Borough-based Disability Sports Coach and Age UK East London based in Bethnal Green are among 15 UK charities shortlisted to receive £50,000 in Ecclesiastical’s Movement for Good awards.
The awards, set up by specialist insurer Ecclesiastical, will see a total of £1million given to charities across the UK. Five hundred have already been awarded donations of £1,000 and now ten charitable organisations will benefit from £50,000 grants.
Disability Sports Coach provides award-winning sport and physical activity opportunities for disabled people in London. The award would allow the charity to run a series of five inspirational sports events in the run-up to the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.
Age UK East London works to assist older people in need and to prevent sickness, disease and suffering in older people. The award would see them establish a series of intergenerational lunch clubs at local primary schools, involving mixed activities between old and young.
The charities are among 15 organisations to make the shortlist from nearly 800 entries.
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. Charities were invited to apply online before Ecclesiastical’s partner the Charities Trust settled on the shortlist.
During the final stage, members of the public are being invited to show their support for their favourite charity with a simple click on the awards website, before the Movement for Good judging panel selects the ten winning charities.
Mark Hews, Group CEO of Ecclesiastical, said: “Ecclesiastical is unlike any other financial services group. Owned by a charity, giving is at the heart of our business. Each £50,000 award will fund innovative projects and good ideas that might not otherwise get financial support. Part of our ongoing pledge is to help charities test new ideas and take them to the next level, sometimes over several years – an area where we know funding is very limited. We think that this can help charities make even more of a difference.
“Our Movement for Good awards has been successful in helping 500 charities already this year and we’re thankful to everyone who nominated a cause close to their heart. We’re looking forward to seeing how this next financial boost will change even more lives for the better.”
The successful charities will be announced from Monday 30September 2019.
During the first phase earlier this year, members of the public were invited to nominate causes close to their hearts, with 500 awards of £1,000 available for donation.
In total, an amazing 98,000 people around the UK supported the Movement for Good awards, with over 7,000 charitable causes up and down the country receiving votes. The 500 winning charities were picked at random from those nominated.
Owned by a charity, Ecclesiastical is the only financial services group that exists to give all its profits to charity. It has given £100million to charity over the past five years and is the fourth largest corporate giver in the UK2.
