Charities Aid Foundation chief executive John Low highlighted the growing profile of civil society organisations in his address to the Charity Awards audience last week.

CAF is joint overall sponsor of the Awards, with the Leadership Trust Foundation, and Low took to the stage with minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude to present the Overall Winner award to Mencap (pictured).

Addressing the audience of 800 sector leaders, Low said he could “not remember another year when charities have been such hot news”.

He asked the audience: “Can any of you remember the last time a Chancellor spend five minutes of the Budget speech tackling measures to increase philanthropy?  One would normally need to rifle through hundreds of pages of the report to find a passing mention of charity.”

But nowadays, he went on, it is almost normal to switch on the Today Programme or Ten O’Clock Live to hear or see representatives from charities – large and small – addressing and debating some of the major social and political issues of the day – “localism, charitable giving, public services and so on”.

“Even the fairly esoteric world of social investment has got greater airplay under the fractious banner of the Big Society,” he said.

Given this higher profile, he said he could fully understand why the government wanted to consign the term “third sector” to history.  “Our importance at the heart of public services, at the heart of politics, at the heart of society, is increasingly being recognised.”

But he went on to warn that this heart has been put under enormous strain in recent years and the sector must work to make sure it is healthy and strong to survive the current economic pressures and growing demand for its services.

The Awards had showcased “the best of what the sector can do”, Low added, “some fantastic and inspiring examples of innovation, creativity, tenacity and professionalism”.

Click here to find out more about the winners of the 2011 Charity Awards and here to see photographs from the evening.