Sheila McKechnie Foundation launched to promote charity campaigning
Howard Lake | 22 February 2005 | News
The Sheila McKechnie Foundation is a new charity set up to give awards to those involved in charity campaigning.
It was launched today at number 11 Downing Street by Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown who will serve as its patron.
Charity Commission Chairman Geraldine Peacock said: “This is a novel charity, and we’ve not registered anything quite like it before… It’s encouraging to register a charity that is taking an innovative approach to enabling other charities to get their voices heard. I hope that the Sheila McKechnie Foundation will succeed in boosting and increasing the skills of the sector, following the spirit and outstanding example of Sheila McKechnie herself.”
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Sheila McKechnie was Director of Which?, the consumer campaigning organisation from 1995 to 2004 and Director of Shelter, the homeless charity, from 1985 to 1995. She made a major impact through high-profile campaigns and changed government policies in relation to homeless youngsters and consumer issues. She died, after a long battle with cancer, on 2 January 2004. She was awarded an OBE in 1995 and created a Dame in 2001.
The objectives of the charity fall under the category of promoting efficiency and effectiveness in the charitable sector.
The first McKechnie Awards will be made in January 2006. The Award process will be announced in June 2005 and the charity will ask for nominations to be received by September 2005.
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.