An army of volunteers from Gloucester-based specialist financial services group, Benefact Group, have supported charities to make a difference in the local community.

From cooking breakfast for Gloucester Feed the Hungry, organising an activity day for clients of The Nelson Trust, to cleaning and preparing meals for Cotswold Cats and Dogs Home, Benefact Group volunteers have supported a wide range of causes.

All Benefact Group employees are encouraged to volunteer for at least one day a year and are given paid time off to do so. In total, staff across the group spent 4,000 hours volunteering in 2023.

During the past year, Benefact Group volunteers collected and packed up hundreds of products for The Hygiene Bank, decorated counselling rooms for The Listening Post, and assisted with cleaning up the canal paths with The Canal and River Trust, as well as many other good causes.

Each year, all Benefact Group employees are also given £100 to donate to any charity of their choice which is then doubled if they volunteer for a good cause. In 2023, 114 Gloucestershire charities have benefitted from a share of £68,000 thanks to employee grants.

Chris Pitt, group impact director at Benefact Group, said: "We're passionate about encouraging and enabling all of our employees to give time, money, and kindness to help support causes they care about and make a difference in our local community.

"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 our available profits go to good causes, and the more the group grows, the more the group can give. As a company whose purpose is to contribute to the greater good of society, charitable giving is at the heart of what we do."

Benefact Group staff gave over £550,000 to good causes in 2023 through personal grants and matched donations for fundraising and payroll giving as part of the company's 'MyGiving' scheme.

The Benefact Group family of brands includes Ecclesiastical UK and Ansvar UK.