Charity Governance Awards opens up to entries for final time in 10th anniversary year
Melanie May | 12 December 2024 | News
The UK Charity Governance Awards has opened for applications for a final time as it celebrates its 10th anniversary year, with the largest category prizes to date.
National and local UK charities of all sizes can enter the awards with a deadline of 12 February.
Category winners will receive a £6,000 unrestricted grant, and runners-up will be given £1,500. All shortlisted charities will receive membership of the Association of Chairs (for their charity’s Chair or Vice Chair) and a training place on the Cause4 Trustee Leadership Programme for a new or inexperienced trustee.
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The categories and entry criteria
There are five categories, all of which recognise best practice in governance. These are:
- Board Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
- People in Governance
- Challenge to Change (formerly known as From Systemic Challenge to Meaningful Change)
- Improving Impact in Small Charities (for 0-3 paid staff)
- Improving Impact in Small Charities (for 4-30 paid staff)
To enter, a charity must have been established before 31 December 2021 and be registered in the UK. Charities can enter one entry into one category only.
Entries must cover activities undertaken in the last five years (2019 – 2024); focus on the work of the main board, not sub-committees; be submitted by a trustee, employee or volunteer of the charity; and must be signed off by the Chair or CEO.
Tenth & final year
The Charity Governance Awards launched in 2015 with the inaugural awards ceremony taking place in 2016. It has been held every year since, and the tenth and final awards ceremony will take place at Drapers’ Hall in central London on 3 June 2025.
Deepak Nambisan, who chairs the Awards steering committee for organisers The Clothworkers’ Company, said:
“We are proud to look back on ten years of the Charity Governance Awards, and continue to be astounded by the work of the brilliant trustees who have been rightly rewarded over the years. The legacy of the Awards will be its strong bank of success stories which will continue to inspire the sector for years to come.
“After a decade, The Clothworkers’ Company and its partners are ready to explore new ways to support the charity sector – we look forward to building on the impact these awards have had for the 160-plus boards that have been recognised, the more than 800 charities that have entered, and the untold number of trustees and volunteers who have found encouragement from these exemplary case studies.
“For now, I am delighted that the Charity Governance Awards is open for entries for the tenth time, and, if your charity has a brilliant success story to share, please enter and help inspire others in the sector – it’s your final chance!”
Shortlisted entrants will be announced in April, with the winners revealed at the live awards ceremony in June. Case studies of the shortlisted charities will be featured on the Awards website and free guidance to all charitable boards is offered under the ‘Advice and Resources’ page.
The winners of the 2024 Awards were Magpie Dance, Recovery Cymru, Crohn’s & Colitis UK, Become Charity, APARU and Disability Rights UK.
The Charity Governance Awards are sponsored and hosted by The Clothworkers’ Company, which is a City Livery company that supports trusteeship initiatives, in partnership with charity think tank and consultancy NPC (New Philanthropy Capital); recruitment specialists Prospectus; and volunteer-matching charity Reach Volunteering.
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.