19 charities win grant & strategic planning support from Weston Charity Awards
Melanie May | 12 June 2020 | News
Nineteen frontline charities from the North of England, the Midlands and Wales have won the 2020 Weston Charity Awards, which received a record number of entries for its seventh year.
The charities, which include Grace House North West, Music Action International (pictured), Manchester Action on Street Health, and Plant Dewi, will receive a core grant of £6,500 on top of a year of tailored strategic planning support from a dedicated team of four senior business and charity leaders.
Between them the winners provide services to 62,777 people and range in size from £100,000 to nearly £2 million annual income. The people they support cope with a range of issues such as domestic abuse, caring responsibilities and the risks of working in the sex industry.
Every one of the selected charities say their jobs have been made more difficult by the impact of coronavirus on their beneficiaries or their ability to deliver services. Thirteen have continued to provide some socially distanced face-to-face services. Five of the charities have moved services entirely online and one charity has been unable to offer services to the public.
Philippa Charles, director of the Garfield Weston Foundation, which runs the awards with Pilotlight, said:
“The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the most vulnerable in our communities hard – frontline charities in England are addressing increasing demands for their services with innovation, professionalism and determination; and they are doing so despite serious threats to their finances and operating models.”
“As a Foundation we’ve needed to act swiftly to support frontline activities in the short term, but we continue to champion long-term planning for charities. The support and experience of the Weston Charity Awards puts charities in a really strong position to survive, adapt and thrive into the future.”
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.