Comments on: Charity awards - good or bad? http://www.charityblog.org.uk/wordpress/2007/04/charity-awards-good-or-bad/ For voluntary and community organisations Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:28:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.3 By: john dewey http://www.charityblog.org.uk/wordpress/2007/04/charity-awards-good-or-bad/#comment-3400 john dewey Tue, 01 May 2007 15:46:51 +0000 http://www.charityblog.org.uk/wordpress/2007/04/charity-awards-good-or-bad/#comment-3400 Charities need to put their organisation on the map so that is an easy way to do it. volre needs to increase profile and awards like this do help :) Charities need to put their organisation on the map so that is an easy way to do it. volre needs to increase profile and awards like this do help :)

]]> By: Nick Temple http://www.charityblog.org.uk/wordpress/2007/04/charity-awards-good-or-bad/#comment-3399 Nick Temple Thu, 26 Apr 2007 16:39:40 +0000 http://www.charityblog.org.uk/wordpress/2007/04/charity-awards-good-or-bad/#comment-3399 Have also blogged on this, and the need for recognition and celebration more widely, over at the SSE blog. See <a HREF="http://socialentrepreneurs.typepad.com/the_school_for_social_ent/2007/04/celebrating_suc.html" rel="nofollow">Celebrating success: should we?</A> Have also blogged on this, and the need for recognition and celebration more widely, over at the SSE blog. See Celebrating success: should we?

]]> By: Daniel Phelan http://www.charityblog.org.uk/wordpress/2007/04/charity-awards-good-or-bad/#comment-3398 Daniel Phelan Thu, 26 Apr 2007 06:37:28 +0000 http://www.charityblog.org.uk/wordpress/2007/04/charity-awards-good-or-bad/#comment-3398 I can't speak for the UK Charity Awards with which I have no connection, but I have organised the Charity Awards every year since 2000 so have a good deal of experience in this kind of programme. The approach we take is to invite charities to submit details of projects and to then review these against ten hallmarks of excellence designed to identify great management and leadership. The intention is to recognise excellence and to capture and disseminate that learning to the rest of the sector. This kind of recognition is enormously successful at building morale, encourages more rigorous planning and execution in the conduct of projects and brings to the attention of many the remarkable work of charities working often in desperate isolation throughout the UK. Many of those recognised have found that fundraising becomes much easier as a result and that they suddenly become listened to for the first time by policy makers in their fields of work. We invite two representatives of every shortlisted charity to attend the awards ceremony as our guests so there is no need for them to buy tickets. Virtually all of the 1,000 seats at the presentation dinner (on 21 June this year)are paid for by corporate supporters who then invite charity guests to fill their tables. The Charity Awards are supported by CAF (the Charities Aid Foundation) and The Times newspaper and are chosen by an independent group of assessors, all very senior figures from the sector, who review the work of charities against published criteria. No award is made without significant evidence of achievements against objectives. We are not measuring management for management's sake, but believe that good management must lead to better outcomes. I agree with the author that badly thought through programmes can do more harm than good, but would encourage everyone to support genuine attempts to recognise and publicise the inspiring and innovative work of many charities that would otherwise go unsung. To find out more about the Charity Awards 2007, visit www.charityawards.co.uk. Daniel Phelan I can’t speak for the UK Charity Awards with which I have no connection, but I have organised the Charity Awards every year since 2000 so have a good deal of experience in this kind of programme. The approach we take is to invite charities to submit details of projects and to then review these against ten hallmarks of excellence designed to identify great management and leadership. The intention is to recognise excellence and to capture and disseminate that learning to the rest of the sector. This kind of recognition is enormously successful at building morale, encourages more rigorous planning and execution in the conduct of projects and brings to the attention of many the remarkable work of charities working often in desperate isolation throughout the UK. Many of those recognised have found that fundraising becomes much easier as a result and that they suddenly become listened to for the first time by policy makers in their fields of work. We invite two representatives of every shortlisted charity to attend the awards ceremony as our guests so there is no need for them to buy tickets. Virtually all of the 1,000 seats at the presentation dinner (on 21 June this year)are paid for by corporate supporters who then invite charity guests to fill their tables.
The Charity Awards are supported by CAF (the Charities Aid Foundation) and The Times newspaper and are chosen by an independent group of assessors, all very senior figures from the sector, who review the work of charities against published criteria. No award is made without significant evidence of achievements against objectives. We are not measuring management for management’s sake, but believe that good management must lead to better outcomes. I agree with the author that badly thought through programmes can do more harm than good, but would encourage everyone to support genuine attempts to recognise and publicise the inspiring and innovative work of many charities that would otherwise go unsung. To find out more about the Charity Awards 2007, visit www.charityawards.co.uk.
Daniel Phelan

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