FSG Charitable Grants Application Form
This form can be used to apply for the following types of support (guidance is embedded withing the form)
1. Non-Financial Support: FSG is more likely to be able to provide non-financial support but this can have a significant benefit for your project. For example; publication of your work by FSG, support from FSG in writing to officials, informal expert advice etc.
2. Research, Translation, Publication Grant: A research grant might cover for example, support to travel to undertake research or other direct costs of research. A translation grant might cover the costs of translating a key source or a contribution to the translation costs of a publication of international interest not currently available in English. A publication grant might contribute to making publication of a non-commercial but valuable work feasible.
3. Fortification Grant: Could cover work to research, investigate, sympathetically restore or present a fortification. See detailed guidance.
4. Other: Any other grant which would contribute to the FSG purpose.
FSG has limited resources. Grants are expected to range from c£100 to £1500. We hope to award around 5 to 10 grants a year. Our decision will be based on the expected impact of the grant.
The current round of funding is £3000 and applications close on 15 February 2024 after which applications will be assessed and award decisions made.
CHARITY WORK
The Fortress Study Group endeavours to try and help preserve military architecture and contribute to academic learning. Although we have only limited funds (please consider making a donation) we endeavour to help in our own small way such as:
- Publishing fortification research in FORT and Casemate which are distributed to academic libraries worldwide.
- Grants to authors to help with their research and publications on subjects within our field of interest.
- Small grants to organisations preserving and interpreting fortifications.
- Awards to fortification groups to acknowledge their good work in promoting and protecting a specific fort.
- Providing expert advice to development proposals.
The FSG Charitable Activities Sub-Committee is responsible for the groups charitable policy and activities.
Please contact the FSG Secretary for further information or to suggest a charitable activity.
The following sections details some of our recent charitable activity.
2023/24 Charitable Activity (to November 2023)
- As before
- FORT and Casemate (provided free to various libraries and related societies)
- Website www.fortressstudygroup.org and social media ·
- Webinar access for related societies
- Supported various enquiries from researchers
- Growth of £10 student digital membership (15 members so far, 8 last year)
- Partnered with Battlefields Trust to support the British Civil Wars Memorials Database
- Hosted the International Fortress Council at our conference in Chatham.
- Made further progress in digitising the Quarmby collection of postcards and records of visits to fortifications. It is apparent however that the scale of the work to catalogue this collection and make it more widely available is significant and we will be seeking volunteers from the wider membership.
- Developed a new FSG charitable grant application form and associated guidance.
- A priority for the coming year will be promoting this and awarding our first grants under the new arrangements which we intend to do in the first quarter of 2024.
2022/23 Charitable Activity
- FORT and Casemate (provided free to various libraries and related societies)
- Website www.fortressstudygroup.org and social media
- Webinar access for related societies
- Growth of £10 student digital membership (8 members so far, 3 last year)
- Supported various enquiries from researchers
- Collaborated with Battlefields Trust to run an ECW Symposium at which 1/3 of the 70+ attendees were members of neither society
- With the support of generous donations from two FSG members started the process of digitising the Quarmby Collection. We would welcome donations from members more generally including legacies.
- In preparation for a more proactive plan in 2022 developed policies for grants on publications, translation, fortifications, criteria for awards.
2021/22 FSG Charitable Activity
Recent Charitable Activity includes:
- Jan 22 FSG provide practical support to the recovery of the 9.2 inch gun and Mk V mounting from Levant Battery in Gibraltar.
- Jan 22 The release of Fortifications of the Forth as a free e-book. The publication having been supported by an FSG grant in an earlier year.
- Dec 21 Appledore Civil War 'Fort' scheduled with FSG help
2020/21 FSG Charitable Activity
- The following activity was reported at the Nov 21 AGM
- FORT and Casemate (provided free to various libraries and related societies)
- Website eg Fortress Gibraltar, Facebook, Twitter
- Webinar access for related societies
- International Fortress Council - FSG facilitated the October 2021 IFC committee meeting on Zoom
- £10 student digital membership introduced (4 members so far)
- Complementary membership for FORT authors
- Various enquiries responded to eg information to PhD students (eg Italy Fortification Dictionary) and planning inquiries/ technical queries (eg Hurst Castle)
- Distribution of Plaques (delayed by Coronavirus)