Thirteen rural and farming charities have received funding worth nearly half a million from NFU Mutual Charitable Trust.
The first round of donations for 2022 - totalling more than £455,000 - will give support to rural causes across the country.
It will help to deliver initiatives including rural poverty relief, helping small farming businesses thrive, educating and mentoring young people, and supporting the UK’s air ambulance network.
This is the first of two rounds of funding which will be delivered across the year, with the Trust expecting overall donations to reach £1m by 2022 end.
The organisations set to benefit include Farming Community Network, NFU Education and Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI), among others.
Nick Turner, group chief executive of NFU Mutual said: “NFU Mutual has been supporting our members and our communities for over 110 years, and through the Charitable Trust we give help to national charities.”
“These latest donations from the Trust will help support our members and their communities in many different ways, and we’re very proud to be championing the work of these great causes.”
The Prince’s Countryside Fund, a charity which supports family farms and rural areas, will be using their donation of £70,000 to help Farm Support Groups and ensure they can continue providing their vital service.
The demand for the advice and guidance offered by such groups will only increase as more farmers turn to sources of help, the charity said.
Keith Halstead, executive director of the Prince's Countryside Fund said: “At the PCF, we established our Farm Support Groups Initiative back in 2019 to help, what is now 52 farm support groups of varying shapes and sizes across the UK.
"Our commitment and financial investment is vital if we are to ensure farm support groups can fulfil their continuing purpose at a time when their support to farming and rural communities is needed now more than ever.
"The grant the PCF has received from the NFU Mutual Charitable Trust enables us to increase our investment to these groups which in turn will help even more family farms.”
The Trust is one of the main ways rural insurer NFU Mutual provides charitable donations, and its work forms part of NFU Mutual’s £3.25m charitable giving pledge to support rural communities during 2022.
Applications for the Trust’s November round of donations are now open, and details can be found on NFU Mutual’s website.
