2019 Grants

The Foundation’s Finance Committee meets quarterly in advance of Board Meetings to review contributions received for specific campaigns and programs. The committee evaluates the connection each project has to the Foundation’s mission and recommends grants for approval by the full Board of Directors. The following grants were among those approved by the Board in 2021.

Dyrham Park

$304,600

Royal Oak raised money to restore an important interior at Dyrham Park, a Baroque-era mansion in the West Country, not far from Bath, built by William Blathwayt, one the most important British government figures of the 17th century.

Lake District

$49,500

The Royal Oak Foundation has established The Grace and Thomas William Thompson Fund to support the work of the National Trust in the English Lake District, particularly property maintenance (especially of stonework) in the traditional style.

Land acquisitions of acreage around current Trust properties will also be supported, as well as being used for work that employs local hands-on crafts people or provides on-the-job training for people learning relevant maintenance crafts.

Garden Apprenticeship Program

$30,720

Thanks to a generous donor, the garden apprentice program will go on despite the financial strain put on the Trust. The Garden Apprentice Program is committed to training the next generation of gardeners to preserve the legacy of the hundreds of gardens and landscape parks in the care of the Trust.

During their work-based, salaried placements, each apprentice will be hosted by a National Trust garden, gaining crucial knowledge and experience in heritage and biodiversity, alongside general gardening skills.

General Support

$35,000

The National Trust suffered severe financial losses due to closure of it properties caused by of the Covid-19 crisis. Royal Oak members came forward to provide general support to the Trust during this time of great need. These funds will be used for general operating expense without restriction to any property or appeal.

Sponsored Projects Initiatives

The Royal Oak Foundation adopts a limited number of Sponsored Projects (SP) which are not National Trust properties but whose missions are related to the National Trust. The Sponsored Projects Program assists these charities with fundraising in the United States and to enable them to offer a tax-deduction to their U.S. patrons without the expense of establishing their own U.S. subsidiaries.

The Royal Oak Foundation does not fundraise for these charitable organizations, and it does not make its own donors available to SPs for fundraising purposes.

The Great Dixter Charitable Trust: $32,530
The Great Dixter Charitable Trust provides continuing and expanding stewardship of the house and garden legacy left by Christopher Lloyd. This grant will be used to take on trainees, to carry out training programs and to undertake garden, buildings and curatorial conservation projects.

The Charleston Trust: $249,800
The Charleston Trust is home to an extensive collection of paintings, sculptures and ceramics by the original owners of the house and garden, the artists Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell. This grant will provide support for the conservation, preservation and maintenance of the house and collection.

The Wey and Arun Canal Trust: $53,350
Conceived during the Napoleonic Wars, the Canal was intended to provide a safe, efficient route from London to Portsmouth to carry goods supplying the dockyards. In its heyday, the Canal did carry many tons of cargo but the end of the war with France, and the arrival of the railways, sounded the death knell for the Wey & Arun as a business, and by 1871 it was formally closed. Today, the Wey & Arun Canal Trust is committed to restoring London’s lost route to the sea.

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2021 Grants