The Lighthouse Club Hong Kong Benevolent Fund

Lighthouse Clubs around the world have as a primary objective the promotion of camaraderie between persons involved in or related to the construction industry.  From this primary objective there generally flows a second but equally important benefit, that of benevolence to the local construction society.

The benevolence provided can and does vary from country to country, depending upon the needs of the local society together with cultural acceptability of the intended form of benevolence.

In Hong Kong the Lighthouse Club Benevolent Fund provides direct financial first aid to those applicants that qualify.  In Thailand, their Lighthouse Club Benevolent Fund assists in the provision, funding and operation of schools for the children of construction workers. In the Philippines, their Lighthouse Club Benevolent Fund assists with the education of children who wish to study a trade or profession related to construction.

The use of the word “their” is deliberate.  It is up to each individual Lighthouse Club to organise themselves and decide and control what form “their” benevolence should take. 

Hong Kong Branch’s Benevolent Fund

In Hong Kong “our” benevolence is provided through The Lighthouse Club Hong Kong Benevolent Fund, which is managed by 5 Trustees under a Deed of Trust registered with the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department as a non-taxable entity. The Trustees are assisted in their duties by a Benevolent Committee made up of a number of members of the Committee of the Lighthouse Club Hong Kong Branch. Although a benevolent fund commenced operation shortly after the formation of the Lighthouse Club Hong Kong branch in 1986, the Trust was formally registered with the IRD in January 1990 and is funded by donations from the Lighthouse Club Hong Kong, corporates and individuals.  The donations come from financial surpluses on Lighthouse Club Hong Kong Branch events, such as dinners, seminars, get-togethers, auctions, collections etc; donations from individuals and corporations, the latter sometimes as tied donations.  One of the earliest fundraisers for The Lighthouse Club Hong Kong Benevolent Fund was a sponsored parachute jump involving leading lights of Hong Kong’s construction industry at that time. People paid good money to see these individuals throw themselves, or be pushed, out of an airplane. The mists of time do not allow us to determine if there were contingent donations payable in the event of the demise or injury of any of the jumpers!

Which cases are accepted?

The authority of the Trustees to provide benevolence from The Lighthouse Club Hong Kong Benevolent Fund is set out in the Deed of Trust and can be summarised as being that the Trustees can only consider an application for financial assistance where a need for assistance arising from illness, injury or death can be established from an individual, or the direct family of an individual, who has worked in Hong Kong’s construction industry. There is no requirement for the applicant or his/her family to have been a member of the Lighthouse Club and in most instances beneficiaries have never had any prior relationship with the Club. The Trustees do not discriminate applicants on the grounds of race, religion or political belief and beneficiaries have included citizens from Nepal, China and elsewhere, in addition to Hong Kong.

Payments

Since its foundation The Lighthouse Club Hong Kong Benevolent Fund has supported several hundred cases and disbursed in excess of Eight (8) million Hong Kong dollars.  These payments can be made in a number of different ways:

One off Payment: a one off payment, frequently to assist with the cost of funeral expenses. Currently this amount may be as much as HK$40,000.00

Monthly Pension: a regular monthly payment to contribute as a partial (but not complete) replacement for loss of salary income.  Currently this amount is fixed at HK$3,500 per month with an additional HK$500 for each child aged under 16 or in full time education.

Lai See Payment: At Chinese New Year every child in an assisted family will receive a Lai See from the Benevolent Fund.

Efficiency

Everyone involved in the Benevolent Fund, from the Trustees, through the Benevolent Committee, to the case officers and the Honorary Auditors (currently Messrs KPMG) give their time freely, without compensation and pay their own expenses. This means that 100% of all donations received is available to provide assistance to cases.  The Benevolent Fund has no overheads with the exception of occasional bank charges, where these are not waived.

Why is there a need?

You may wonder why is there a need in Hong Kong for the Benevolent Fund?  The answer to such a question is never simple or short, but amongst other reasons there can be a delay of many months and frequently years between the date of an accident and the receipt of insurance compensation.  During this period, an individual or family may have no income. Sometimes the individual’s employer has not effected Employees’ Compensation Insurance or for some other reason the individual is not covered by Employees’ Compensation Insurance.

As a charity, any payment made by the Benevolent Fund to an individual or family does not prejudice any subsequent legal rights or breach the terms of any Employees’ Compensation Insurance policy, which can be helpful for both the individual or family being assisted and any employer in any tier.

During the period 2005 – 2010 the number of cases that are being assisted by the Benevolent Fund have dropped significantly due to the reduced work load in Hong Kong’s construction industry. With the Hong Kong Government’s stimulus of the economy through its 10 mega projects infrastructure initiative, it is possible that post 2010 the number of cases assisted per month may sadly exceed the 30 – 40 per month assisted during the 1990’s infrastructure boom.

How can I help?

There are many ways in which you can help the Benevolent Fund, as an individual and/or as a corporation. Such ways include:

·         Join or renew your membership or encourage someone else to join The Lighthouse Club Hong Kong Branch
Your or their modest membership subscription, either individual or corporate helps to generate a surplus that can be donated by the Lighthouse Club Hong Kong Branch to the Benevolent Fund.

·        Support a Lighthouse Club Hong Kong Branch event
By attending an event you help to generate a surplus, by buying a luck draw ticket you provide funding directly to the Benevolent Fund, by acting as a sponsor for an event or donating a prize you assist in raising funds.

·        Direct individual donation
By directly donating to the Benevolent Fund as an individual you directly assist a case and enable the Benevolent Fund to assist more cases. Your donation will be receipted and subject to the IRD rules will be tax deductible.

·        Direct corporate donation
By directly donating to the Benevolent Fund as a corporation you can make either a general or tied donation. In the case of the later, the corporation can specify that funds from its donation should only be released in respect of accidents on a project(s) designated by the corporation.

·        Organise an Event
Organise an event yourself for the benefit of the Benevolent Fund. Should you require assistance or guidance in this regard, please contact any member of the Committee of the Lighthouse Club Hong Kong Branch.

·        Report a Potential Case
Should you become aware of a case that might be eligible for support by the Benevolent Fund, please contact any member of the Committee of the Lighthouse Club Hong Kong Branch and bring the case to their attention.

Your support, however large or small, of the Lighthouse Club Hong Kong Branch and/or the Benevolent Fund allows you to put something back into the local construction industry from which you derive your livelihood.

Contact Details

The Lighthouse Club Hong Kong Benevolent Fund
c/o Battersby Kingsfield Ltd
Suite 1901-2, 19th Floor,
Hopewell Centre,
183 Queen's Road East,
Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Email lighthousehkg@yahoo.com
Tel: +852 2736 9885

If you know of an individual, or a family, who would benefit from the assistance of the Benevolent Fund, please contact any member of the Benevolent Committee

Philco Wong (Chairman)

Cordia Yu (Deputy Chairman)

Barry Adcock

Peter Berry

Carmen Liu
Steve Tennant

Thank You.