Ten charitable causes from across the UK have each been selected for a £50,000 gift as part of Ecclesiastical Insurance’s Movement for Good awards.

The awards, set up by specialist insurer and ICMIF member Ecclesiastical, have seen a total of £1million given to charities across the UK this summer. Five hundred charities were already awarded donations of £1,000 earlier this year and now 10 charitable organisations will each benefit from £50,000 grants.

Each of the £50,000 awards is designed to support the advancement of education, skills, arts, culture and heritage, as well as citizenship or community development. Applications were assessed against four key areas; impact and effectiveness, sustainability, innovation, and care and compassion.

The Lily Mae Foundation, which provides bereavement support for families who have lost a baby in the West Midlands area, is one of the charities set to receive an award. The fund will allow the charity to enhance its Baby Loss Support Service, a project that will develop resources to support more bereaved families over the next three years.

Another charity, Tastelife UK, which aims to support eating disorder sufferers and their families whilst also advancing public education, will be launching its Youth Track Development scheme. The project will increase education of eating disorders amongst students aged between 11 and 14 in schools across the UK.

Mark Hews, Group CEO of Ecclesiastical, said: “Our Movement for Good awards have been met with an overwhelming response. A huge number of charities have submitted projects for the £50,000 grant and it’s clear that charitable organisations are in need of support now more than ever. We believe this financial boost will create long-lasting improvements for communities and support charity workers during what is an incredibly testing time for many.

Ecclesiastical is a unique financial services group. Owned by a charity, our core purpose is to contribute to the greater good of society. Charitable giving is at the heart of our business and we are proud to be able to give all available profits to the good causes which are important to our customers. We know that £50,000 can make a huge difference to the life-changing work that charities do and we are looking forward to seeing how these awards will help make people’s lives better.”

Ryan Jackson, Founder and Managing Director at The Lily Mae Foundation, said: “We were pretty blown away when we were told we were fortunate enough to be one of the winners. The project that the money will go towards is a very unique one-to-one baby loss support service. For those bereaved parents who have sadly lost a baby, having a service like this is a lifeline. We plan on using the money to bring in other bereavement support workers so we can offer more appointments for our service.”

Di Archer, CEO at Tastelife UK, added: “The funding is an utter game changer. The news that we won was the best news ever and I think I was completely speechless. We are so aware that eating disorders have actually increased during Covid and will go on increasing with the continuing uncertainly. They are often hidden and our project will give people a safe space to talk about them, which feels more important than ever.”

Ecclesiastical says more than a quarter of a million kind-hearted members of the British public (253,879) supported the Movement for Good awards during its first phase earlier this year, with over 13,695 charitable causes up and down the country receiving votes. The 500 winning charities were picked at random from those nominated.

Phase two saw 1,059 project submissions for the £50,000 awards. Following a review of all the applications, a panel of judges made their final selection of the winning projects.

For further information on the Movement for Good awards and for a full list of the winning charities phase visit: www.ecclesiastical.com/movement-for-good

Last month, the mutual insurer developed and launched a fundraising hub with a range of resources to help charities in the UK raise vital funds during these challenging times due to the ongoing pandemic.

The mutual insurer says the surge in demand for services during the pandemic, coupled with loss of funding, has put a financial strain on the UK charity sector.