Benefact Group celebrates £100m giving milestone

His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales joined hundreds of beneficiaries at a Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey as Benefact Group celebrated its achievement of giving over £100 million to good causes.    

The charity-owned financial services group, formerly Ecclesiastical Insurance Group, is the fourth biggest corporate donor in the UK and has an ambition to be the biggest.

His Royal Highness attended the special service on behalf of The Prince’s Foundation. Benefact Group has supported the Foundation for a number of years.

His Royal Highness was joined at Westminster Abbey by some of the 10,000 charities that have benefited from Benefact Group’s giving over recent years. They included Sally Randall, CEO and Founder of Abby’s Heroes, a charity offering help and support to children and their families suffering from the impact of cancer. She spoke at the service about the impact of Benefact’s giving on the charity’s work.

Also speaking at the service was Jay Blades, star of the Repair Shop, Ambassador for The Prince’s Foundation and supporter of literacy charity Read Easy UK.

Mark Hews, Group Chief Executive of Benefact Group, said: “Our Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey was a wonderful celebration of our achievement of donating £100million to good causes, which has helped to change thousands of lives for the better in the UK and abroad.

“For a venue to mark this occasion, we could think of no better place than Westminster Abbey, one of our most precious and prestigious clients.  We were founded in 1887, the year of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee and in some small way, we have played our part in great Abbey events over the years, including insuring the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth ll, now celebrating her Platinum Jubilee.”

Benefact Group distributes donations through a range of programmes – employee giving, business giving and Group-led programmes such as its Movement for Good Awards – as well as giving all available profits to its charitable owner, the Benefact Trust.

Mark Hews said: “As a company whose purpose is to contribute to the greater good of society, charitable giving is at the heart of what we do.

“For many financial service companies, their purpose is to make as much money as possible. In contrast, the Benefact Group family has a very different culture and values. We are not driven by making as much money as possible. We are driven by how much money we can give away.

“This gives us real purpose.  It is a clear and compelling “why”.  It is something that motivates each of us to give our best, to provide outstanding trusted service, and to grow our Group family so we can give back even more.”

Sally Randall said: “Benefact Group supports a wide variety of charities, including smaller organisations like ours, enabling us to have a greater impact in the communities where we work.  Its grants have been instrumental in helping thousands of families and individuals in ways too numerous, impactful and far-reaching to mention.  From the bottom of all of our hearts, thank you”.

Now in its fourth year, the Movement for Good Awards will see over £1million given to charities. Since the initiative began in 2019, more than 210,000 people across the UK have nominated causes they care about, leading to more than 13,000 charities receiving votes.

Anyone can nominate a registered charity at any time for the chance to receive £1,000. The first 250 winners will be announced in June, a further 250 winners will be announced in September.

Movement for Good is funded by EIO plc, part of the Benefact Group.

His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales is greeted by Mark Hews, chief executive of Benefact Group, at a Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey.

Sally Randall, CEO and founder of Abby’s Heroes, who spoke at the service.

Jay Blades, star of the Repair Shop, Ambassador for The Prince’s Foundation and supporter of literacy charity Read Easy UK.