Nottinghamshire charities celebrate share of £1million fund

For the fifth year running, Benefact Group is giving away £1 million to charities through its Movement for Good awards. Members of the public were invited to nominate causes close to their hearts, with 150 awards of £1,000 announced today.

The Lashes Foundation, which helps relieve financial hardship, sickness, and poor health amongst the community, and Nottinghamshire Blood Bikes, a charity delivering items that need to be transported urgently to help save a patient’s life, are the local charities set to benefit from the money, following overwhelming public support in the county.

Kind-hearted Nottinghamshire residents donated their time and submitted more than 1,600 nominations for charities close to their hearts.More than 11,000 charitable causes in the UK and Ireland received votes, thanks to more than 135,000 nominations from supporters. The 150 winning charities were picked at random from those nominated, with a further 150 winners being selected in September. Further gifts will be awarded throughout the year.

Since the awards began, more than 1.6m nominations have been received resulting in more than 2,200 charities benefitting from valuable donations.

This year, 420 charities will be awarded £1,000 donations, while 40 good causes will be awarded £5,000 via special grants throughout the year, aimed at helping charities in specific sectors. Winners will be drawn at random and the more times a charity is nominated the more chance it has of being selected. Further gifts totalling £500,000 will also be donated in larger amounts later this year.

Mark Hews, Benefact Group chief executive, said: “We would like to thank every single person who took the time to nominate a good cause as part of our Movement for Good Awards.

“Benefact Group is the third largest corporate donor in the UK and has an ambition to be the biggest. Owned by a charity, all of its available profits go to good causes, and the more the group grows, the more the group can give. We know £1,000 can make a huge difference to the incredible work that charities do and we’re looking forward to seeing how this financial boost will change lives for the better.”