CHARITY GOVERNANCE AWARDS 2020
W
e held our fifth annual Charity Governance Awards ceremony virtually in May 2020. We organise the annual event with partners NPC, Prospectus and Reach Volunteering, and our collective opinion was that good charity governance was more important now, in a time of crisis, than ever before. Our Clothworker Judges finished the first review of entries early in the year, and our team of Professional Judges persevered through the early days of the COVID-19 lock down to complete the second review and select the 2020 shortlist. This year, the Awards received more than 120 amazing entries, and the 21 shortlisted charities raised the bar on what good charity governance in the UK should look like. Although we couldn’t be together at Clothworkers’ Hall to raise a glass, we were still able to applaud the inspiring work of our shortlisted charities via a virtual ceremony on social media – mainly on Twitter, but also Facebook and LinkedIn. Clothworker Michael Jarvis (Past Master, 2016-17) opened the ceremony with a welcome video, and our ‘keynote speaker’, Becca Bunce,
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THE CLOTHWORKER | AUTUMN 2020
provided us with an amazing and insightful article about trusteeship. We were able to confidentially contact representatives of the winning charities before the big reveal to record candid reactions to the good news, and to share them as part of the virtual ceremony. The winners of the Charity Governance Awards 2020 were: Board Diversity and Inclusivity: Public Interest Research Centre Embracing Digital: upReach Embracing Opportunity and Harnessing Risk: Muslim Women’s Network UK Improving Impact (0-3 staff ): Older Citizen’s Advocacy York Improving Impact (4-25 staff ): Sport 4 Life UK Improving Impact (26+ staff ): St Mary’s Hospice Managing Turnaround: Smallwood Trust
A round-up of the virtual event is posted to the Charity Governance Awards website, including a link to ‘Becca Bunce on Governance, Small Actions and Big Impact’ – an insightful article on changing the way we think, personally and as trustees or charity professionals. The article continues to resonate for trustees and their charities months after Becca first penned it. Visit charitygovernanceawards.co.uk. Alternatively, you can visit the Twitter account, @CharityGovAward, or search for #CharityGov20 across Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. We’re grateful to the nearly 60 Clothworkers who helped us in the first round of judging, allowing us to create a ‘long list’ of entries for our second round review by Professional Judges. If you’re interested in serving as a Clothworker Judge for 2021, please register via the link from the October e-Clothworker, or contact the Membership and Communications Manager, Renée LaDue, by email at reneeladue@clothworkers.co.uk.
