The new name and brand identity marks an ambitious new chapter for the charitable owned Group and its family of specialist businesses including SEIB Insurance Brokers.
Owned by a registered charity, Benefact Trust, who give independently to faith-based charities, Benefact Group widen the pool of giving by awarding all its available profits to good causes, regardless of the sector. The new name better reflects the Group’s diversity, breadth and purpose – it derives from Latin and means to do well by supporting a person or good cause.
Originally created to protect parish churches from fire, the Group has been in existence for over 130 years and has grown to become an international family of three divisions: insurance, investments, and broker and advisory, with operations in the UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia. It includes over 30 specialist financial businesses including Ecclesiastical Insurance, EdenTree Investment Management, SEIB, Lycetts and Lloyd & White brokers. SEIB Insurance Brokers and all of the Group’s other trading brands will continue to operate under their own names, now proudly part of the Benefact Group.
Benefact Group, which owns SEIB, is the fourth-largest corporate donor to charity in the UK and has ambitious plans to give £250million to good causes by 2025. All of the Group’s trading brands will operate to the same high ethical standards, united in a belief that better business can mean better lives, beyond business and out into our communities.
The Benefact Group, formerly named Ecclesiastical Insurance Group, has given over £100million to good causes in recent years through various programmes such as the Movement for Good awards, which accepts charitable nominations from both its customers and the wider public; and by giving a proportion of its profits to its charitable owner, the Benefact Trust, who help churches and Christian charities transform lives and communities by tackling difficult social issues such as food poverty, youth deprivation, and by providing and protecting important community spaces by funding building repairs and heritage skills training.
The Group’s giving supports a wide range of causes across different sectors including education and skills, rural, heritage, arts, faith, climate change, animal and wildlife charities.
Mark Hews, Group Chief Executive at Benefact Group, said: “Benefact Group, the fourth largest corporate donor in the UK, is a very different financial services group. We are owned by a charity which means all our available profits can be given to good causes. As a company whose purpose is to contribute to the greater good of society, charitable giving is at the heart of what we do. I’m very proud of our new name which reflects our unique purpose, the breadth of our offering to our trading partners and marks an ambitious new chapter for the Group and our family of specialist businesses.”
Suzy Middleton, Chief Executive Officer at SEIB Insurance Brokers said: “It’s wonderful being part of a group that think deeply about how to protect and advise clients and also give back to the communities we serve. 2022 will be the fifth year of the SEIB Giving campaign that not only provides funding, but also publicity for small to medium sized charities and we’ll be donating a whopping £50,000 to good causes across the country.
“But it’s not just the giving that makes this a great place to work, our unique ownership reinforces our charitable purpose and core difference to other financial services companies. It creates a strong ethos and shared set of values across the Group. So not only do our people provide high standards of expertise and service to our clients, we have the added motivation of doing good for society, both socially and environmentally. It allows us to run our business genuinely for the long term, investment and business decisions are made to generate sustainable giving, rather than to provide short term dividends to shareholders. All of this benefits our clients and partners and the communities that we give to.”
To learn more about the Benefact Group and its purpose visit: www.benefactgroup.com.
