About us

About us
About us

About us

Benefact Trust exists to make a positive difference to people's lives by funding, guiding and celebrating the work of churches and Christian charities; empowering the most vulnerable and giving people, communities and places a renewed opportunity to flourish.

Our Trust

Benefact Trust was built on a simple, but ambitious idea - to be one of the UK's most impactful Christian grant-making charities. 

This idea is at the heart of everything we do, it has defined our ownership of Benefact Group - which is made up of specialist financial companies whose available profits go towards funding our charitable giving.

A man teaching three children stone masonry

Our Trust

Benefact Trust was built on a simple, but ambitious idea - to be one of the UK's most impactful Christian grant-making charities. 

This idea is at the heart of everything we do, it has defined our ownership of Benefact Group - which is made up of specialist financial companies whose available profits go towards funding our charitable giving.

People gardening out the front of Haxby and Wigginton methodist church

Our Work

We are working to change lives and communities for the long-term. It's more than supporting the repair, restoration, protection, improvement, reach and growth of places of Christian worship; our grants are designed to have a positive impact on the wider community, tackling social issues from homelessness and poverty, to climate change and cultural cohesion.

People gardening out the front of Haxby and Wigginton methodist church
Our Trustees
Benefact Trust is governed by a board of trustees, who not only secure our status as a company limited by guarantee - a common governance model for charities - but also give their time, expertise and care to ensure beneficiaries experience all the help and support the Trust was set up to provide.
Tim Carroll
Chair
Carrie Coombs
Trustee
Francois-Xavier Boisseau
Trustee
Paul Davis
Trustee
Ian Moore
Trustee
David Paterson
Trustee
Patrick Rudden
Trustee
Nick Sykes
Trustee
Our Team
Benefact Trust is underpinned by a small but dynamic team of expert individuals, each of whom plays a key role in shaping and communicating our grant programmes
Helen Gray
Trust Director
Sue Jenkins
Head of Communications and Marketing
Amy Eastwood
Head of Grants
Andrew Bass
Senior Grants Officer (North of England, Scotland and Ireland)
Paul Playford
Senior Grants and Operations Officer (Wales, West Midlands, South & South West)
Lisa Friel
Grants and Impact Officer
Joanna Luck
Grants Officer (London & South East)
Usman Saeed
Grants Officer (East and East Midlands)
Iain Hearn
Grants Administrator
Danielle Nash
Grants Operations Assistant
Alice Garwood
Content Marketing Specialist
Dexter Jameson
Graphic and Multimedia Designer
Tyra Sirandula
Content Marketing Executive
A woman behind a counter passes a parcel of food to a man ;

Our History

Benefact Trust was born from the idea that things needed to be put in place to protect the vulnerable. In 1887 - following a series of fires that left parishes with ruined churches and no means of repair - Ecclesiastical Buildings Fire Office was established.

Founded by two MP's, three clergymen, a barrister and a clerk of the House of Lords and its directors which comprised of five clerics and five laymen, Ecclesiastical provided a reliable insurance service for parishes in times of struggle. Through a genuine need and good business acumen, profits started to accrue and the decision was taken that these should be shared through good causes. 

As the scope of the business, profits and grant-making increased, it was decided in 1972 that Ecclesiastical's ownership should be transferred to a separate independent charity, hence the formation of Benefact Trust (formerly Allchurches Trust). To this day the Trust continues to award grants to good causes with all available profits from the Benefact Group and the specialist financial businesses that sit within it.