How Aviva's Double the Difference Scheme Works — and the Other Routes Open to Brokers

Aviva has opened a new route for UK brokers to double the money they raise for charity. Its Double the Difference scheme, launched in June, matches broker fundraising pound-for-pound up to £5,000 per project, with individual donations matched up to £250. The insurer has set aside a £200,000 pot, allocated first-come, first-served to UK brokers that trade with Aviva. Each broker can register up to five projects — one per location — which lets firms with regional networks spread support across several causes.

Early results show 18 broker-led projects have received matched funding since the launch, with Aviva contributing more than £13,000 and total fundraising across the projects passing £31,000. The programme replaces Aviva's former Broker Community Fund. Alistair Body, business development director at Momentum Broker Solutions, said the scheme had already matched £5,000 for The Community Rugby Trust, funding coaching for more than 800 children. Aviva broker distribution director Michelle Taylor said the fund “makes it simple for brokers to make twice the impact.”

Aviva is far from the only source of insurer-backed charitable support for brokers, and the alternatives operate on very different principles. The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation UK (IICF UK) is a collective grant-maker backed by 22 corporate partners; it awards grants to charities working on social mobility and runs volunteering and career pathway programmes, with a stated 2026 literacy focus and a £30,000 target for its Better Futures campaign. Allianz's Future Fund offers grassroots rugby clubs grants of between £500 and £3,000, while the Benefact Group — owner of Ecclesiastical Insurance and Ansvar, and itself owned by a charity — channels all available profits to good causes, reporting more than £200 million donated since 1987.

The practical difference matters: matching schemes reward brokers who are already fundraising, grant-based routes require an application but can deliver larger sums to a single cause, and industry-wide bodies like IICF need no bilateral insurer relationship. The Aviva pot remains open while funds last, with registration through the Aviva Broker Fundraising page.

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Fund-Matching vs. Grants: What the Differences Actually Mean for Brokers

Why Aviva Traded a Grant Programme for a Matching Model

Aviva's decision to replace the Broker Community Fund with a pound-for-pound matching scheme is more than a rebrand. The two models encourage different behaviour: a grant programme rewards a strong application, while a matching scheme rewards effort that already exists — brokers raise the money first and the insurer doubles it. The reported early numbers suggest the programme has been sized conservatively. Roughly £13,000 of the £200,000 pot has been matched across 18 projects in the first couple of months, about 6.5% of the total. That leaves headroom, but the first-come, first-served design deliberately favours brokers who act early, and the £250 per-donation cap encourages a steady stream of gifts rather than a single large donation.

Bilateral Giving vs. the Collective Route

The most significant structural divide is between schemes tied to a commercial relationship and those that are not. Aviva's and Allianz's funds are bilateral: support is conditional on holding a relationship with the insurer, which makes community funding one more element of the broker value proposition — a retention and loyalty tool as much as a charitable one. IICF UK is the counter-model. Backed by 22 corporate partners but independent of any single insurer, it lets brokers participate in industry-wide giving without deepening a tie to one carrier. Benefact sits outside both categories: because the group is owned by a charity and gives away all available profits, a broker's commercial relationship with Ecclesiastical or Ansvar is itself a channel for charitable giving — a structural alignment most valuable to firms serving charity, faith, education and heritage clients.

Who Gains From Each Route

Interpreted from the reported terms, the gains differ by broker profile. Actively fundraising brokers that trade with Aviva gain most from Double the Difference, because the match amplifies work already underway — and brokers with multiple locations can register up to five projects, one per site. Brokers without an Aviva trading relationship are locked out of the £200,000 pot; for them, IICF is the main route that demands no bilateral relationship. Allianz's narrower Future Fund benefits a specific cause rather than a broker's own charity of choice, and is best viewed by brokers with rugby-club clients. Benefact's model is less about per-project grants and more about the long-term destination of the group's profits. On the article's own account, the real trade-off is between amplifying existing effort, applying for larger one-off sums, and opting into a structural commitment.

How to Pick a Charity Funding Route — and Maximise the Match

For UK brokers deciding how to fund charitable work, the chosen route changes how much effort is required, how much money a cause can receive, and whether a relationship with a particular insurer is needed. The reported details point to several practical steps.

  • Register early: the £200,000 pot is first-come, first-served, and the first two months consumed about £13,000 of it. Capacity remains, but late entries risk missing the fund — registration is via the Aviva Broker Fundraising page.
  • Maximise the match: individual donations are matched only up to £250, so split larger gifts into chunks of £250 or less to get the full 100% match, up to the £5,000 per-project ceiling.
  • Use the location rule: with up to five projects allowed, one per location, regional brokerages should consider registering one cause per office rather than concentrating the match in a single project.
  • Match the route to the client base: Benefact's charity-owned structure aligns with brokers serving charity, faith, education or heritage clients; Allianz's Future Fund (£500–£3,000 grants) suits firms with grassroots rugby clubs among their clients.
  • Check eligibility before investing effort: Double the Difference is open only to UK brokers that trade with Aviva. Firms without that relationship can still access charitable support through IICF UK's grants and volunteering programmes, which require no bilateral tie to a single insurer.