Why Awards matter

13/12/2023 | by Katie Docherty, Chief Executive Officer, Chartered Institute of Fundraising

The National Fundraising Awards are back for 2024 and I am looking forward to celebrating the absolute best in fundraising from across the sector.

I wholeheartedly encourage everyone to take a look at the 12 awards categories and think about how the work you have done this year might fit in to a category.  

The National Fundraising Awards are a chance for you to celebrate the impact you have made for your causes and your beneficiaries. Whether you work for a small community charity or a large national one – we want to see your work being recognised and celebrated at the Awards.  

The National Fundraising Awards are a badge of excellence and are the only one of their kind that celebrate fundraising best practice in the charity sector. Being shortlisted is a recognition of the amazing work you have done from our panel of esteemed judges. 

They provide a platform to showcase the hard work, dedication, passion, and innovation of fundraisers, and not just to your peers as well – the Awards are a fantastic way of showing your impact to donors, funding bodies, supporters, volunteers, and many other people who come in to contact with your charity.  

You can also use being shortlisted or winning to further your work by including it in funding applications, in supporter engagement, as part of your impact messaging, to increase your brand awareness and so much more.  

Attending the Awards ceremony is a fantastic way to bring your team together, to recognise their hard work, and have a fabulous time meeting lots of other incredible fundraisers from across the country.  

If you’re putting fundraising at the heart of your organisation, we want to see you enter the Awards. The Awards are free to enter, and all shortlisted organisations will receive two complimentary tickets to the Awards evening.  

The categories for the 2024 Fundraising Awards are… 

  • Best Supporter Experience of the Year 
  • Charity-Business Relationship of the Year 
  • Fundraiser of the Year 
  • Fundraising Campaign of the Year 
  • Fundraising Event of the Year 
  • Individual Giving Campaign of the Year 
  • Legacy Campaign of the Year 
  • Fundraising Charity f the Year 
  • Best Supplier to the Fundraising Sector of the Year 
  • Volunteer Fundraiser of the Year 
  • Newcome of the Year 
  • Young Fundraiser of the Year (15 years or under). 

The National Fundraising Awards website has tips on how to create a winning entry, as well as key information about how to submit your entry. The most important thing is that you do enter! Don’t leave it until the last minute, the deadline for entries is 5pm Friday 26 January 2024. The shortlist will be announced in March and the winners will be announced at a glittering Awards ceremony in London in July.  

I hope you will feel inspired to enter the Awards, I wish you the best of luck and I hope to see you in July at the Awards ceremony.