£10,000 up for grabs for YOUR local charity?

27th July 2011 2:04PM

Benfield Motor Group is making an innovative drive for charity - by putting £10,000 up for grabs through an online appeal.

Benfield Motor Group has pledged the pot of money which will be shared between worthy causes.

Social network users can nominate a charity of their choice via Drive Benfield’s Facebook page and will be asked to give a personal reason as to why they want their cause to win the cash.

From the nominations, The Benfield Charitable Trust will then select 10 finalists who will go into a Facebook public vote during the month of October.  The three charities with the most votes will go on to share the £10,000 with a first prize of a massive £7,000 and runners up receiving £2000 and £1000 - just in time for Christmas.

Benfield's charity initiative will support the work of registered charities large and small in local communities.

Mark Squires, Benfield Charitable Trust, said “We already donate 5% of our profits to worthy causes every year but we have always selected the recipients in house. We wanted to engage with our customers and local charities on an open platform like Facebook to ask them which charities they would support and why. As a result we hope to find out about the great work being done by lots of charities across our region, and give our Facebook fans the chance to pick the winner of this special pot of cash".

“We also realise how hard it is for people to make donations in these difficult economic times, and this is a way people can pledge their support with just the click of a button and raise awareness for their chosen charities.” 

Anyone wishing to nominate a charity for the Benfield Big Charity Drive should go to www.drivebenfield.com or visit www.facebook.com/drivebenfield, where they can then make their nomination between Friday 29th July and 30 September 2011.

Voting for the final winners begins on 1st October for one month.