Disability Sports Coach is one of ten charities to receive £50,000 as part of Ecclesiastical’s Movement for Good awards.
The awards, set up by specialist insurer Ecclesiastical, have seen a total of £1million given to charities across the UK this summer. 500 have already been awarded donations of £1,000 and now 10 charitable organisations will benefit from £50,000 grants.
Disability Sports Coach, which provides award-winning sport and physical activity opportunities for disabled people in London, was one of the 10 selected from nearly 800 entries.
The fund will allow the charity to run a series of inspirational sports events in the run-up to the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.
Each of the £50,000 awards are designed to help charities take innovative projects to the next level in the fields of education, skills, arts, culture and heritage, as well as citizenship or community development.
Mark Hews, Group CEO of Ecclesiastical, said: “Ecclesiastical is unlike any other financial services group. Owned by a charity, our core purpose is to contribute to the greater good of society. Charitable giving is therefore at the heart of our business and we are proud to be the fourth largest corporate donor in the UK. Each of these £50,000 awards will fund innovative projects and good ideas that will help make people’s lives better.
“This summer our Movement for Good awards has motivated over 100,000 members of the public across the UK to support and nominate causes close to their heart. Now we are excited to see how this next financial boost will create a lasting legacy for all the award winners.”
Amardeep Gill, Fundraiser at Disability Sports Coach, added: “It was a big bonus to even be shortlisted, so it was a massive and a very welcome surprise to win.
“We know the impact from the work we have done before is lifechanging and we have two key activities over the next 12 months which this award will help us to achieve.
“Firstly, we have 14 community clubs across London which provide weekly sport and physical activity opportunities for disabled people. The second activity is our end of term events, which bring together our clubs from across London for some friendly competition.
“Long term, this award will also raise vital awareness of our work and empower more disabled people through the power of sport.”
An amazing 98,000 people around the UK supported the Movement for Good awards during its first phase earlier this year, with over 7,000 charitable causes up and down the country receiving votes. The 500 winning charities were picked at random from those nominated.
Phase two saw 800 project submissions for the £50,000 awards. Following a review of all the applications, over 20,000 people showed support for a shortlist of 15 charities before a panel of judges made their final selection of the winning projects.
Owned by a charity, Ecclesiastical is the only financial services group that exists to give all its available profits to charity. It has given £100million to charity over the past five years and is the fourth largest corporate giver in the UK.
