Legacy Futures announces winners of 2023 Bursary Awards – & other award news
Melanie May | 16 May 2023 | News
Legacy Futures has announced the six winners of its 2023 Bursary Awards, following the judging of over 120 nominations.
The Bursary Awards first launched in 2020 with the aim of supporting and nurturing the next generation of legacy fundraisers through training and mentorship.
This year’s nominations were judged by a panel of industry experts including Matthew Lagden from the ILM; Lucinda Frostick, Director of Remember a Charity; and Elly Lont from Legacy Giving EU.
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Arian Thornton from Marie Curie, and Laura Simpson-Toyn from Bransby Horses won the Crispin Ellison Bursary, which furthers professional development in legacy administration. They each receive training from the Institute of Legacy Management (ILM) to the value of £1,000.
Kim Greed from Blind Veterans, Laura Wilkinson from Blood Cancer UK, and Catherine House from The Queens College, Oxford University won The Future Leader Bursary, a mentoring pathway for those new to legacy or in-memory roles. They receive a 6-month mentoring programme with the Legacy Futures team.
Laurie Fox from Will Power in Canada won The International Bursary, which supports organisations outside the UK who want to grow through legacy giving. The winning organisation receives a design thinking workshop with the Legacy Futures team.
Ashley Rowthorn, CEO of Legacy Futures, said:
“A huge congratulations to all our winners and thank you to everyone who took the time to enter and of course to our judges. We set up the Bursary Awards because we strongly believe in the power of legacies and want to invest in the next generations of legacy and in memory fundraisers. Developing the people who support and grow the legacy sector is invaluable when it comes to the future impact of legacy fundraising.
“It is particularly meaningful to us to know that we’ve now funded 12 people through their training and qualifications in legacy administration through the Crispin Ellison Bursary. We set this up in Crispin’s memory, and I know he would be delighted to see his personal legacy continuing in this way.”
More awards news
Elsewhere, the shortlists have been revealed for two more sets of awards – the UK Charity Governance Awards 2023, and the Scottish Charity Awards.
Charity Governance Awards
15 charities from across the UK have been shortlisted for the 2023 Charity Governance Awards, including Women in Prison, Depden Care Farm, Breaking Barriers, and RSPCA London East.
The charities are up for one of five awards:
- Board Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
- From Systemic Challenge to Meaningful Change
- Transforming with Digital
- Improving Impact in Small Charities (0-3 paid staff)
- Improving Impact in Small Charities (4-30 paid staff)
All have already secured at least £1,000 as an unrestricted grant for making it onto the shortlist, and are now in the running for a prize of a £5,000 unrestricted grant.
The winners will be announced on 8 June at a live ceremony taking place, this year, at Drapers’ Hall in London.
The 2023 shortlist includes nominees for the new category that seeks to recognise charity boards who have tackled widespread, systemic problems: ‘From Systemic Challenge to Meaningful Change’. Breaking Barriers, MQ Mental Health Research and Unfold are each in the running for this new award.
A place on the shortlist has secured all 15 charities a paid one-year membership of the Association of Chairs for their board, and a complementary place on a Cause4 Trustee Leadership Programme for a new member of their board.
The keynote speaker at the awards ceremony on 8 June will be Amir Rizwan, director at Big Society Capital, chair of the Diversity Forum (UK social investment sector), co vice-chair on the board for the Cripplegate Foundation, and a trustee of The Clothworkers’ Foundation.
Scotland’s Charity Awards finalists announced
This year’s Scotland’s Charity Awards finalists have been announced, with 32 individuals and organisations from charities and voluntary groups on the shortlist.
The annual awards are run by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), and a judging panel will decide the winners across the nine categories at the Scottish Charity Awards ceremony on 23 June.
The categories are:
- Volunteer of the Year
- Charity of the Year
- Pioneering Project
- Campaign of the Year
- Trustee of the Year
- Community Action
- Climate Conscious
- Digital Citizen
- Employee of the Year
Finalists include Andrii Zhehestovskyi – Libraries & Information Services Dundee – for Volunteer of the Year, Capability Scotland’s Corseford College for Pioneering Project, CFINE for Charity of the Year, and Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity’s Jack’s Wee Snowman with the Big Heart for Campaign of the Year.
The public also has a chance to vote for their favourite entry in the People’s Choice Award by visiting scvo.scot/vote before 5pm on Wednesday 24 May.
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.