The Village Halls Podcast
A podcast for anyone involved in the running of Britain's 10,000 village, church and community and anyone interested in the vital community services they provide.
The Village Halls Podcast
Funding Your Village Hall: The Movement for Good Initiative
Securing sustainable funding remains one of the greatest challenges for village halls across the UK. In this eye-opening conversation, we explore a straightforward path to financial support through the Movement for Good initiative by the Benefact Group.
Chris Pitt, Impact Group Director for the Benefact Group, reveals how their charitable program works through a refreshingly simple nomination process that anyone in your community can complete. What makes this opportunity especially valuable for village halls? The £1,000 grants come with no strings attached, allowing halls to address their most pressing needs—whether that's covering rising utility costs, funding repairs, or launching new community programs.
The partnership between Allied Westminster and Ecclesiastical (part of the Benefact Group) creates a natural avenue of support for village halls, as explained by Gavin Mitchell, Managing Director of Allied Westminster. Together, they're working to ensure these vital community hubs can thrive despite increasing financial pressures.
With nominations staying in the selection pool for multiple draws throughout the year, and the process taking just minutes to complete, this represents an accessible funding opportunity that every village hall should pursue. We discuss success stories from halls that have already benefited from the initiative, practical advice for increasing your chances of being selected, and additional resources available beyond the monetary grants.
Whether you're a committee member seeking to secure your hall's future or a community member wanting to support your local hub, this episode provides the knowledge and tools you need to take immediate action. Visit our website to access promotional templates you can use to rally your community behind your hall's nomination.
Hello, my name is Marc Smith and welcome to the Village Halls podcast sponsored by Allied Westminster, the UK's largest specialist provider of Village Hall insurance, and the home of Village Guard. Welcome. One of the most important tasks in running a Village Hall is securing funding, and today we're dedicating this episode to help our listeners explore an incredible opportunity for financial support through the Movement for Good initiative Benefact Group . I'm thrilled to have two special guests with us today. First we have Chris Pitt, who is the Impact Group Director for the Benefact Group, who will share insights on how their Movement for Good initiative is making a real difference in local communities, including village halls. We're also joined by Gavin Mitchell, managing Director of Allied Westminster, the main headline sponsor of this podcast. Gavin will explain how village halls, many of which are registered charities, can benefit from this initiative and why Allied Westminster has partnered with Ecclesiastical part of the Benefact group.
Marc Smith:Over the years, the Movement for Good have provided millions of pounds worth of crucial grants to charitable organisations, and village halls are prime candidates for these awards. So whether you're running a village hall or involved in your local community, this podcast is for you. Welcome, chris and Gavin
Chris Pitt:Hello there
Gavin Mitchell:Hello, Marc
Marc Smith:Chris, could you start by explaining how the Movement for Good initiative actually started.
Chris Pitt:Well, Ecclesiastical is part of the Benefact group and we're a family of financial services businesses and we are quite unusual in financial services in that we are all owned by a charitable trust, so we give our available profits to good causes. So the Movement for Good Awards were born out of that that we wanted to find the best way to distribute our profits to good causes. So we designed the move for good awards and they are. They're quite simple, really, in that anyone can nominate any good cause they care about and we randomly draw winners throughout the year to receive small donations. So it's a wonderful, wonderful thing that we're giving donations to charities and community organisations absolutely everywhere and they are all incredibly deserving of this funding and it's amazing what they can do with a small donation.
Marc Smith:Excellent. So just to make sure this is relevant to at any point when anyone listens to this podcast there, any closing dates for for these grants?
Chris Pitt:no, uh, they run all the time, uh, throughout the year and we do draws at various times. Um, and yeah, we kind of end the year with a bit of finale of giving 120 donations out at the end of the year, but, no, anytime you can nominate any cause you care about., you get in the pot. You might not be drawn as a winner in one draw, but you'll still be in the pot and still be in with a chance for a donation.
Marc Smith:Ah right, excellent, so it's your. Are you kept in there for one year, is that right?
Chris Pitt:Yeah, we kind of we start the clock again in the new year, but, yeah, as soon as you're in, you're in with a chance and we do get a lot of nominations, which I think again is a wonderful, wonderful thing, because it shows how people really do care about charities and typically actually people nominate causes in their communities, so they nominate the local charity that has helped them or their family, or the local village hall where they benefit from the charitable work that they do. So that makes up a lot of nominations and therefore they are receiving a lot of funding through this initiative.
Marc Smith:Right, so you don't actually need to be a part of the village hall committee to submit the village hall. It can be done by anybody in the community or surrounding area.
Chris Pitt:Yeah, absolutely, and actually, actually, you know, the more nominations you get in the pot, you know, the the greater the chance that you you will win. So there are charities that you get hundreds of of nominations, but I would say, actually, that every time we do a draw, there's always a charity with one or a handful of nominations that gets a donation as well.
Marc Smith:Um, so, yeah, it's always worth putting yourself, uh, in in the frame for a donation yeah, so you've had quite a few village hall winners in the past, like stanford bridge and sheeding village hall. Could you walk us through the how the process works?
Chris Pitt:yeah, well, and again, it's uh, incredibly simple. You've just got to go to movementforgoodcom, uh, and you put in the name of the, the charity or the village hall you want to nominate. It's all backed by the Charity Commission database actually. So if it is a registered charity, it comes up and it's already recognised. And just put in a few details about yourself and press go and they are nominated. So it really is as simple as that.
Marc Smith:I always say you could kind of have done it in the time that it's taken me to explain how to do it. That's good, Gavin. So yourselves Allied Westminster and Ecclesiastical, you have very similar beliefs. What makes your relationship special?
Gavin Mitchell:Allied Westminster has a great working relationship with Ecclesiastical, which is part of the Benefact Group. Our Village Guard Village Hall Insurance Policy is underwritten by Ecclesiastical and we're very, very pleased with the way that the Benefact Group work in terms of supporting charities right across the country. And, of course, we deal primarily in village halls the length and breadth of the country with thousands and thousands of village hall customers. Village Halls are registered charities, which makes them absolutely ideal, not only in terms of our relationship with Ecclesiastical in terms of the insurance side of things, but to get involved in the movement for good and the charity donations that the Benefact Group and Ecclesiastical within the Benefact Group make available.
Marc Smith:Gavin, what kind of advice do you have for Village Halls or community members when applying or getting nominated to make sure that they stand out Well?
Gavin Mitchell:they have one great advantage they are the hubs of community and hubs of the community and I think you know, as we've known from many, many podcasts that have been done on your podcast programme, that you know they're treasured by local communities, by rural communities, village halls, and there's a lot of involvement from young and old and all sorts of people in these villages and rural communities. So in many ways it's a great opportunity for the local community to get together and to get their shoulder behind, participating in the movement for good. And, as, as we had discussed, off air mark, one of the things that we will make available is, as opposed to effectively, that the village halls can print out and stick on the village halls notice board. But you know they want to maybe reach out to the local community through whatever media they have at their disposal and try and get the local community involved and get these nominations in for their Village Hall and see if their Village Hall can benefit from the movement for good.
Marc Smith:So, gavin, just to be clear, that was a pre-made design template that you have available to advertise their own village hall, I suppose, on their notice boards yes, absolutely, and that will be available on the village halls podcast on your hoskard podcast website mark yeah, excellent, that's great. Yeah, so I'll pop those in the in the podcast notes there. So, chris, do you have any interesting stories from previous winners of the grant?
Chris Pitt:well, it's. It's clear that, um, when you ask someone to nominate a charity, of course they care about they, very, very quickly turn to um, excuse me, the um, the charities in their local community and village halls, I think, are a prime candidate for that. Because you know, like the church, like the school, um, like small charities in the community, that you know they. Because you know, like the church, like the school, um, like small charities in the community, that you know they are, you know, real linchpins of the community. Um, they provide so much, um, and yet they're relying on, uh, voluntary income. So, yeah, we've had, we've had thousands of nominations for village halls, uh, and village kind of charities, and I think about over 30,000 that's gone out specifically for those kinds of causes, which is fantastic. But you know, as you've said, there's the opportunity to win more. So the more nominations we get and the more village halls can encourage those people who really care about what they do, then the chances increase in them receiving a donation and the donations are modest. You know they're receiving a donation and the donations are modest. They're about £1,000 is the amount that people receive. But I've always been amazingly struck by how much good £1,000 can do.
Chris Pitt:For some charities it's just been a bit of a lifeline because we know that funding income for all types of charitable organisations is massively under pressure. It feels like at the moment there's this double pressure that charitable organisations are having to do so much more. They're being relied on by their communities to really provide critical support and yet it's harder and harder to get funding. So £1, pounds can keep charity going. It can inspire some other donations as well. Actually, you know, if charity's got a great bit of news, you know we've had a thousand pounds we're going to do this with. It quite often inspires others to get behind them. So yeah, it's, it's a it's a great thing and we just want to get these donations to more and more communities as we can.
Marc Smith:So I suppose the village halls don't have to have a project in mind for the funding, it's just more they could, they can more, just apply for the grant regardless.
Chris Pitt:Yeah, absolutely.
Chris Pitt:And I think that is another yeah it's a rather, really big fundraising topic of conversation about having to seek funding for very specific initiatives and not being able to use funding for kind of running costs and that kind of thing. But yeah, these, these donations are no strings, you know. They are for for the village hall to do what they need to do with it, and that can be keeping the lights on, and I think that's a bit underestimated sometimes because keeping the lights on is an essential part of doing what that village hall needs to do to be a kind of, you know, a warm welcoming place in the community. So, yes, real flexibility with that funding. You know, if you're a winner, you can use it for exactly what you want to use it for.
Gavin Mitchell:That's a very valuable point, chris. I mean, I don't know a single village hall that wouldn't be able to put £1,000 to good use, and it could be for any number of projects they have, but it could quite simply be just continuing the maintenance of valuable services and facilities.
Marc Smith:Yeah, I was actually speaking to someone two weeks ago about the village halls and they were saying their electricity bill was £13,000 for one year. They've since moved to solar, which has made a massive £35 per month, but it's amazing the running costs that you have just for the hall itself not to do anything. No upgrades, no events, just the actual upkeep of the hall. So it could be very valuable for any hall. Indeed indeed indeed. No events, just the actual upkeep of the hall.
Gavin Mitchell:So it could be very valuable for for any hall, indeed, indeed, indeed, and much as we all try and keep the insurance premiums down to as low as we possibly can, insurance premiums unfortunately are one of the costs and, uh, but no, there's no end of costs. Mark, and, and and and certainly, um, you know, a thousand pounds is good news for any village hall and I'm sure it would be welcomed by anyone that benefits from this.
Marc Smith:So if you don't win an award immediately, what else can you offer the village halls?
Chris Pitt:Well, we can offer a great deal actually, and we've been very mindful that we've got a lot to give and we give donations all year long over £1 million to lots and lots of different causes but it will actually never be enough because there are so many charities doing such good work, it's never going to reach everyone.
Chris Pitt:So we've actually launched a range of charity support which we hope is going to help charities village halls be more sustainable and successful. So we run a range of support things like webinars so free, completely free webinars on topics, mainly on fundraising actually, because that is always the top topic, and we bring an expert in and give charities the opportunity to to hear how they can sharpen up their fundraising approach. And we feel this is as important as our funding actually, because, as I said, we've only got so much to give. But through charity support, which is all via the website as well, movingforgoodcom charities can learn how to be better, how to seek funding, how to be more competitive in a very, very, very difficult environment and, hopefully, can secure funding from other sources as well, which will enable them to continue their amazing work.
Marc Smith:Thank you to both Chris and Gavin for joining us today and for sharing such valuable insights. It's clear that the Movement for Good is a wonderful opportunity for village halls to secure much needed funding. We encourage all our listeners, especially those involved with village halls, to nominate their local hall for a Movement for Good grant. It's an easy process and the impact of winning can be transformative. To find out more and nominate your village hall, search the Movement for Good or head to our Village Halls podcast website, where we'll have all the links and resources available.
Marc Smith:Village halls are at the heart of our communities and through initiatives like the Movement for Good, we can ensure they continue to thrive. So, whether you're a village hall volunteer or a community member, now is the time to nominate your local hall and make a lasting impact. Don't forget to visit our website for more details on how you can get involved. Thank you once again for listening. Many thanks to our headline sponsor and specialist village hall insurance provider, allied Westminster, the home of Village Guard, for making this podcast possible, and to online booking system provider, hallmaster, who also sponsor our podcast and can be found at hallmastercouk. You've been listening to the Village Halls podcast, a unique listening community for Britain's village, community and church halls and anyone interested in the vital community services they provide. We'll be back again soon with another episode. For more information, please visit thevillagehallspodcast. com, where you'll also find links to our social media pages. Thanks again for listening in and until the next time. Goodbye for now.
