The 2023 Charity Governance Awards are now open to celebrate outstanding governance and trusteeship in charities across the UK, allowing large and small not-for-profit organisations to inspire and learn from one another.
The deadline for entries is Wednesday 8th February 2023.
For its 8th year, the Charity Governance Awards will recognise inspirational success stories of bold trustee leadership with a new category aiming to understand how bold and ambitious trustee leadership is generating meaningful change and addressing systemic problems affecting the third sector and society at large (such as the climate emergency, cost of living crisis, poverty, racism and more. Recurring categories focus on small charities that have improved impact during the difficult past few years as well as trustees boards that have made long-term improvements by embracing and transforming with digital. An ongoing area of focus for the awards is equity, diversity and inclusion in charity governance – never more needed as trustees and charities strive to understand and support their communities during hardship, crisis, and systemic challenges.
Benefits
The winner of each category will receive a £5,000 unrestricted grant as a prize. Runners-up will receive cash prizes as well (£1,000 each), and each shortlisted charity will be offered a paid one-year membership to the Association of Chairs for its chair or vice chair as well as a complimentary place on a Cause4 Trustee Leadership Programme for a new or inexperienced trustee.
Categories
- Board Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
- Bringing together diverse talents to achieve your aims: This award is for organisations that can demonstrate diversity within their board membership, and a commitment to being inclusive. They are looking for diversity in its broadest sense: diversity of approach, based on differing life experience, culture, ethnicity, disability, professional or sector background, age or other factors.
- Transforming with Digital
- Harnessing digital and technology for long-term change: They want this category to showcase the phenomenal efforts of the sector and to shine both hope and inspiration on what might be achieved using digital and technology – they are particularly interested to hear about how digital has created long-term change for your organisation and how your governance empowered that to happen.
- From Systemic Challenge to Meaningful Change: this award is for boards which show bold and generous leadership in the face of adversity or widespread challenges. They want to hear from trustee boards that are looking at the bigger picture and providing strategic leadership to their charities, navigating systemic issues, crises or emergencies, and making a sustainable impact.
- Improving Impact in Small Charities:
- Small charities, big impact: Improving Impact is split into two different categories based on the size of the organisation:
- One category for charities with 0-3 paid staff
- One category for charities with 4-30 paid staf
- Small charities, big impact: Improving Impact is split into two different categories based on the size of the organisation:
Eligibility Criteria
- Charities must:
- be registered in the UK by the Charity Commission (or the equivalent in each devolved nation)
- have been established before 31 December 2019
- only submit one entry across all five awards
- Entries must:
- cover activities undertaken in the last five years (2017-2022)
- focus on the work of the main board, not sub-committees
- be submitted by a trustee, employee or volunteer of the charity
- be signed off by the charity’s CEO or chair of the board
For further information and details about how to enter, visit The Charity Governance Awards.
