# SiMBA wins Fundraising Team of the Year at Scottish Fundraising Awards

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2023/09/12/simba-wins-fundraising-team-of-the-year-at-scottish-fundraising-awards/
- Published: 2023-09-12T11:10:46+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**SiMBA picked up The Fundraising Team of the Year Award at this year’s Scottish
Fundraising Awards, for achieving great results during a challenging year. Other
charity winners included Cerebral Palsy Scotland, and My Name’5 Doddie Foundation,
while Fundraiser of the Year went to Stephanie Shanks from Sight Scotland.**

The national awards celebrate and acknowledge the achievements of Scotland’s fundraisers
and took place during the Chartered Institute of Fundraising Scotland’s annual Scottish
Fundraising Conference. Charities and individuals were honoured in nine categories.

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**Fundraising Team of the Year** [SiMBA](https://www.simbacharity.org.uk/) faced
significant challenges this year and overcame them to save the charity from closure.
Its Urgent Appeal in December 2022 had a target of £220,000 and raised almost double
this amount to £413,000, enabling the charity to continue providing memory boxes
to bereaved parents.

![](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads.cloud/2023/09/Stephanie-Shanks.jpg)

Stephanie Shanks

**Fundraiser of the Year** Stephanie Shanks won for the difference she has made 
to [Sight Scotland](https://sightscotland.org.uk/)’s fundraising over the last 15
months, from building relationships with services, trusts, and corporates to securing
major donors.

The other winners are:

**The Best Legacy campaign: **Erskine for its One Day Campaign, described as a ‘
fresh and exciting take’ on their previous legacy strategy. The video at the centre
of the campaign follows a young boy who dreams of being a military hero, but whose
dream suddenly turns into a tough reality experienced by some veterans. The campaign
delivered 96 new legacy prospects outperforming their targets by 120%.

**Best Marketing and Communications Campaign: **Mercy Corps Europe for its Ukraine
Crisis Response – the most successful fundraising campaign in the charity’s history,
it exceeded the fundraising goal of £500,000 and raised £4,273,281 within six weeks.

**Best Individual Giving Campaign: **CrossReach Winter Appeal 2022 – Jacqueline’s
story. The appeal combined learnings gathered over two years of testing by CrossReach
and became its most successful appeal to date, raising nearly 70% more than past
appeals.

**Best use of Event or Community Fundraising Initiative: **My Name’5 Doddie Foundation
with Doddie Aid 2023 – a mass participation exercise event that saw over 36,000 
people cover 3.8 million miles, raising £2 million for My Name’5 Doddie Foundation
to fund MND research.

**Best Partner Relationship: Corporate Fundraising: **Age Scotland and SGN. Through
providing a trusted and safe referral process, SGN engineers enabled Age Scotland
to reach older people who most need their services.

**Best Supporter Experience: Cerebral Palsy Scotland.** The charity’s small fundraising
team won for their successful development and implementation of their supporter 
experience, with limited resources.

**Rising Star Award**:** **Eilidh Murrin from Worldwide Cancer Research, who has
been a key member of the Worldwide Cancer Research Fundraising and Philanthropy 
team since early 2022, growing their income from c£20,000 in one year to already
being at £125,000 in the first quarter.

Isla Campbell Lupton, Co-chair of the Scottish Fundraising Conference and Awards
said:

> “In Scotland charities play a crucial role in delivering essential services that
> countless people rely on. Without the tireless efforts and unwavering commitment
> of fundraisers the provision of vital services by charities would not be possible.
> In an ever evolving and demanding world, Scotland takes pride in its exceptional
> fundraisers, and so recognising their accomplishments with these respected awards
> holds immense value, particularly in the face of rising challenges. Huge congratulations
> to all of those who were shortlisted for the awards and to all the winners.”

The awards were sponsored by THINK.