The Lady Clare Fund

Thanks to the generosity of alumni, the Lady Clare Fund gives grants to former students or their dependents who are in urgent need of financial assistance. Although the amounts of money involved are relatively small, these non-repayable awards can make an enormous difference in times of crisis.

Every application is different, yet many of them reveal a heart-rending sense of desperation. One elderly man had been sleeping on park benches for several months, and only contacted us as winter approached. After an immediate donation from the Fund, he was able to find short-term accommodation; with further assistance over the following months, he settled into a more permanent place.

As another example of age-related problems, the wife of an alumnus reported that after several decades of charitable work in Africa, an unexpected combination of poor health and essential house repairs meant that they were unable to cope on her low wages as a supermarket assistant. The Fund tided them over these immediate difficulties until they reached a more permanent solution.

Amongst younger applicants, there have been some distressing cases of marital breakdown. Even high-earning alumni can confront short-term difficulties when forced to  support two households, while in a few extreme situations, others have sought help in immediately finding temporary accommodation with their children to escape an abusive relationship.

Because of the terms specified by the original donors, the Fund cannot normally support further academic study. However, there have been exceptions, including a woman who had been a professional musician but needed to retrain as a teacher after injuring her hands in a road accident, and a young man who had felt obliged to abandon his postgraduate course because of the expense he incurred visiting his invalid father, but was able to continue studying after receiving an award.