A record 281 organisations are to receive this year’s King’s Award for Voluntary Service (KAVS) (previously the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service), which champions the work of groups of volunteers in their local communities. The award is the equivalent of an MBE as well as the highest distinction for voluntary organisations in the UK.
This is the largest number of recipients in the award’s 22-year history after being established in 2002 to mark Her Late Majesty The Queen’s Golden Jubilee.
This year’s recipients include:
o 232 organisations from England;
o 21 from Scotland;
o 22 from Northern Ireland;
o 5 from Wales, and
o 1 from the Isle of Man.
83% of awardees are outside London and England’s South East, in cities and villages across the UK.
A full list of organisations that have received the King’s Award for Voluntary Service this year can be found on the KAVS website.
The 2024 awards celebrate a wide range of community service groups; from charities providing safety education to children, local community arts centres, and volunteer-run community radio stations, to groups championing inclusion in sports for women, girls and those with disabilities, and enterprises providing innovative healthcare.
Nominations are currently open for the 2025 awards on the King’s Award for Voluntary Service website until Sunday 1st December 2024.
Image: the Wadebridge Foodbank and Storehouse in Cornwall, which has Foodbanks in Wadebridge, Bodmin, Padstow and Camelford received the King’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2024. The Foodbanks provide emergency food to local people in crisis need via its network of over 200 referral agencies. Over the last year, the Foodbanks have fed equivalent to 4,003 people in crisis and provided an average of 1,730 meals per week. The Wadebridge Foodbank is part of a nationwide network of foodbanks, supported by The Trussell Trust, working to combat poverty and hunger across the UK.
Source: UK Fundraising.