SiMBA wins Fundraising Team of the Year at Scottish Fundraising Awards
Melanie May | 12 September 2023 | News
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 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.
Fundraiser of the Year Stephanie Shanks won for the difference she has made to Sight Scotland’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.
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.