The Masonic Samaritan Fund
Registered Charity No: 1001298
A message from the President of the MSF:
The Masonic Samaritan Fund is still a young charity. Established as recently as 1990 it seeks to fund private medical treatment for Freemasons, their families and dependants who are unable to obtain NHS treatment without undue delay and who cannot afford to fund their own private treatment without suffering further hardship. The Fund has already supported treatment for over 7,000 individuals allocating over £35 million in the process.
Year on year almost exactly 50% of the support provided is allocated in support of the wives, widows and dependants of Freemasons. With treatment already funded for applicants ranging in age from 6 months to 104 years the potential demand for support is enormous and growing.
If the MSF is to maintain its proud boast that no qualifying applicant has ever been refused due to a lack of available funds, it will continue to depend on the generosity of Freemasons and their families. Legacy income is a vital element of this generosity which is crucial to the long-term financial security of the Charity.
Why is legacy income so important to the MSF?
In each of the last 5 years the MSF has allocated grants to over 500 new applicants. Some have faced a long wait for major surgery; some have been unable to get NHS funding for life-saving treatment; all have been extremely grateful for the support provided by the MSF as a result of the generosity of Freemasons.
As the numbers of applicants continue to increase year on year so too does the cost of funding medical treatment. Inflation in respect of medical costs continues to increase faster than high street inflation. Typically a knee replacement operation four years ago would have cost on average £7,900. Today the same procedure would cost in the region of £9,000. At the same rate of inflation the cost in four years' time is likely to be nearer £11,000. Within the same timescale the average cost of ophthalmic surgery is likely to rise from £2,000 per applicant to nearer £3,000.
If the MSF is to continue to support all those in medical need it will increasingly rely on income generously left to it by individual Freemasons and their families in their Wills.