trusts by name, object, or area of benefit.  

It pays to be persistent; the last trust on your list could be the one willing to help you.

Trust grants

Modest but useful grants for careful restoration to historic instruments in the Church of England are administered by The Secretary, Organs Committee, the Council for the Care of Churches [CCC], Church House, Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3NZ (020 7898 1866; fax 020 7898 1881; E-mail). 

These grants are specifically for the  restoration of organs of historic interest in churches. The term 'historic' is usually interpreted to refer to organs over seventy years old which have retained their original character, or are capable of reinstatement. Other conditions apply. For instance, the church should not dispose of the organ; a conservation record must be provided and a copy retained by the church; any further work can only be undertaken with the grant giver's consent, and any necessary permissions, such as a Faculty, must be obtained.

Charitable trusts that are custodians of historic organs and churches in Scotland, Wales and outside the Church of England should make a direct approach to the Secretary of the Pilgrim Trust, Clutha House, 10 Storeys Gate, London SW1P 3AY (020 7222 4723).  

Modest grants for conservation are also available from the Pilgrim Trust for charitable trusts, and organs in both churches and secular buildings that own historic organs. Custodians of such organs should aproach the Pilgrim Trust at Clutha House, 10 Storeys Gate, London SW1P 3AY (020 7222 4723).   Guidelines for applicants and an application form can be found on the Trust's website.

There is an enormous choice of other trust funds, many of which restrict their generosity to specific geographical areas or causes. Most never give to individuals and many only to registered charities (most churches are treated as such). The following examples of some relevant grant-giving bodies are given as a guide to their diversity:

Other sources

The Foundation for Sport and the Arts is a useful source of modest funding, but must be convinced of the use and accessibility of the project to the community. It can be contacted at:
Foundation for Sport and the Arts, PO Box 20, Liverpool L13 1HB (0151 259 5505; fax 0151 230 0664).

Environmental Trusts are another potential source of funding for organs. These trusts are set up to formalise the grant-making procedures from funds available from tax credits claimed by the operators of landfill sites, known as landfill tax.  To claim grants from landfill tax an approach must be made to a registered environmental trust (or set up a trust yourself). A register is available from the head office of Entrust, Suite 2, 5th Floor, Acre House, 2 Town Square, Sale, Cheshire M33 7WZ (0161 972 0044; fax 0161 972 0055). The Methodist Church has an arrangement to assist Methodist churches which apply for grants from landfill tax; further details are available from the Connexial Property Committee. Some other denominations also have schemes. 

The Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund: A similar scheme to the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme, the ALS Fund seeks to address quarrying's impact on the environment in three ways: by improving existing sites, reducing the need for new quarrying and making any new quarrying more sensitive. Some churches have been successful in getting grants from this fund for works to organs. The distributor to projects including community and recreational benefits is English Nature - ALSF Partnership Grants Team, The Maltings, Wharf Road, Grantham NG31 6BH (Tel: 01476 584821), E-mail 

Lottery funds

The National Lottery has brought extra funds for the arts, charities, heritage and sport.

Funds for arts projects in England, which may include organs used as musical instruments in the widest sense, and the repair of organs where this is proposed primarily to enhance musical quality for public performance, are administered by: The Arts Council Lottery Fund, 14 Great Peter Street, London SW1P 3NQ. They also handle projects on behalf of the Crafts Council. For an information pack write to or telephone the Communications Unit (020 7312 0123; fax 020 7973 6571).

General information and assistance with the preparation of Lottery applications is available from the Regional Arts Boards or national Arts Councils, which usually have an Officer delegated to undertake this specialist work. In the national areas contact:

• the Scottish Arts Council, Edinburgh (0131 226 6051);
• the Arts Council of Wales, Cardiff (029 2039 4711) [NB. former web address: http://www.ccc-acw.org.uk  no longer seems to work], and
• the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Belfast (028 9038 1591).

England is divided into 9  regions , although the 'phone enquiry number is 0845 300 6200, whichever region you are in.

The Heritage Lottery Fund [HLF] can consider applications for works that include the conservation of organs and organ cases. The fund offers grants to organisations which aim to look after and enhance the UK`s heritage, to increase involvement in heritage activities, and to improve access to and enjoyment of heritage. Heritage Lottery Fund grants are administered in three separate schemes. Possibly the most relevant for projects involving organs is  Your Heritage. In this scheme grants of £5,000 to £50,000 can be awarded, although the total project cost can be up to £100,000.

To receive an application pack you should contact the Heritage Lottery Fund, 7 Holbein Place, London, SW1W 8NR (Tel: 020 7591 6000 or E-mail).  The application form is also available on CD ROM from 020 7591 6042. Further information about the scheme is available on the HLF website.

Grants of up to £10,000 are available from the Awards for All scheme. This is part-funded by all the major lottery funders and has a wide remit to fund many types of community based as well as heritage projects. Organ restorations to modest instruments may sometimes be achieved within such a budget, but the scheme is also able to consider projects where the outcome is not related to work to an organ but, for example, community based education. Further details are available from the website or by telephoning 0845 600 2040.

For projects requiring grants of over £50,000 the Heritage Grants programme can consider applications that include organs. This is the most demanding of the three schemes to apply for, so the wider public benefits of the scheme must be especially clear.

Full details of how to apply to the Your Heritage scheme are available in the Guidance Notes. A pre-application form is supplied to outline the project before proceeding to a full application. It is helpful for applicants to provide details of the current stoplist of the organ, photographs of the console and casework and, where possible, a brief history of the organ including details of any previous work. Applicants will be asked to provide a technical specification for the proposed work, which will be carefully examined by expert advisers to the administrators of the funds. The applicant must also demonstrate that there will be a benefit to the community from the project and how it will help the community to appreciate the heritage value of the organ. This might include concert giving, access to the organ for students, a display about the conservation work and a presentation by the organ builder or work with a local school.

Please note that in the case of all Heritage Lottery Fund [HLF] distributors:

• they are not able to support completely new works;
• grants cannot be made after work has started;
• work should be primarily designed to conserve and enhance the historic integrity of the organ, and not take priority over urgent structural repairs;
• applicants must have obtained all necessary permissions and consents before the grant is paid;

• its historic character has been largely lost through successive alteration;
• there have been modern modifications, such as changes to the tonal specification, or any replacement of the original action (e.g. electrification of tracker or pneumatic actions), or where further changes from the original are proposed;
• modern playing aids or accessories have been introduced;
• non-authentic materials are to be used when original materials are available;

*  CADW, Brunel House, 2 Fitzalan Road, Cardiff CF2 1UY (029 2050 0200)

*  Department of the Environment: Northern Ireland - Environment Service - Historic Monuments and Buildings, 5-33 Hill Street, Belfast BT1 2LA (028 9023 5000).

*  Historic Scotland, Longmore House, Salisbury Place, Edinburgh EH9 1SH (0131 668 8600).

Additionally

Grants may be available to charities or instutions which are established for charitable, benevolant, or philanthropic purposes, and where music making in the wider community may be an object. 

Value Added Tax (VAT) on organs,
and the Listed Places of Worship grant scheme

If the organ is in a place of worship that is also listed, work to it is eligible for a grant from the Listed Places of Worship Grant scheme. This is an interim grant scheme which returns in grant aid the difference between 5% and the actual amount spent on VAT on eligible works. The scheme is currently due to continue until the end of March 2011. For full details of this scheme visit the website or telephone 0845 601 5945, or write to the Listed Places of Worship Grant
Scheme, PO Box 609, Newport NP10 8QD. The scheme is not intended to help with routine maintenance or works that
are not part of a considered scheme.

Some types of work in listed building attract VAT at a lower rate. This is a complex topic and because of inadequate legislation, the benefits of relief to (listed) churches for true conservation and restoration projects are limited.
Discussions are taking place within the EEC in an attempt to improve this situation). 

Establish contact with the Customs and Excise office local to your chosen organ builder and, initially, ask for their
leaflet 708/1/90:  Protected buildings (listed buildings and scheduled monuments).  There is a further leaflet Guidelines
for VAT on Church Organs published by Customs & Excise, dated 27 September 1997. Generally, repairs and
maintenance are standard rated, but 'approved alterations' to the fabric, which can include an organ that is considered
to be part of the fabric of a church, are not. But note that such alterations may conflict with the above grant-aid requirements. Your chosen organ-builder may be able to offer his experience in similar cases.

 
Finally

Please help us to help others and inform us of organisations not listed here who have been willing to fund your project.

Why not consider making a donation to BIOS?  Those in sympathy with its Aims are encouraged to join the Society and thus benefit from its activities and specialist publications. For subscription details, contact the  Membership Secretary:  BIOS,  PO Box 383, Bury  BL8 4WX   [E-mail].

Leaflet converted to webpage and on-going maintenance by Richard Hird [www.duresme.org.uk]