Venice in Peril: beauty is a cause worth saving too Most people seem to imagine Venice in Peril as wallowing in dosh from the posh - a matter of honorary committees stuffed with mwaaah-mwaaaah ladies who swan around ridottos and donate their superfluous Canalettos. This is far from the case: it is a lean and austere organisation, with a staff of two, no endowment and assets of under half a million pounds. The only easy money it makes is from the chain Pizza Express which donates 25p from the sale of all its Veneziana pizzas. Keates insists that nothing from its coffers vanishes into backhanders or down the pockets of dodgy contractors: every penny donated is transparently monitored and administered by UNESCO, and nothing is left to chance or whim. Venice in Peril works in collaboration with fifty or so similar supporters" clubs across the globe, selecting the projects to which it contributes from a portfolio prepared by the local and national offices of the Italian Ministry of Culture and subject to rigorous UNESCO standards. Keates is anxious that the charity isn't perceived as "bossy or colonial. We try to work with patience, diplomacy and humility, and we are at pains to keep faith with the ordinary people of Venice. Over the last thirty years, some 600 restoration projects have been the beneficiaries. Many of them relate to the fine detail of craftsmanship which makes art great rather than just good; some are in the major tourist sites such as Piazza San Marco, the Accademia or Teatro la Fenice, some lurk in the odd corners or Calle which are so fundamental to the city's magic. At present commitments have been made - among others - to work on the monument to the sculptor Canova in the church of the Frari; a 15th century wooden crucifix in the church of San Zaccaria; some reliefs in the basilica of San Marco; and stonework in the state archives. Perhaps the biggest and longest-term current project is the securing of the astonishing (and unique) iron hydraulic crane, built by the Newcastle firm of Armstrong Mitchell in the 1880s to service naval shipping in the Arsenale. The world is full of terrible life-destroying tragedies like the typhoon in the Philippines, and of course they must make first call on our charity. Beyond natural disasters, the treatment of disease must be financed and food found for the starving. The list continues, terrifyingly. But beauty is a good cause too - it is one of the things that makes life worth living and gives humanity dignity and purpose. Venice is not just something for tourists to gawp at and the cultured rich to fuss over: it embodies some of the highest development of our civilisation, and the dangers it faces are real and immediate. As engineers and politicians continue the desperate front-line fight to keep the organism alive and afloat, Venice in Peril does equally valuable work in ministering to what makes it worth saving in the first place.