This year, the Benefact Group launched their Charity Heroes Awards, a new awards programme designed to celebrate and support charities working tirelessly to make positive change.

The awards were really simple to enter and were made up of six public categories and one Benefact Group colleague category:

• Local Community Initiative
• Climate Action Project
• Small Charity, Big Impact
• Charity Leader of the Year
• Digital Fundraising Initiative
• Volunteer of the Year
• Colleagues’ Choice

WRS Insurance Brokers are delighted to be sponsoring the Local Community Initiative Award, a category that sets out to celebrate a project which has reached the heart of a local community to tackle a local issue.

Now that the judging process has come to an end, we’re excited to announce who the finalists are:

Local Community Initiative

• Elliott Holmes Memorial Fund
• Future Toolbox CIC
• Open Road Visions

Volunteer of the year

• Luanne Rimmer, Handmade with Love & Making Memories
• Abbie Chibnell-Smith, Juvenile Arthritis Research
• Zoe Bryan, Transforming Autism Project

Climate action project

• Durham Wildlife Trust
• Global Goals Centre
• Outdoor and Sustainability Education Specialists

Digital fundraising initiative

• Crohn’s & Colitis UK
• Dogs 4 Rescue
• Street Child

Small charity, big impact

• Hollie Gazzard Trust
• The Ambulance Staff Charity
• Tiny Tickers

Charity leader of the year

• Jolanta Lasota, Ambitious About Autism
• Ali Waterworth, Ruddi’s Retreat
• Taban Shoresh OBE, The Lotus Flower

Colleagues’ choice

• Derian House Children’s Hospice proposed by Colin Wilby
• Sands proposed by Kirsty Dickson
• Winston’s Wish proposed by Gemma Percival

Congratulations to our finalists, and thank you to all the charities who entered the awards.

For more information on the awards, please visit the Benefact Group website here.

A winning event

Finalists will be invited to a lunchtime awards event on November 28th within the walls of the iconic Tower of London where the winners and runners-up in each category will be announced.  Our guests will also have the opportunity to celebrate and connect with fellow changemakers and hear from industry experts.

We will be inviting two people from each shortlisted charity to attend the awards luncheon.

The prizes

Winning charities in each category will be awarded £5,000 and runners up will receive £1,000.

About WRS

At WRS Insurance Brokers, we are specialists in Charity Insurance and Social Enterprise Insurance and our team is passionate about the charitable sector.