# Engage Mutual Foundation announces first community grant winners

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/06/19/engage-mutual-foundation-announces-first-community-grant-winners/
- Published: 2014-06-19T08:45:48+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Engage Mutual Foundation has announced the two main recipients of its first community
grants. A community gymnastics club in Lincolnshire and a community swimming pool
in Surrey have each received £25,000. Eight other groups have won £5,000 each for
their community projects.

The Foundation was established in January 2014 by mutual insurance company Engage
Mutual, which provides life insurance, savings and health products to around half
a million people in the UK. It has set aside **£1 million** to fund causes supported
by its customers. It also makes smaller grants of £500 available to individuals 
needing financial support.

## Two £25,000 winners

The first winner of £25,000 is **Witham Hill Gymnastics Club** in Lincolnshire, 
which will use the funds to build gymnastics pits, making activities on vault, bars
and tumble much more accessible.

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Engage Mutual customer, Mark Thornton, applied for the funding. When the project
went forward to public online voting, he and his committee members successfully 
secured the highest number of votes, partly inspired by a display exercise by the
gymnasts in Lincoln City Centre.

Thornton said:

> “When I applied for the community award, the thought never even occurred to me
> that we could win. We really can’t thank Engage enough! They have kept all project
> owners fully informed throughout the process, really helping to keep the momentum
> going”.

The **Farnborough Fins swimming club**, based at King’s International College in
Surrey has also won a £25,000 award from Engage Mutual and will use the money to
fund a restructure renovation project on the much loved community hub that will 
help deliver improved facilities for all, and provide pool access for swimmers with
severe disabilities.

Anna Drabble, Head of Community at Engage Mutual said:

> “When we set up the [Engage Foundation](http://engagemutual.com/foundation) earlier
> on in the year we did so with one overriding objective: to enable customers to
> benefit from the financial success of their business. We think it’s great to be
> able to help a community project or a good cause that people feel passionate about.
> We’re very much looking forward to seeing the improvements funded by the £25,000
> grant and wish all the budding gymnasts all the very best with their new equipment.”

In this first grants round **256** projects were nominated, and 55,999 online votes
were received.

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