Cause UK has been awarded a grant by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to help grow its business.
The grant will part fund a new film production service, bolstering its existing film and digital offer for clients, as well as towards an upgraded Cause UK website.
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund and the Rural England Prosperity Fund are central pillars of the UK government’s levelling up agenda.
Founded in 2010 by sisters, Clair and Ann Challenor-Chadwick, Cause UK won Best Independent Business at the Harrogate Advertiser Excellence in Business Awards in 2022, and Best PR Agency at the 2021 Prolific North Awards, in which they were also finalist in 2023. They recently achieved B Corp certification.
Over the last decade, Cause UK has provided public relations services to the public, charity, social enterprise, health, and tourism sectors. Its managing director, Clair Challenor-Chadwick also provides PR training to start-ups and established businesses, and regularly speaks at events and industry conferences.
The Cause UK team has raised £1m for charity, and have organised their own events, festivals, plays and film projects, often aligning with a good cause, including a Dicken’s festival with Miriam Margolyes, an original stage play in collaboration with Freddie Fox, and producing a short film for Sky Arts.
Cause UK are advisors to the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra, and during the pandemic, the agency was recognised as an infrastructure support agency by the Arts Council.
The Sky Arts film Working Classical Heroes told the story of a young working-class pianist and boxer, Ellis Arey for Leeds 2023. The team worked with long-term collaborators, director Katie Greenhalf and composer, Ben Crick, who wrote an original film score.
The grant includes the purchase of Netflix-ready film equipment.
Clair Challenor-Chadwick, managing director of Cause UK, said: “We are known for our innovative and high-impact media campaigns as well as producing our own creative content. Primarily this support helps us to further solidify our film-production services for clients seeking high-quality film for their social media channels.”
Clair added: “After the success of our Sky Arts film, we’re also keen to pursue wider opportunities for broadcast projects. We have a great network of highly talented local film makers, directors, writers and musicians, and there is no reason why we can’t compete with London agencies and help champion northern talent and storytelling.”
About the UK Shared Prosperity Fund
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund and the Rural England Prosperity Fund are central pillars of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda and provide £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. The Funds aim to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK by investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills.
For more information please visit:
UK Shared Prosperity Fund: prospectus – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Rural England Prosperity Fund: prospectus – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Shared Prosperity in North Yorkshire will enable the people, communities, and businesses across our rural, coastal and urban areas to harness opportunities to thrive. North Yorkshire has been allocated £16.9 million to spend on programmes and projects through UK Shared Prosperity Fund as well as £5.4million from Rural England Prosperity Fund – a capital programme targeted at rural areas, but technically with many of the same objectives as UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
The delivery of UK Shared Prosperity Fund in North Yorkshire will be guided by our core principles that are embedded across all activities:
- Community wealth building
- Net Zero and Circular Economy
- Health and wellbeing
- Inclusive Economy
- Good Work
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund and the Rural England Prosperity Fund support the government’s wider commitment to level up all parts of the UK by delivering on each of the levelling up objectives:
Boosting productivity, pay, jobs and living standards by growing the private sector especially in those places where they are lagging behind:
- Spreading opportunities and improving public services, especially in those places where they are weakest
- Restoring a sense of community, local pride and belonging, especially in those places where they have been lost
- Empowering local leaders and communities, especially in those places lacking local agency