CAF launches Charities' Online Accounts Awards
Howard Lake | 18 March 2003 | News
Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) has changed the emphasis of its annual accounts awards to focus on online publishing and distribution. The revamped awards still offer a £2,000 prize.
Sponsored by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales
(ICAEW) and the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), the Charities’ Online Accounts Awards offer prizes of £2,000 to those non-profit organisations with the best online annual report and accounts.
The awards are designed to encourage greater transparency and use of the Web. The competition is divided into four income categories: over £2 million; £500,000 to £2 million; £100,000 to £500,000 and less than £100,000. The winner from each category will receive a cash prize of £2,000, a free pass
to attend one of CAF’s charity conferences and a winner’s seal to display on
their Web site. Runners-up will each receive a seal of recognition for their Web sites and a Certificate of Excellence.
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In order to qualify, online accounts and reports will have to comply fully with the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) published by the Charity Commission. Entries will be judged on financial reporting accuracy, ease of access to the report from the Web site’s homepage, innovation, value for money and ease of navigation.
Howard Lake, a member of the judging panel and publisher of UK Fundraising, the leading online resource for charity and non-profit
fundraisers, said: “It is estimated that about 53% of charities in the UK have their own Web site and we hope this figure rises quickly. Not only does making information available online help keep costs down, it is an opportunity to reach a larger number of potential donors. And more often than not, these donors want to take a look at the charity’s accounts and get an idea of how their money will be spent.”
Graham Ward, Chair of the Judging Panel and a senior partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said: “The internet offers charities an effective way of promoting their causes to a national and international audience. The charity’s Web site is an ideal place for displaying high-quality annual reports and accounts. In making these awards, we hope to provide a
benchmark for quality and best practice in this sector.”
Entries must be received by 30 June 2003.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.