- email: admin@barcapelfoundation.org - telephone: 01475 521616 -
Registered in Scotland
: NO 36795
What do we support:
- Health
The foundation supports all aspects of health, a wide ranging remit acknowledging that "health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."
The funding of health is not merely seen as supporting hospitals and hospices, or research and development into mainstream diseases, although Barcapel has done (as displayed in the case study below), and will continue to, make such donations. Apart from the mainstream Barcapel is a particularly enthusiastic supporter of:
Complementary Medicine
Complementary Medicine describes practices used in conjunction and cooperation with conventional medicine, to assist the existing process. Barcapel has made substantial donations to the Homeopathic Trust for Research & Education as well as establishing The Nelson Barcapel Teaching Fellowship at Exeter University, specifically to enable postgraduate medical practitioners to take the Integrated Healthcare programme and critically assess a diverse range of approaches to health and social care.
Mental Health
Barcapel is commited to supporting the treatment of mental health problems as well as promoting awareness of the issues and facts surrounding mental health. We are committed to attempting to reduce the stigmatisation and increase understanding both from a patients point of view, and a wider perspective.
Case Study Health :
The Prostate Cancer Research Centre
The Prostate Cancer Research Centre, based at the Institute of Urology in the University of London, was awarded a grant of £50,000 in November 2005 to establish the Barcapel Research Fellowship, awarded to senior scientist Dr Aamir Ahmed to manage a team of research scientists working on normal and cancer stem cells.
The research programme aims to isolate and characterize prostate normal and cancer stem cells. The long term goal is to identify proteins on the surface of the cancer stem cells that can be targeted in order to kill the cancer stem cells.
The Prostate Cancer Research Centre has developed a new method for isolating and growing the normal stem cells. In other tissues, such as the nervous system, stem cells can be isolated on the basis of their ability to grow in suspension as colonies. Normally cells die in suspension, but the ability to grow and divide without attachment appears to be another characteristic of stem cells.
The development of colonies that can be serially propagated provides evidence for one of the fundamental characteristics of stem cells, the ability to self renew. The Centre has grown the normal stem cells as prostate spheres and shown that the cells stain for proteins that are normally only found in stem cells. The researchers are now applying the same techniques to prostate cancer samples using similiar conditions.
In taking the decision to award the grant the trustees were influenced by:
- the ambition and expertise of the principal people involved
- their impressive understanding of cancer development and progression
- the fact the research was innovative and ground breaking
- the trustees commitment to "pump priming" projects
Since Barcapel made the award enabling the research, the centre has received further funding from other bodies including two R01 grants from the US National Institutes of Health for their stem cell research - these grants are rarely given to scientists working outside the US. But they said that "the group is clearly doing the very best work on prostatic stem cells in the world". The scientific journal in which the work was published described the results as "the best bet yet to represent the true prostate stem cell".
What Barcapel Supports :
- Our three priority areas of interest for funding are health, heritage and youth.
HEALTH - all areas of medicine and healing are supported by the foundation, with a particular interest in complementary and alternative therapies.
HERITAGE - we are committed to preserving and protecting our artistic and cultural heritage, especially with reference to the built environment.
YOUTH - the foundation supports all areas of development for young people especially those from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.
Most Recent Awards: (external links)
The National Trust for Scotland
- To mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns in 2009, the National Trust for Scotland is raising £20 million to create the Burns National Heritage Park. The extensive project, on the site of the existing museum at Burns Cottage in Alloway, will provide a considerably more informative and rewarding visitor experience than currently available as well as being a lasting tribute to Robert Burns. The Barcapel Trustees were impressed by the professionalism of the NTS as well as the ambition, scale and importance of the project and consequently awarded the substantial grant of £200,000.00.
- Depression Alliance Scotland is working towards a future where depression is recognised, understood and acknowledged to be a common and treatable medical condition, just like any other. Barcapel has funded this charity in the past agreeing with the excellent work of DAS in raising awareness of an illness which often goes undiagnosed, and on this occasion the Trustees approved a further grant of £55,000.00
- Class Act is the Traverse Theatre's flagship education project for children aged 12-18. The project gives school pupils the unique opportunity to experience the entire process of the creation of a piece of theatre - from planning to writing to performance. The Trustees were not only impressed by the substantial educational benefits of Class Act, but also the evident personal development benefits to the children. Barcapel decided to become the lead funder awarding a grant of £15,000.00
Document Downloads (pdf) :
Application Process
- notes and flow chart diagram illustrating the various stages of the grant application process.
Grant Application Form
- to apply for a grant, in the first instance please download this form, complete it concisely and return it with a covering letter to Barcapel HQ.