About Us

Who We Are

The Society was set up in 1850 by leading architects to help colleagues and their dependants "in necessitous circumstances". In 1853, the assets of the organisation amounted to £439. Records from that year described the Society's work, helping two widows with nine children between them, a "professional gentleman" and an architect "in the evening of his life". These cases remain typical of what we do today.

The Society is governed by a Council of 35 trustees, working with specialist committees and a country-wide network of around 40 branch representatives - all of them volunteers.

Full-time staff include trained welfare officers, who regularly visit all the people supported by the Society, help the Case Committee decide on the most suitable form of support and give confidential advice.

What We Do

We care for architects, assistants, technologists and landscape architects and their dependants - including husbands, wives, partners, widows, widowers and children.

Because nobody is immune to misfortune, we don't have age restrictions. Each applicant is assessed according to need by our Case Committee and decisions are made quickly and in confidence.

Help falls into three main areas:

  • Monthly grants for people needing regular financial help - for example, someone who is suffering from a debilitating illness and struggling to support his or her family
  • Gifts of money or interest-free loans for people facing a temporary financial crisis - for example, needing a new roof or boiler.
  • Free, confidential advice on a range of issues. Our trained welfare officers know their way through the state benefits maze and offer guidance on what people are entitled to and how to claim. This service accounts for a large part of our work and helps hundreds of people each year. We always ensure that all available benefits within the state system have been claimed but we can often help with a little extra even when state benefits are being received.

Fundraising Standards Board

The ABS belongs to the Fundraising Standards Board as the Society has always believed in conducting fundraising in an open and transparent manner. We endorse the requirements of membership, one of which is to clearly explain our fundraising promise, and also our complaints procedure. They can be viewed below.


Our Fundraising Promise (78KB PDF)

Our Complaints Procedure (76KB PDF)