Give it Back George, the campaign spearheaded by Charities Aid Foundation and NCVO to persuade the government to drop the Chancellor’s proposal to limit tax relief on charitable giving, won the award for voluntary sector campaign of the year at last night’s Public Affairs News Awards.

Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO, said: “Left unchallenged, the Chancellor’s plans would have cost charities millions. Our rapid response campaign voiced the views of thousands of organisations across the charity sector and I would like to thank them for their support.”

The campaign swung into action on 23 March this year, just two days after the highly unpopular proposal was announced as part of George Osborne’s Budget speech.  It amassed support from thousands of individuals and organisations, and when the government agreed to drop the proposal on 31 March, Give it Back George had almost 3,500 advocates.

The Give it Back George: Drop the Charity Tax campaign was chosen by a panel of public affairs industry experts from a shortlist of campaigns including those run by the National Housing Federation, Anthony Nolan Trust and Combat Stress.

CAF was also shortlisted for the party conference innovation award for its Generation Gap campaign, which took an interactive Generation Game to the three party conferences to highlight the need to get younger people giving.