Strategy

Charitable giving and community involvement projects are selected on three criteria:

• First, a project must be a very good cause in its own right and in an area which Brit Insurance regards as relevant to it
• Secondly, we prefer opportunities which our financial involvement can be leveraged externally. Two examples are the sponsored charity cricket matches of 2005 and 2006 in which our investments of £0.6m led to the events going ahead and total fund raisings of £1.9m and
• Thirdly, where possible, projects should offer alignment with one or more of our core business objectives for building shareholder value, for instance, brand-building in the insurance community, the UK community or through cricket, or staff training, welfare, development or recruitment.

Action - The Brit Insurance Charitable Trust

To support the charitable endeavours of Brit Insurance's personnel, the Brit Insurance Charitable Trust was established in July 2006, demonstrating the Group's ongoing commitment to the support of local and international communities. Its purpose is to facilitate a more structured approach to supporting

• our multi-year partnership with a national charity
• our employee grant matching scheme; our business contacts support programme
• provision of humanitarian aid in instances of uninsured catastrophic loss
• and to build a reserve to support ongoing charitable giving in future years when the Trust's income may be limited.

Insurance and insurance-related events

On 10 July 2006, Brit Insurance sponsored a charity cricket match between Pakistan and an International XI at the Brit Insurance Oval in aid of the earthquake relief effort in Pakistan. The evening raised over £250,000, which included a £100,000 donation from Brit Insurance.

The UK Community

Brit Insurance has made substantial contributions, both financially and in staff time and expertise, in many "grass roots" projects in the UK relating to youth, education and disability relief:

• We maintained our sponsorship of the Birmingham Business School (part of Birmingham University) Lecturer in Insurance and Risk Management
• We have contributed to a number of cricket-related charities, including Surrey County Cricket Club's Development Programme and
• We currently have volunteering schemes operating in several schools in Tower Hamlets on a weekly basis during lunch hours, helping pupils develop their reading, numeracy, sports and science skills.