The Van Mesdag Fund

Charity Number: 1166453

Annual Expenditure: £0.4M

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Quick Stats

  • Charity Number: 1166453
  • Annual Income: £111,645 (2024)
  • Annual Giving: £382,580 (2024)
  • Grant Range: Not publicly disclosed
  • Geographic Focus: Worldwide (with focus on England and Wales)
  • Application Process: No public application process

Contact Details

Address: 20 Arthur Road, London, SW19 7DZ

Telephone: 01475 639861

Email: rvmesdag@gmail.com

Charity Commission: View charity details

Overview

The Van Mesdag Fund is a private grant-making trust registered with the Charity Commission in September 2015. The fund operates with very broad charitable objectives, allowing trustees to make grants to charitable causes anywhere in the world at their discretion. With annual grant-making of approximately £380,000, the fund significantly exceeds its income, suggesting it is drawing on capital to fulfil its charitable purposes.

The fund appears to be connected to the legacy of Rob van Mesdag (1930-2018), a journalist, art critic, and rowing historian who was known for his generosity to charity. During his lifetime, Rob actively supported Crisis (the homelessness charity), the Royal Georgian Society, the Anglo Netherlands Society, and Animals Asia. The fund may continue to support causes aligned with these interests.

Funding Priorities

Grant Programs

The fund operates through trustee discretion rather than formal grant programs. Trustees have the power to apply both income and capital “to, or for the benefit of, such exclusively charitable objects and purposes in any part of the world as the trustees may in their discretion think fit.”

Priority Areas

Based on the founder's known charitable interests, the fund may prioritize:

  • Homelessness and social welfare (particularly Crisis)
  • Animal welfare (particularly Animals Asia)
  • Anglo-Dutch cultural relations
  • Heritage and architectural preservation

However, the trustees have complete discretion to support any charitable purpose, so the fund's priorities may extend beyond these areas.

What They Don't Fund

The fund's governing document requires grants to be for “exclusively charitable objects and purposes,” which means they cannot fund:

  • Non-charitable organizations
  • Political activities
  • Activities that do not meet the Charity Commission's definition of charitable purposes
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Governance and Leadership

The fund is governed by 4 trustees who receive no remuneration or benefits from the charity. The charity has no employees and no trading subsidiaries.

Specific trustee names are available on the Charity Commission register but were not publicly accessible through web searches at the time of this research.

Application Process and Timeline

How to Apply

This funder does not have a public application process. The Van Mesdag Fund operates as a private trust where grants are awarded at the trustees' discretion. There are no published application forms, guidelines, or deadlines.

Grants appear to be made to causes identified by the trustees themselves, rather than in response to external applications. This is a common model for smaller private trusts where trustees have personal knowledge of charitable causes they wish to support.

Organizations seeking support would need to establish a relationship with the trustees, though no contact information for individual trustees is publicly available.

Decision Timeline

Not applicable - the fund does not accept unsolicited applications.

Success Rates

Not applicable - the fund does not accept unsolicited applications.

Reapplication Policy

Not applicable - the fund does not accept unsolicited applications.

Application Success Factors

As this fund does not accept public applications, the traditional success factors do not apply. However, based on the available information:

  • The fund appears to operate based on trustees' personal knowledge and discretion
  • Causes connected to the late Rob van Mesdag's interests (homelessness, animal welfare, Anglo-Dutch relations, heritage) may be more likely to receive consideration
  • The fund has capacity for significant grants, with annual expenditure of over £380,000

Key Takeaways for Grant Writers

  • No public application process: This fund operates through trustee discretion and does not accept unsolicited applications
  • Private trust model: Grants are made to causes identified by trustees rather than through competitive application
  • Broad charitable scope: Trustees have complete discretion to fund any charitable purpose worldwide
  • Legacy fund: May continue to support causes aligned with Rob van Mesdag's charitable interests in homelessness, animal welfare, and cultural heritage
  • Significant grant-making: With expenditure of £382,580 in 2024, the fund has capacity for substantial charitable giving
  • Capital drawdown: The fund is spending more than its income, suggesting it may be a time-limited trust spending down its capital
  • Contact limitations: Only a phone number and email address are publicly available; individual trustee contact information is not published

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