The Prince's Trust, the charity for disadvantaged young people, has raised over £1m in pledged support following the formation of networking forum, the Insurance Leadership Group (ILG).

The group was the brainchild of Stephen Verrall, chairman of Sirius Financial Solutions, who was previously involved with a similar venture, the Technology Leadership Group, also run by the Prince's Trust.

The purpose of the ILG is to "provide an innovative way for supporters to fulfil corporate social responsibility objectives while enjoying significant working benefits with government, industry peers and potential customers."

Regular events are held, with the next to be hosted by the CBI director general Sir Digby Jones. This event will take place in London. The inaugural event at the end of January was hosted by journalist Kate Adie.

Prince's Trust spokesman Steve Wickham said: "We're now looking to raise our second million and are keen to bring on board new supporters."

There are two membership levels. Patrons are required to pay a £100,000 donation over a period of time which would typically be four years. Patrons include Aascent Finance, Allan Chapman & James, Allianz Cornhill, Beachcroft Wansbroughs, the Davis Group and Sirius.

The second level of members pay a donation of £10,000. These include: Biba, Close Premium Finance, Churchill Insurance, Direct Line, the CII, NIG, Miller, Oval and Primary.