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Prestigious sector awards encourage charities to focus on impact measurement

1 December 2011

The Charity Awards 2012 launch today (1 December), with a renewed call for all charities to continually measure the impact of their work. The Charity Awards are once again sponsored by the Charities Aid Foundation.

For over a decade The Charity Awards programme has celebrated the dramatic effects that charities have on a wide spectrum of social needs and in doing so has promoted the importance for charities of always providing clear evidence of their achievements. Taking the pulse of the sector today, it is clear to see why that foresight is now more important than ever. The ongoing economic uncertainty has made funders more demanding and the government’s value for money and transparency agendas are driving a more interrogative culture.

Daniel Phelan, founder and organiser of The Charity Awards comments:
“The cosiness that may have characterised some charity and donor relationships is increasingly being replaced by a more commercial lexicon of ‘key performance indicators’ and ‘return on investment.’

Funders are becoming more and more interested in the results that charities achieve – those that cannot support their claims of success with clear evidence will struggle.” Now in its thirteenth year, The Charity Awards is one of the highest accolades that can be bestowed on a charity, and as such regularly attracts national media coverage. The ‘hallmarks of excellence’, which form the basis of the stringent judging criteria, have been widely adopted by charities as standard features of excellent management.

For many the process of entering is in itself a benefit, as they are forced to gather evidence and evaluate where they may not have been inclined to do so. For those that win it is also an opportunity to grab headlines and unlock new sources of income, as Mencap, recipients of the 2011 Overall Award for Excellence, have found.

"Winning the overall prize at the last Charity Awards has had a huge impact at Mencap. When the sector is operating in a climate that is throwing up new uncertainties and challenges everyday, being rewarded for the important work we do provides much encouragement. Our experience, from entering to winning,
was great and I’d encourage any charity with something good to say about itself to enter.”
(David Congdon, head of campaigns and policy, Mencap)

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