Fundraisers from Germany, India and Kenya recognised in Global Awards for Fundraising
Howard Lake | 27 October 2015 | News
The winners of the 2015 Global Awards for Fundraising were announced at last week’s International Fundraising Congress in Holland. The humorous hijacking of a Neo-Nazi march to fundraise for a German charity won two awards.
Established in 2010, the Global Awards for Fundraising celebrate excellence and inspirational fundraising by organisations and individuals. They are hosted by the Resource Alliance, which runs the International Fundraising Congress, now in its 36th year.
This year the awards were opened up to entries from around the world. Previously they had been open only to winners of national fundraising awards.
There are four categories in the awards.
Innovative Fundraising Campaign
This category recognises organisations for fundraising campaigns that display innovation and opportunity for replication.
The winner was ZDK Society Democratic Culture in Germany for its innovative hijacking of a Neo-Nazi march to fundraise for EXIT-Germany, a charity that helps members of the far-right who want to leave the movement and start a new life.
Local residents were encouraged to donate €10 to the charity for every metre walked by extremists on their annual march through the town of Wunsiedel.
[youtube height=”450″ width=”800″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSGXbb0AAAc[/youtube]
Also on the shortlist were HelsinkiMissio of Finland and Act For Peace of Australia.
Big Impact Small Budget
This category awards a prize to a small or medium organisation that has delivered disproportionate results for their beneficiaries, either relative to revenue or on a small budget, in the past 12 to 24 months.
The winner this year was the International Transformation Foundation in Kenya, for its “Join the Pipe Project” which provided schools with water kiosks. The judges were impressed with its sustainable business plan, which saw clean tap water being sold to community residents by pupils at an affordable price.
[youtube height=”450″ width=”800″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h5iyWHjYos[/youtube]
Shortlisted were Global Schoolroom of the Republic of Ireland and Cris Cancer Foundation in Spain.
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Volunteer of the Year
This award recognises volunteers who have significantly assisted an organisation’s fundraising cause.
It was presented to Aneesha Wadhwa of Udyan Care, India who has been volunteering at at the charity for 12 years. Her involvement grew from being the youngest mentor mother (a voluntary lifetime carer) at one of its homes for orphaned girls to being the youngest Advisory Board member, to today when she holds the position of trustee.
Shortlisted were: Marion Carroll at Ronald McDonald House, Ireland and May Gilchrist at Macmillan Cancer Care, UK.
The remaining two categories were put to public vote.
People’s Choice Award
This new category was decided by public vote via the Resource Alliance website. Around 2,000 people voted and the winner was volunteer Marian Carroll from Ronald McDonald House Ireland.
IFC Choice Award
This final Global Fundraising Award was voted on by 1,000 attendees at the award ceremony. Fundraisers from around the world chose Nazis for Nazis by ZDK Society Democratic Culture from Germany, its second win of the night.
Kyla Shawyer, chief executive of the Resource Alliance, said:
“In a time when the activities of charities are under scrutiny like never before it is encouraging to see so many examples of good practice from NGOs around the world. The entries we received demonstrated creativity, sustainability and excellent donor care. We are delighted to be able to showcase these successes for the rest of the global fundraising community to share in, learn from and enjoy.”
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.