Small charities are sharing £20,000 worth of grants being handed out by insurer Zurich to promote diversity and inclusion.

The awards have been handed out through its Diversity and Inclusion award scheme.

The successful good causes who all have annual incomes below £100,000, were selected from 270 entries.

Winner of the £10,000 grant is Devon based The Body Happy Organisation which runs sessions in schools to help children “celebrate, respect and accept all bodies, especially their own”. This helps tackle stigma looks to weight, gender, disability, race and other differences in appearance.

“The Body Happy Organisation inspired us with how it works with teachers and classrooms to create conversations which can have a ripple effect into people’s homes and the wider community,” said Sharna Thomson, head of performance and change at Zurich Municipal and D&I lead.

“They are tackling appearance-based bullying and discrimination of all kinds, and empowering children to create a future where everyone, in every body, feels seen, valued and respected.”

The Body Happy Organisation’s executive director Molly Forbes said: “We’re thrilled to receive this recognition! We see the impact every day in the schools we work with, but it’s exciting to share our approach more widely.

“Our priority for the prize money is to subsidise access for schools with high proportions of students on pupil premium, and we want to digitise more resources to reach even more schools.”

Meanwhile, Scotland based racial equality in employment charity PATH Scotland has been handed £5,000, while London anti-racist art workshop charity You Be You has been handed £3,000.

Care Dogs, which connects volunteers and their dogs with older people and those with learning difficulties, has received £1,000, as has Wyatt Sinfonia, which offers classical music opportunities to young people from global majority and mixed heritage backgrounds.

“With so many entries for this year’s awards, charities had to demonstrate they were delivering something really special to stand out,” added Thomson.

“All of our winners were able to share impressive evidence of how their work is helping build a more inclusive world and making a difference to people’s lives.

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