We recently achieved our goal of raising an initial £20,000 in the year to 30th September 2026 and that money has now been transferred as a grant to the West Highland Museum redevelopment project.
Our goal for the year to 30th September 2027 is to raise a further £40,000, which will include monies raised from the Highland Cycle Challenge in August 2027 (more details to follow) and any surplus from Members’ events held during the year.
Bur in the meantime, your donations are welcome (see details below):
There are two ways to donate to the Society:
1. You can donate directly to the Society: either by transfer to our bank account at Royal Bank of Scotland (sort code: 16-00-38, account number 30049338), on a one-off basis or by setting up a monthly or annual standing order; or by sending a cheque to the Society, c/o Hope House, Basingstoke Road, Ramsdell, Tadley, Hampshire, RG26 5RB. In either case, you are invited to complete a Gift Aid declaration (click below), which allows the Society to collect a further 25% on your donation.
2. You can donate using our JustGiving site: please follow this link. Please note that the Society pays £18 per month to collect donations via JustGiving; when invited to make a “fee contribution” during the donation process, you may wish to select “other” and set the amount at £0.00, to avoid further fees.
The specific areas of focus for our 250th Anniversary appeal are:
To support the delivery of our involvement in an impactful key legacy project to link with our 250th planning.
o This focus project is to extend and develop the West Highland Museum in Fort William. It will be transformational for the Museum and the local community and we will be looking to raise at least £100k towards this project which may be approved to start in late 2026 and could be complete on or around our 250th anniversary in 2028
To bolster our endowment investment portfolio such that we can look to donate a minimum of £100k each year to a transformative cause.
o In order to achieve this we will need to work towards increasing our Endowment Fund to over £2m from membership, and wider donations. This may take a number of years to achieve but it is a realistic ambition. Ideally we should look to get close to £1m by the end of 2028. This will show significant progress towards securing a long term future to enable the HSOL to make impactful community donations well beyond 2028
Every donation counts and will be greatly received, and we need every member to try to get involved in whatever way that they can. Many thanks in advance – we want to make a longer term impact for the Highlands and you can be an important part of this.