Timing was critical for the Nationwide Foundation’s entry to last year’s Charity Awards, says Leigh Pearce.

When our name was read out in the unfamiliar surroundings of a Mayfair ballroom, we really couldn’t believe we had won the award in the grantmaking and funding category. And for our hardworking team of three, this was a delightfully overwhelming pat on the back.  Some wine and a few selfies finished the evening marvellously.

Yet, the Charity Awards is a tough competition and the submission form isn’t a two-minute job. We entered the Charity Awards back in 2011, and had been fortunate enough to be named as a finalist.  We deliberately avoided entering again until our following strategy (focusing on tackling financial difficulties and housing issues affecting people in need) was reaching its conclusion. We were conscious that we would need to have robust figures and measured outcomes to impress the judging panel.

For us, our entry - and indeed the strategy which it was about - focused on two areas: the improvements our funding had made to beneficiaries’ lives; and also how we conducted ourselves as an ‘added value’ funder, including the ways we strove to build resilience and add wider benefits to the organisations we funded.

The ten key values which the Charity Awards heralds in its Hallmarks of Excellence, very much aligned with our ethos as a charitable funder. We work closely with our grantees to get to know them and support them when things get tough, encouraging an open and honest dialogue. We have a heritage of facilitating partnerships between grantees for greater outcomes. We also fund activities, such as training or membership fees to relevant groups, to further the professionalism of our grantees and plug gaps in knowledge which are necessary for the smooth running and best delivery of the projects.

We quietly enjoyed basking in the initial warm glow feeling of our win for a short time. Then, once that subsided, we were able to see what the longer-term legacy of the award would be for us. In particular, it helped us to effectively engage with our key stakeholders.

We wish all the entrants of the Charity Awards the best of luck. We will watch the grantmaking and funding category with interest, as so much can be learnt from others’ work and approaches within the funding community.

Leigh Pearce is interim chief executive at the Nationwide Foundation, winner of the grantmaking and funding category at The Charity Awards 2014. 

• Entries are now open for the Charity Awards 2015, sponsored once again by Charities Aid Foundation.  Click here to enter your project or find out more.