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[[File:SVR_Charitable_Trust_2022.jpg|thumb|300px|right|The Charitable Trust's 10th anniversary logo]]The '''Severn Valley Railway Charitable Trust''' is one of the three main organisations which make up the Severn Valley Railway. It is a Registered Charity which supports the SVR by raising funds to help restoration and maintenance projects, to help arrest the decline of heritage engineering skills and to safeguard the long-term future and operational capability of the Railway. 2022 marks the Charitable Trust's 10th anniversary.
The Charitable Trust is a membership body. Governance is through up to nine trustees, including ex officio the chairman (or their nominee) from each of the Railway's other main organisations, [[SVR(H)|Severn Valley Railway (Holdings) PLC]] ("SVR(H)") which owns the infrastructure and operates the Railway, and [[Severn Valley Railway Company Limited]] ("the Guarantee Company") which is responsible for the membership and volunteers.
There were significant changes from 2022 to save costs, with the departures of the paid executive director, Shelagh Paterson, and fundraising manager, Ian Jones. The trust became a volunteer-led organisation with the [[Head Office|Comberton Place office]] manned only one day a week<ref name=News24>[https://www.svrtrust.org.uk/newsletters 'SVR Charitable Trust activity – an update', Trust website 14 March 2024] (Retrieved 23 May 2024)</ref>.
==Origins and Objects==
=== SVR Rolling Stock Trust: 2001 to 2012 ===
==Fundraising==
June 2022 marked the 10th anniversary of the Charitable Trust. Over that period it has had raised £8.74m for the Railway;<ref>Platform Issue 6</ref> £6.54 million directly through the Trust and £2.2 million in emergency grants directly to the Railway.<ref>[https://www.svrtrust.org.uk/News Charitable Trust news page]</ref>
The Trust receives funds from single donations and regular giving, grant making bodies, companies and groups and gifts in Wills. In its early years it appointed Compton Fundraising Consultants. It subsequently moved to a staff and volunteer-based model, before becoming a volunteer based organisation by 2024.
It has sought to develop large scale fundraising, including [[:Category:Lottery funding#National_Lottery_Heritage_Fund|lottery]] funding.
===Current appeals and restricted funding===
The Trust's website lists listed its current appeals (11 as at 2021) and the , but no longer does so. The annual report and accounts details funds restricted by the donor to particular items or projects (19 as at 2021)<ref name=accounts21/>. In May 2022 the Trust launched an appeal to help raise £500,000 to restore [[Bridgnorth MPD|Bridgnorth Locomotive Yard]].
==Support==
*At [[Falling Sands Viaduct]] it raised £1.25m for major repairs, completed in 2021.
*Applications for the [[2020 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic|Fight Back Fund]] for which the SVR received £250,000 grant from The [[:Category:Lottery funding#National_Lottery_Heritage_Fund|National Lottery Heritage Emergency Fund]] and £906,000 and £1,012,900 in the first and third rounds from the Culture Recovery Fund.<ref>[https://www.shropshirestar.com/entertainment/attractions/2020/07/15/severn-valley-railway-receives-250000-funding-boost-ahead-of-reopening/ Smith, R., 'Severn Valley Railway receives £250,000 funding boost ahead of reopening', Shropshire Star, 15 July 2020] (Retrieved 15 July 2020)</ref><ref>[https://www.gov.uk/government/news/445-heritage-organisations-saved-by-103-million-investment-from-government Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport] (Retrieved 9 October 2020)</ref><ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-59690403 'Covid-19: Severn Valley Railway gets £1m recovery grant, BBC, 17 December 2021] (Retrieved 17 December 2021)</ref>
*It raised £475,000 to provide a new roof and overhead crane for [[Bridgnorth MPD|Bridgnorth Locomotive Works]].*In May 2022 it launched an appeal to help raise £500,000 to restore [[Bridgnorth MPD|Bridgnorth Locomotive Yard]].*In 2023 it launched a Survival appeal, raising £500,000 of its £1,500,000 target before it closed in 2024. The subsequent 'Resilience Appeal' was launched by the Guarantee Company.
===Charitable expenditure===
