J001010 - Lycetts Newsletter Jan 2024 LR - Flipbook - Page 5
T H E £2 50 M I L L ION
CH A L L ENGE
We are not driven by how much money we can make,
but by how much we can give away.
Charles Renwick
Head of Management
Services
A strong sentiment, but one which sits at the
heart of The Benefact Group, of which we have
been a wholly owned subsidiary since 2012.
Indeed, The Ecclesiastical Insurance Group, as
it was then referenced, 昀椀rst took a stake in
Lycetts in 2009 so this is a connection of 15
years standing.
This bold ambition is not the only notable aspect of
our ownership as ultimately Lycetts, under the
umbrella of the Benefact Group, is owned by a
charity, the Benefact Trust, which until 2021 was
known as the Allchurches Trust.
So, what does this mean for you, our clients,
and for us?
We can start with some raw statistics. Since setting
its first giving target in 2014 over £200 million has
been donated to more than 10,000 charities, the
Benefact Group has become the third largest
corporate donor in the UK (with ambition to be
Number One!) and is on track to meet its aim of
giving £250 million to charities by the end of 2025.
The Benefact Group has distributed donations
through a range of programmes, which include
employee giving (every employee has the chance to
make an annual donation of up to £400 to a charity
of their choice), business giving and Group-led
programmes such as the flagship Movement for
Good Awards, which have seen more than £5 million
awarded to 2,500 charities over the past five years.
As a client of Lycetts, you have played a part in this
– perhaps unwittingly to this point! We believe the
fact that the profits we generate find their way to
supporting a wide range of charities sets us apart in
a significant way from our competitors. Hopefully,
when business propositions are judged on fine
margins, this can help sway those for whom the
principles of Environmental, Social and Governance
(ESG) inform their decision-making process.
Before you ask, we have absolutely no influence
with the Benefact Trust who operate a scrupulously
independent grant giving process, but if you are
involved with a charity that meets the criteria they
require, I hope you may now at least be better
informed about a prospective source of funding to
whom you could apply.
Furthermore, through the previously referenced
Movement for Good Awards, any individual –
including you – can access these through the
Benefact Group website to nominate a charity of
their choice to receive an award. These can vary
from between £1,000 and £50,000, and in recent
years we have been delighted to see a number of
charities with whom we have a close affiliation
secure significant five figure awards. The more
nominations, the greater the chance of winning.
This ethos permeates other aspects of our business.
We have a strong sustainability agenda with
ambitious targets as a Group to meet Net Zero by
2040, and through their Edentree investment
management business the Group has an awardwinning firm with a 30 year heritage in responsible
and sustainable investment. On a more local level,
in the procurement processes for our new Bank
House office we sourced all our furniture on the
basis of its sustainable provenance such that the
materials and resources used created an overall Net
Positive impact, added to which Bank House is a
BREEAM Excellent building designed using a ‘fabric
first’ approach to ensure reduced CO2 emissions
during the building life-cycle.
As far as those who work within our business are
concerned, we believe we offer a unique
opportunity for those who are so minded through
their career efforts to make a difference beyond the
services we offer, to provide a purpose beyond
profits and to connect individuals to the issues that
affect the people and communities amongst whom
we live and work.
One of the ways in which the support of our owner
benefits our people is that for each and every single
fundraising initiative undertaken by any Lycetts
employee - whether that be our Movember or
Shaun the Sheep ‘Trot around the Flock’ initiatives
- the Group will match fund their fund-raising totals
up to a maximum of £5,000. This meant that the
combined and miscellaneous fund-raising efforts of
various employees throughout 2023 was doubled
from £25,000 to £50,000, all to good causes!
On top of all of that, our owners have a good sense
of humour and have tasked us to double the size of
our business by 2028! What a great challenge to
have, the more successful we are, the more we can
give to good causes to facilitate positive changes for
those who need it most.
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