Hampshire charities awarded nearly £400,000 in funding from Zurich Community Trust

Zurich Community Trust (ZCT) has donated nearly £400,000 to Hampshire based charities as part of a package worth more than £2million to regional organisations around the UK.

Charities were chosen by Zurich’s Hampshire-based employees, with a focus on poverty, food poverty and homelessness. The partnerships will last for two years.

Fareham-based domestic and sexual abuse charity Yellow Door, youth homelessness charity Step By Step, counselling service for young people The Moving on Project and the Alzheimer’s Society all received £30,000. Food poverty alleviation charity Food Cycle also received more than £15,000.

Meanwhile, Farnborough-based performing arts charity Spotlight UK received £20,000 for a Youth Ambassador to provide a food, toy, and clothes bank, and deliver a range of activities and emotional support to children from service families and other groups.

Farnborough Step By Step and The Orchard Dementia Centre also received £20,000 each. The Orchard Dementia Centre will use the donation to purchase new blackout blinds and room dividers, as well as a sensory table and touch screen for the centre.

The insurer has also integrated a charity donation platform, MyImpact, which allows employees to make regular or one-off donations to partner charities. Each donation will be matched by 100% by ZCT. For every 10 hours of volunteering recorded on the platform, employees will receive £100 to donate to their favourite charity partner.

Jayne Bristow, Step By Step, said:

“Step By Step are proud to have been chosen as a charity partner for Zurich Community Trust. The support means not only funding that we desperately need but support in the form of training which is vital to allow staff to develop and Zurich challenges which have in the past been super fun and rewarding.

“This support means we can help provide young people with a safe space to call home and the tailored support they need to break the cycle of homelessness for good and allow young people to reach their full potential.”

Steve Grimmett, Head of Zurich Community Trust, added:

“The cost-of-living crisis is affecting both households and charitable organisations, with inflation and high energy costs meaning budgets must now stretch further. Zurich Community Trust is proud that these donations will help to ease the pressure for charities in Hampshire, picked by Zurich employees.”