Winners of Charities Online Accounts Awards announced
Howard Lake | 5 December 2005 | News
St John Ambulance, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, The Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust, The Lifeboat Fund and Winchester Hospital Radio are the winners in this year’s Charities Online Accounts Awards.
Each of the winning charities in the different income categories received a cheque for £5,000 at a ceremony held at Chartered Accountants Hall in London.
The awards, sponsored by Charities Aid Foundation and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, recognise excellence in financial reporting and encourage best practice in online financial accounts.
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This year, for the first time, the top 100 charities were automatically entered into the awards to highlight the role of market leaders in advancing best practice and provide inspiration to other charities.
Graham Ward, President of the Judging Panel commented: “Transparency of financial accounts builds trust, a crucial factor in the relationship between donor and charity. More and more people are using the internet to find out information and this year’s awards have demonstrated the quality and incredible diversity of how charities of all sizes are embracing this medium.
“Smaller charities, in particular, are leading the way, displaying great innovation and creativity in their reports and on the web. Larger charities should be taking note. Some 30% of the 100 largest charities did not progress beyond the preliminary judging because of a failing to make their reports and accounts more accessible online.”
Graham Ullett, Head of Marketing at CAF commented the need for these awards and for charities to focus on effective online financial reporting: “With the continued growth in donors and potential funders using online as their preferred channel for giving and research, these examples help to promote and share best practice across the sector.”
UK Fundraising’s Howard Lake was guest speaker at the event and shared his thoughts on why online annual reports were such valuable fundraising tools for charities.
The charities that entered the awards this year faced good odds on scooping the £5,000 prizes. Many more charities should consider entering their online annual reports.
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.