acet UK wins a £10,000 Movement for Good award!

acet UK has won a £10,000 Movement for Good award from Ecclesiastical Insurance Group! AMAZING!

acet UK is one of 30 charities chosen by a panel of judges to receive £10,000 as part of specialist insurer Ecclesiastical's Movement for Good awards, which is giving £1million to good causes this year.

In June 2021, Ofsted published a review of sexual abuse in schools. Children said sexual harassment occurs so much it has become 'commonplace'. We were heartbroken when an 11-year-old boy recently told us that, “girls like sex to be aggressive”; an idea formed from porn. There is an urgent need for education that transforms culture, equipping young people to value themselves, value each other, and value sex.

Our acclaimed Esteem program achieves this through our engaging and effective sessions on topics such as self-esteem, emotional wellbeing, relationships, distortions of the media (including porn), sexting, STIs, HIV, pregnancy, consent, and sexual exploitation.

This £10,000 award will help us multiply our reach by increasing our accredited training team from 2 to 9 through an advanced practitioner program. We've identified 7 of our Esteem members, with the skills and experience to be excellent trainers, who we will train, mentor and resource. With increased training capacity, our network will grow to 320 educators (up from 210) skilled up to deliver effective Esteem sessions with young people to help them flourish emotionally and relationally. 47,000 young people aged 11-18 will experience better relational and sexual health outcomes by 2023, up from 28,000. 

The awards are designed to help charities make a real difference in their communities. More than 1,000 charities applied for the funding and the winning projects were selected against four criteria: impact and effectiveness, sustainability, innovation, and care and compassion.

The funding will support our project ‘Raising a national team of confident RSE leaders for better relational outcomes for young people’ over the next three years.

Catherine Healey, CEO of acet UK said,

"Tragically in the UK, child sexual exploitation (including child-on-child abuse) is increasing, even within educational settings. We are a youth-centric charity that is transforming this 'rape culture' by delivering quality relationships and sex education (RSE) to young people and also by training adults to become RSE educators. This wonderful £10,000 grant will help us significantly increase our RSE practitioner training team, meaning that 47,000 young people will grow in their knowledge, confidence, and skills in building healthy relationships, improving their emotional well-being, staying safe, and valuing and respecting others. That’s amazing and we are extremely grateful to you!”

Mark Hews, Group Chief Executive at Ecclesiastical Insurance Group, said,

“At Ecclesiastical we believe business should be a force for good. Charitable causes need sustained support and a sense of financial stability. Through the second phase of our Movement for Good awards we are actively championing innovation, giving charities the backing they need to propel their plans forward and turn creative ideas into practical solutions that benefit society. We know that £10,000 can make a huge difference to the incredible work that charities do and we’re looking forward to seeing how this financial boost will change lives for the better."

“Ecclesiastical, the fourth-largest corporate donor in the UK, is a unique financial services group. We are owned by a charity which means all available profits can be given to the good causes that are so important to our customers. As a company whose purpose is to contribute to the greater good of society, charitable giving is at the heart of our business.”

About Ecclesiastical

  1. Owned by a registered charity, Allchurches Trust, Ecclesiastical is a specialist insurer of the faith, heritage, fine art, charities, education, real estate, schemes, and private client sectors
  2. Ecclesiastical is the fourth-largest corporate giver to charity in the UK, according to the DSC’s (Directory of Social Change) Guide to UK Company Giving 2021–22. It has donated over £99m to charity since 2016 and is aiming to reach its target of giving more than £100m by the end of 2021. Find out more at www.ecclesiastical.com/about-us

About the Movement for Good awards

  1. Ecclesiastical’s £1million giving program, the Movement for Good awards, will help charities change lives for the better. Phase one saw 500 charities receive £1,000 while the other £500,000 is given away later in the year
  2. 30 charities were chosen by a panel of judges to receive £10,000 to be put towards the advancement of heritage and arts, education, rural and community, climate, human rights, and equality. Out of the 30 successful charities, two charities will receive an additional £50,000 each and one charity will receive an additional £100,000 award. For more information visit www.ecclesiastical.com/movementforgood