The NFU Mutual Charitable Trust has announced its first round of donations for 2022 – totalling more than GBP 455,000, and giving support to 13 rural causes across the UK.
This is the first of two rounds of funding which will be delivered across the year. The Trust expects overall donations to have reached at least GBP 1m by the end of 2022.
The NFU Mutual Charitable Trust is one of the main ways leading rural insurer and ICMIF member NFU Mutual provides charitable donations, and its work forms part of NFU Mutual’s GBP 3.25m charitable giving pledge to support its members and their communities during 2022.
This latest round of funding will help to deliver a range of initiatives, including rural poverty relief, helping small farming businesses to thrive, educating and mentoring young people, and supporting the UK’s air ambulance network.
The organisations set to benefit from the donations are:
- Air Ambulances UK
- FareShare
- Farming Community Network
- Farms for City Children
- Gareth Raw Rees Memorial Scholarship
- NFU Education
- Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust
- Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI)
- Royal Highland Education Trust
- RSABI Scottish Association of Young Farmers’ Clubs The Prince’s Countryside Fund (PCF)
- Wales Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs
The donations will be available immediately, allowing the organisations to continue to provide their crucial support services. Applications for the Trust’s November round of donations are now open, and full details can be found on NFU Mutual’s website.
Nick Turner, Group Chief Executive of NFU Mutual and ICMIF Board Member, said: “NFU Mutual has been supporting our members and our communities for over 110 years, and through the Charitable Trust we give help to national charities across all corners of the UK.”
“These latest donations from the Trust will help support our members and their communities in many different ways, and we’re very proud to be championing the work of these great causes.”
The Prince’s Countryside Fund, a charity which empowers family farms and rural communities to survive and thrive, will be using their donation of GBP 70,000 to help Farm Support Groups and ensure they can continue providing vital service to their local farming communities.
Keith Halstead, Executive Director at The Prince’s Countryside Fund, explained how the Trust’s donation will make a difference: “The Prince’s Countryside Fund is most grateful to the NFU Mutual Charitable Trust for their grant of GBP 70,000 towards our partnership with farm support groups across the UK. The demand for the advice and guidance offered by farm support groups will only increase as more and more farmers turn to sources of help that are embedded in their rural and farming communities. Farm support groups like The Farmer Network in Cumbria and Tir Dewi in Wales offer this combination of local knowledge and trusted adviser which I believe is so powerful and distinctive as we progress through the most significant changes to agriculture in living memory.
“At the PCF, we established our Farm Support Groups Initiative back in 2019 to help, what is now 52 farm support groups of varying shapes and sizes across the UK. Our commitment and financial investment is vital if we are to ensure farm support groups can fulfil their continuing purpose at a time when their support to farming and rural communities is needed now more than ever. Therefore, the grant the PCF has received from the NFU Mutual Charitable Trust enables us to increase our investment to these groups which in turn will help even more family farms.”
Photo shows: Veronica Waller (The Farmer Network), Carol Moffat (The Farmer Network), James Robinson (farmer), Adam Day (The Farmer Network) and Keith Halstead (The Prince’s Countryside Fund).
