GC Gibson Charitable Trust

Our support policy

We have consistently supported a number of charities for many years. On the whole if you get supported by us you can expect that support to last for several years at a similar level without you doing anything other than saying thank you and letting us know how you are doing. We prefer supporting smaller charities where our grant makes a difference but is not fatal if we stop supporting. In the last 5 years we have started offering a number of grants through an online process on this website. These are usually once off grants but it gives us exposure to far more ideas and programmes and we do continue to support some of those new ideas. This does mean that some of our long term supported charities will lose our grant. However if you are a charity we supported last year you do not need to apply again through the online or any other process.

Online applications closed

We have now closed our online application form for grants of up to £4,000. There have been some great charities applying. Without this process we would not see the range of ideas and huge commitment of so many. We had 192 applicants from which will choose around 10. Thank you to those 192 for taking part. We may ask further questions. We will ask the chosen 10 to submit their bank details and we will do some due diligence on them. Obviously many will be disappointed. However we are unable to give feedback.

News from July 2020

2020 applications

From today we can receive applications. What we want is set out in the How to Apply page.

News from August 2019

2019 Update

We apologise if you had problems submitting – it was our anti spam that is too clever for its own good but we have now stepped back to the old and it is working better. We have had about 200 applications and there are some amazing charities out there. It is a privilege to be able to learn about them by doing this. Sadly most will be disappointed but the idea is that your submission does not take too long. Please if you are a Church, Hospice or Farm School do not apply as we are well represented in supporting these already and it is impossible to judge between the different applications.

News from September 2018

2018 application process

We have now closed this year’s online application. We have had over 250 applications and we would like to thank all those who have applied. We now process them and will choose about 10 for support. If we need more information we will ask. Good luck

News from July 2017

2016 online applications – who we supported

Here are some of the charities we supported last year:

Roar – Connections for Life – funds to provide a vehicle for their Roar Do Feet community nail clipping service for older people
UCanDoIt – equipment to support their training courses to engage the elderly or disabled in digital technology and the internet
YMCA Cornwall – to convert a building into flats for the young homeless
ERIC – children’s bowel and bladder charity – for a telephone system for their helpline
Brogdale Collections, National Fruit Collection – to renovate their weather station for education
Tamworth Boxing Club – materials for an outdoor activity space
CESI – computers for digital literacy classes for retired Nepalese Gurkhas

As you can see there is no theme but all of them had imagination and inspiration. Above all we want to enable a small charity to achieve something that will happen with our support.

News from November 2016

Leuchie House

We have supported Leuchie House, near East Berwick, which provides short breaks to people with long term debilitating conditions such as multiple sclerosis. A recent visit from HRH Princess Anne was reported in the press.

News from July 2016

Submission Criteria 2016

The online application process for The G C Gibson Charitable Trust opens today.

Application this year will be for up to 8 grants of up to £4000. As we did last year, which worked very well, we wish to support capital equipment purchases or building refurbishment which provide benefit to the aged or the disadvantaged or disabled. Ideally we can be used for matched funding to unlock further funds. Last year we had over 450 applications, by the 20th August when we closed, and gave 12 grants totalling £37,000. We wish to give to smaller charities, whose donations are up to £1 million, (please if bigger do not apply) and we only want a maximum of one page applications. If we want more information we will contact you. You will be informed in mid to late September of our decisions. Please do not chase us.

News from February 2016

2015 highlights

We gave grants of £596,000 to 185 charities last year.

We had 460 applications to our online submission programme in August.

We gave £37,000 to 12 of the online applicants. We would love to do more but do not have the resources.

We lent £50,000 to kick start the United World Schools Transforming 50,000 Lives campaign – To date this has raised nearly £900,000.

News from August 2015

CLOSING EARLY

Due to a huge number of applications coming in for what will be no more than 8 grants we have decided we will close our online process on Thursday this week the 20th August at noon. We are sorry for anyone who feels they have missed an opportunity but your chance of success is very low. Please remember most of our funds are already committed to charities we have supported for many years.

Who we are

The GC Gibson Charitable trust was established in 1968 by George Gibson by a grant of shares in his shipping business, based in Cardiff, called Atlantic Shipping. The fund today is worth £16 million and invests in quoted equities aiming to grow its capital and yet provide a income which is paid out annually in small grants to around 200 charities. Support is mainly for small and medium sized charities operating in the UK. The trustees are the grandchildren of George. All engage closely with charity. Funding is often provided for many years and the trustees put no restrictions on expenditure. Each year a few appeals are supported and new charities introduced.

Who we help

The GC Gibson Charity offers grants of between £1,000 and £10,000 to a wide range of charities. The trustees are all highly involved in various philanthropic activities and priority for support is given to charities that the trustees have previously worked with. However, the trust adds few new charities each year.

For these new applications, we now focus on a particular theme for projects and we are able to change this from year to year. We help a diverse range of charities and our choice may be seen as a bit quirky and random but we support what appeals to the trustees using a structured process. To see what our current focus is, and to begin the application process, please see the How to apply section below.

Our History

George C Gibson was the nephew of the Welsh ship owner William James Tatem (1868–1942). Tatem was born at Appledore, North Devon, ran away to sea, suffered shipwreck and yellow fever before settling down in Cardiff in 1886 as a clerk with the tramp steamer owners Anning Bros. By 1897 he had sufficient funds to set up in business on his own and ordered the tramp steamer Lady Lewis in the name of the Lady Lewis Steamship Co. Ltd. Tatem’s business prospered; by 1900 he had 6 steamers and in 1903 there were 13 ships in his fleet. He was killed in a bombing raid on Cardiff Docks during the second world war in 1943 and George Gibson took over the business. It still exists today but is no longer in shipping!

How to apply

Application is only by this online form, which is open yearly from 1st August to around the end of August. Please make sure your project falls within the criteria below before applying. When we close you will not longer be able to access the form to submit. If we supported you last year in 2019 you do not need to apply through this or any other method.

Focus for 2020

Our August online application process is now in its 8th year.

This year we will support capital or product purchases for UK registered charities in the areas of education and of physical and mental health for all ages anywhere in the world. We will give 10 grants of up to £4,000. The projects that we support should have a maximum cost of £20,000 ie we will not offer a small contribution to a large project.

We will only support smaller charities with income from donations from the public and from Trusts or Foundations of up to £1 million. Please don’t ask me what this means. If you are asking it probably means you do not qualify. Any questions, and we do not guarantee we can or will answer them, should be sent to enquiries@gcgct.org

For this online process we will not support the following so please do not apply:

The fabric of Christian Churches
Hospices
Educational farms
Riding and carriage driving for the disabled
Cancer care and research
Theatres
Museums

This online process is only a small part of our charitable giving and we already provide significant support to the above charitable sectors and organisations.

I am sorry this all sounds rather defensive but we just do not want people to waste their time. We do respond to everyone but we do not tell you why you failed.

Please keep it simple and enjoy doing it. In simple terms it is likely that short applications do better. If we want more information we will contact you. You will be informed in October of our decisions. Please do not chase us and we cannot answer any questions.

Contact

You can contact us by email only on enquiries@gcgct.org WE DO NOT RESPOND TO OR ACKNOWLEDGE LETTERS or phone calls – Sorry!

Feedback will not be given

Complete the form below keeping the descriptions short and simple.

N.B. Applications are now closed.
They will reopen on 1 August 2021

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