The Insurance Charities - Providing a lifeline in troubled waters

In an article written for youTalk-insurance Annali-Joy Thornicroft, CEO of The Insurance Charities reviews 2019 and takes a look forward to what the year ahead 2020 has in store…

In the last twelve months, we have continued to support our beneficiaries from the industry, making a total of 836 awards over the 2018/19 financial year. 

Although £1.7 million is the highest amount on record we have paid out in a single year, we recognise that every pound of this illustrates the distress and trauma that many people are going through.

This year we were delighted to join forces with the Alzheimer’s Society’s Insurance United Against Dementia (IUAD) campaign to create a bespoke support service for people affected by dementia in the insurance sector and offer volunteering opportunities for those that want to give back to their local community.

In the summer we invited senior leaders from the profession, to a launch event for the initiative held at Lord's Cricket Ground Museum. We were fortunate enough to be joined by former cricketer and journalist Angus Fraser MBE as our speaker, who also treated guests to a tour of the historic venue!

Anyone in the industry living with dementia, or who has a loved one diagnosed with the condition, can contact us directly, where we will refer them to a dedicated adviser at the Alzheimer’s Society to provide the help that’s right for them.

We look forward to developing this partnership in the coming year and encourage you to share information about the service, with any colleagues that are being affected either directly or through a family member. 

Please remember, that wherever we can, we are always happy to give a short talk or have a stand at any of your workplace or local networking events. We can also provide you with flyers and giveaways, plus additional resources such as our presentation or video about the charity. Please feel free to contact us at any time if we can provide any resources to support your activity programme.

This year was our biggest Awareness Week yet thanks to our fantastic network of supporters. We reached over 78,000 insurance employees via the campaign in June - that’s 2,000 more than last year. We distributed over 500 boxes and 200 bags of giveaways and hope you all enjoyed these with your colleagues if you placed an order.

It was fantastic to see so many of you posting on social media throughout the week and for us to hear about the activities you organised in your offices such as cake sales and fancy-dress days. Your photos were great so thank you for sharing those with us.

All your efforts have helped raise the profile of the support we can offer, but we ask that you continue to spread the word among your colleagues and HR teams.

Next year's Awareness Week will run between the 22-26 June, so please put this in your diaries and keep an eye out for further information.

In September, our annual golf day took place at a new location for us, the Warwickshire Golf and Country Club in Leek Wootton. This American style course was well-received, with players saying it was challenging, albeit in a positive way!

The year ahead

Next year’s event will take place on September 16 at the same venue (but a different course) so please get in touch if you’d like to reserve a place, provide a raffle prize or sponsor a part of the day.

On 22nd January we’ll be participating in the inaugural Association of Charitable Organisation’s (ACO) One Day Changes Lives campaign, which will aim is to highlight the roles played by the individual member organisations and the impact they make. The individual acts of benevolence may be relatively small in themselves, but they can make big changes to the lives of recipients. On an individual basis, they may not attract attention beyond the immediate parties involved. Together, though, they have a real societal impact and will highlight the continuing need for the work of benevolent organisations like The Insurance Charities, and the many ways help is provided.

Look out for the campaign in January and help spread the word about how we can support past and present insurance colleagues. If you yourself have received support from us and would be happy to share your story then please get in touch to discuss. 

We really enjoyed getting out and about to talk to you at various industry events this year including the BIBA, AIRMIC and MGAA Conferences and the annual CILA Lunch. Do keep an eye out for us next year and please come and talk to us. 

The annual Insurance Endurance event will return on Thursday 18 June 2020 for another fantastic day of networking and action-packed karting. Entry is open to all companies from across the insurance industry who are keen to network with (and go head-to-head against) the crème de la crème of the sector.

We are delighted to once again be the chosen charity for the event so also for a good cause! Places are limited so do book early to avoid disappointment. 

Thank you to everyone that helped to raise awareness over the last year, in order to help ensure that no insurance employee and their family going through difficult times misses out on the support we can provide.

Please continue to keep us up-to-date with any fundraising and awareness-raising activities you are undertaking, and if you'd like to discuss any aspect of our work please do get in touch.  

It's important to remember that Christmas can be a difficult time for those already experiencing challenging circumstances, so do think of any colleagues and those in your professional networks who may need our support. 

I'd like to wish you and your loved ones a healthy and happy festive season.