The RAB Trust has been supported for much of its existence with grants from the charity Education Services.
This is a small charity, originally set up in the 1930s by Cambridge economist Jack Bellerby, best known for his book ‘The Contributive Society’. It’s one of the organisations that is an unsung glory of Britain; small, discreet, and doing valuable work quietly for years. They invite grant applications suggested by their own members or previous grant recipients; we were introduced to them by violin maker Juliet Barker, whose late husband James Beament was a prominent Cambridge academic.
Education Services 2010 is the full name of the charity, and the objectives and activities are shown on their Charity Commission entry:
For the public benefit to advance the education of people in the UK and overseas in such ways as the charity trustees think fit, including by:
- Providing grants to individuals, particularly those of limited means who otherwise would have difficulty in pursuing their chosen field of study, artistic endeavour or training.
Clearly a perfect match with the RAB Trust.
The scope of ES is wide-ranging and international; in recent years their grants have included support for the Bolivian Quaker Education Fund; funding for the provision of singing workshops to refugees and asylum seekers; funding for workshops and resources for startup co-operative businesses.
When we receive funding from Education Services we allocate the money to specific students. After they give us feedback on how they have spent their awards, we report back to ES with details of how their support has been used.