Founded by two MP's, three clergymen, a barrister, a clerk of the House of Lords and its directors—five clerics and five laymen, Ecclesiastical provided a reliable insurance service for parishes in times of struggle.

To this day the Trust continues to award grants to good causes with all available profits from the Benefact Group and the specialist financial businesses that sit within it.

[4] It is a registered charity under the name Benefact Trust Limited[5] and its objects are to promote the Christian religion and to provide funds for other charitable purposes.

[2] It does not fundraise; it derives its funds solely from the business it owns, Ecclesiastical Insurance and the subsidiary EdenTree Investment, which passes on to Benefact Trust a significant proportion of profits.

The search for information on Companies House also revealed that in addition to the senior church figures who have been trustees of the trust, numerous bishops and cathedral deans have been directors on the board of Ecclesiastical itself.

[12] In July 2017, a BBC Victoria Derbyshire programme commented that the insurer "has had a string of senior members of clergy on its board of directors."

Keith Porteous Wood, chair of the National Secular Society, commented [13] They sit in a non-executive capacity despite being experts neither on insurance nor, as far as we are aware, on any other corporate area.