Britain’s Most Inspiring Fundraiser announced
Howard Lake | 23 June 2008 | News
Online giving site Everyclick.com has announced Nicole Dryburgh as ‘Britain’s Most Inspiring Fundraiser 2008’. Held in memory of renowned fundraiser Jane Tomlinson, the awards ceremony brought together exceptional volunteer fundraisers from across the nation to celebrate their outstanding achievements.
Dryburgh won a cheque for £20,000 for her chosen charity, King’s College Hospital Charity. She was awarded the title of Britain’s Most Inspiring Fundraiser by Mike Tomlinson, who is supporting the competition in memory of his late wife Jane. The other nine finalists from across the UK received runners-up prizes of £500 for the charity of their choice.
Nicole from Whitstable in Kent was nominated by several of her friends and family together with others whom she has inspired over the years, for her relentless and innovative fundraising on behalf of several charities. Nicole was 11 when first diagnosed with spinal cancer that caused severe medical difficulties over several years. Nicole is now blind, virtually deaf, and wheelchair bound, but her positive experiences at King’s College Hospital made her want to help them help other children.
Over the past eight years, Nicole has set up her own website and raised over £3,500 for charities such as Demelza House, Cancer and Leukaemia In Children, Dave Lee’s Happy Holidays and Riding for the Disabled; all of these charities helped her over the course of her treatment.
Currently she has raised £18,000 of her target of £30,000 towards equipping a new neuro-rehabilitation suite at King’s College Hospital. She has achieved this through a variety of events and by authoring a book about her experiences.
Mike Tomlinson said: “Nicole is an incredible young fundraiser and is exemplary of the passion, commitment and sheer determination that truly great fundraisers display. The fact that her own disabilities do not deter her from striving to help others only furthers my admiration for her efforts. She is unquestionably an outstanding example of fundraisers to young people across the country.”
Polly Gowers, founder of Everyclick.com said: “We received a wealth of outstanding entries and choosing a winner was a near impossible task. However, it was felt that Nicole’s dedication and selflessness in her incredible fundraising efforts were truly worthy of the title. All in all we have been astounded by the calibre of the entries and are already looking forward to receiving the nominations next year.”
The finalists in this year’s awards were:
· Clare Forbes for The Douglas Bader Foundation (Crawley, Sussex)
· Molli Turner for St Ann’s Hospice (Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire)
· Brian Jiggens for Meningitis Trust (Basildon, Essex)
· Freddie Knoller for Jewish Care (Totteridge, London)
· Adam Chataway for ActionAid (Kilburn, London)
· Simon Beresford for The Down’s Syndrome Association (Lichfield, Staffordshire)
· Susie Elliot for Riding for the Disabled (Hawick, Borders)
· Stephen Young for Demelza House (Borough Green, Kent)
· Barbara Doherty for Isabel Hospice (Much Hadham, Hertfordshire)
www.everyclick.com
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.