Aviva Community Fund 2020 now open

AVIVA ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF AVIVA COMMUNITY FUND 2020 WITH £250,000 PER QUARTER FOR INNOVATIVE SMALL CHARITY PROJECTS

Unique programme empowers employees to back the clever ideas that move communities forward

Aviva has unveiled the evolution of its Aviva Community Fund 2020, with a number of exciting changes set to provide causes across the UK with funding, vital support and resources all year round.

With applications open from 21^st January until 23:59 11^th February, Aviva is calling on small charities and community interest groups with innovative ideas to submit their projects for funding. They have teamed up with online fundraising platform, Crowdfunder, to give eligible causes in the programme the chance to learn valuable crowdfunding skills and inspire support from Aviva employees and the public. The Aviva Community Fund programme is focussed on building the capabilities and skills of good causes, to drive long-term sustainable success and help charities make a life-changing impact.

The launch follows the highly successful trial of the new Aviva Community Fund programme, which was run with a select group of charities and employees. With overwhelmingly positive results and feedback, the evolved programme is now being rolled out nationwide across the UK for the first time.

This year, as part of a unique approach to employee giving, Aviva is allocating every single one of its 16,000 UK employees an ‘Employee Wallet’ with £60 in total, which will be split across each quarter of the programme. Employee Wallet funds will be donated directly to the participating causes that matter most to them and added to funds raised externally on the Crowdfunder platform.  Those causes that meet their funding target, no matter how modest or bold, will be able to withdraw their funds and get to work building stronger communities with the new backing for their clever idea.

Available to UK-based causes with an annual turnover under £1million, causes can apply at avivacommunityfund.co.uk for up to £50,000 funding for innovative, forward-thinking projects.

Jude Brooks, UK Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Aviva, said;

“We believe the small charities that make the most impact are the ones given the opportunity to innovate and test new ideas. That is why with our Aviva Community Fund programme, we are focusing not only on facilitating funding for small charities with genuinely forward-thinking ideas, but also sharing knowledge from Aviva’s people and building the capabilities of causes through training and coaching. Our ambition is to enable causes to become self-sustaining over the long term.

We are extremely proud of the impact the Aviva Community Fund has had on so many worthy causes in recent years, and are delighted to give our network of approximately 16,000 employees the chance to contribute directly the causes that matter to them most.”

Rob Love, CEO and Founder at Crowdfunder.co.uk said;
“The Aviva Community Fund and its approach to employee giving is amongst the most unique and impactful programmes we’ve had the opportunity to work on at Crowdfunder. We are delighted to be supporting the programme, and we’re looking forward to enabling hundreds of inspiring causes to bring ideas to life.

We are passionate about giving causes the skills and resources they need to help themselves and raise vital funds in support of their missions. The Aviva Community Fund empowers Aviva employees and the public to support the causes who make a difference to them, and we are proud to play our part.”

Since inception in 2010, the Aviva Community Fund has supported thousands of small charities and worthy causes across the country, as well as running across nine other countries around the world. Nantwich-based charity Inner Trust took part in the recent trial program and raised £7,765 to support its new project using innovative music workshops to help care home residents suffering with Dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Spencer Hickson from Inner Trust said;

“The Aviva Community Fund has already made a massive difference to us. We believe it will offer huge support to so many other small charities. Instead of simply receiving a one-off grant, we’ve been able to generate sustainable funding and an ongoing relationship with the Aviva employees and new supporters. Plus, we had a lot of guidance along the way and we’ve learnt a range of new skills and expertise.”

In addition to the funding, Aviva are also offering a host of valuable resources and skills via an exhaustive Knowledge Library, including advice around risk management and networking, as well as templates and useful documents to build their capabilities in a range of areas. Causes can also connect with Aviva’s employees, who are given 21 hours volunteering leave each year, to offer a range of volunteering opportunities, as well as world-class coaching from a number of International Coaching Federation (ICF) accredited mentors.