The Ilkley branch of Yorkshire Building Society is putting £1,000 up for grabs as part of a new initiative to benefit local charities.

Colleagues at the branch on Station Road are kick-starting a campaign to help good causes by inviting members of the public to call into the branch to vote for their favourite of three charities to decide how the money should be split.

The charities in line for a cash boost are LS29 Group, Ilkley Candlelighters and West Yorkshire Animals in Need.

The charitable campaign will launch tomorrow and run for two weeks. The number of votes received for each charity by Friday, February 21, will determine the amount of money each receives.

“The one with the most will receive £500, second place £300 and in third place, £200.

“We know how important our chosen three charities are to our local community so we’re delighted to be making a donation to help them continue their important work – just how much they receive though will be up to our customers and members of the public,” said Lewis Wilkinson, manager of the Ilkley branch of Yorkshire Building Society.

“In this campaign, votes equal pounds, so we hope as many people as possible will take a minute to pop in and make their vote count.”

The campaign is being supported by Yorkshire Building Society Charitable Foundation, which is funded by another of the Yorkshire’s innovative community schemes, Small Change, Big Difference.

The scheme sees more than 860,000 members of the Society donate the pennies from the interest they receive on their accounts, just once a year, before nominating charities that are close to their hearts to receive support.