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A truly unmissable event

Finance | Daniel Phelan | 23 Mar 2009

It seems like yesterday that Heather Lamont and I were scratching our heads to devise the structures and processes for the Charity Awards. In fact it was a prior millennium and this year on 11 June is its tenth anniversary. How time flies when you’re having fun!

The programme we put together then has proved robust and rigorous and has required virtually no amendment over the past decade. It sets out to identify and celebrate excellence in charities and to promote the conviction that well planned, effective management leads to better outcomes for beneficiaries and more efficient use of  scarce resources.

It is hard to argue other than it is now more crucial than ever for charities to be effective, sustainable and accountable. Increasingly, more is required from less as demand escalates and resources are squeezed.

It is therefore a delight to report that we have received a record number of entries to the Charity Awards in 2009 and that the standard is high. There is huge enthusiasm from charities to communicate their achievements and to promote their skill at delivering outcomes and impact.

The Charity Awards presentation dinner will no doubt once again be a hugely enjoyable and inspirational evening. But it is not just a party. It creates a compellingly magnetic centre of gravity to attract policy makers and sector leaders, it disseminates good practices, it promotes brilliant ideas to universal adoption and it harnesses the power of inspirational leadership. This is the one event this year you should not miss.

It is also a huge effort to organise but one that my colleagues here at Plaza Publishing gladly make. They know the external costs of the event are such that their own time input cannot be recovered but they see their hard work as a contribution back to our 17,000 charity subscribers across our all Plaza’s titles, not just Charity Finance but also governance, Professional Fundraising and Civil Society IT.

As well as Plaza’s enthusiastic staff, it must also be recognised that the work  of the Charity Awards continues because of the support of its two overall sponsors, CAF and the Leadership Trust Foundation, together with the Hallmarks of Excellence sponsors and table hosts on the night. Their crucial support to the promotion of excellence in charitable endeavour should  be applauded.

Sheer brilliance

An example of a brilliantly managed organisation that has entered the Charity Awards this year is a charity of which I am proud to be a trustee (don’t worry, I’m not a member of the eminent panel of Charity Awards judges, but simply indulging in a little indiscreet lobbying!).

The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) has grown to be Britain’s largest debt counselling charity since its inception some 15 years ago. Using advanced technology and data management systems it has dramatically reduced the cost of counselling so that its 700 staff can help more and more people in financial difficulty, a need which is rapidly escalating in the current climate.

CCCS now manages £3bn of debt on behalf of its beneficiaries, intermediating between debtors and creditors to stabilise that hugely disruptive aspect of so many people’s lives. Its groundbreaking software and web applications are world leading and debt counselling charities around the globe are queueing up to take advantage.

CCCS earns its revenues from banks and other creditors not from beneficiaries and, among other things, uses its surpluses to advise people on how to maximise their statutory benefits which on average increases their income by a staggering £80 per week. Of course this advice work has no remuneration attached but it is hugely influential in preventing people getting into debt in the first place.

CCCS gets my vote every time, but I’m absolutely sure there are many other amazing charities entered in this year’s awards. Don’t forget to come along to the presentation dinner on 11 June to hear about them all.

Daniel Phelan, editor

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Who's Who: Heather Lamont