Members of our Not for Profit practice enjoyed an evening supporting the not for profit sector at the Charity Awards. In its 20th year, the awards recognise innovation and best practice in the sector and were hosted to great effect by the Reverend Richard Coles.
Nominees were considered across a number of categories, including arts, culture and heritage; campaigning and advocacy; children and youth; disability; education and training; environment and conservation; grant-making and funding; healthcare and medical research; international aid and development and social care advice and support. The historic surroundings of the grounds of The Tower of London were a truly beautiful setting in which to recognise the achievements of a range of inspirational charities and their dedicated staff.
GatenbySanderson has a longstanding partnership with Civil Society supporting the Charity awards, having sponsored the campaigning and advocacy category for a number of years. This year’s worthy winner was Consonant (formerly Migrants Resource Centre, which merged with Asylum Aid in 2016). The organisation had started a major campaign in 2007, calling for women seeking asylum in the UK to be provided with childcare during their asylum interviews. The campaign responded to the growing awareness that women’s chances of gaining asylum could be reduced if they did not provide a full and honest account of their experiences, yet many were reluctant to do so for fear of traumatising their children by sharing their experiences of human rights abuses in front of them; as a result of Consonant’s work, the Home Office now provides childcare during asylum interviews at all 9 casework hubs. A remarkable achievement and one we were delighted to see recognised. Runners up in the category were Greater Manchester Law Centre and Surviving Economic Abuse.
The overall award for excellence was awarded to Birmingham Museums Trust, which has developed its collections to make them more representative of the city’s multi-cultural and socio-economically diverse population. This award reflected the overall makeup of the nominees across the categories, which included a wide range of smaller charities and regional organisations.
Sir Harpal Kumar, winner of the Daniel Phelan Award for Outstanding Achievement, finished off the evening with a compelling speech, calling for the sector to shout louder about its many achievements. The former CEO of Cancer Research UK’s proudest moment was the announcement in 2014 that for the first time in history as many people in the UK were surviving cancer for at least 10 years as were dying from it. An inspirational end to a wonderful evening, which celebrated the positive impact that charities both large and small have on our society.
At GatenbySanderson, we are inspired on a daily basis by the work of our clients and candidates and the positive change that is driven by charities and their leaders. This year’s awards have been a great testament to the profound impact that the Not for Profit sector has on our society – and on a less serious note, a really enjoyable evening spent catching up with leaders in the sector and celebrating their successes.
Our Not for Profit practice is motivated by our purpose: to find and develop leaders that shape a better society. Our three guiding principles of collaboration, curiosity and courage inform everything that we do and how we do it – including executive search, interim leadership, board development, coaching, assessment and onboarding.
We see a successful appointment as the beginning rather than the end of our relationship with clients and candidates. Offering a unique, complimentary onboarding process for Chief Executives and Directors, we do more than just finding and recruiting great leaders; we develop, enable and empower leaders already in the sector, and those transitioning to charities from other sectors, to make the greatest possible impact in their new roles. Our commitment, to ensuring successful leadership in a sector that truly changes lives and shapes a better society, is why we are here and why we are proud to support charities, both large and small, in the work that they do.
If you’re looking to pioneer a new approach to finding, recruiting or developing your leadership talent, we’d love to talk! Please contact Joanna at Joanna.Thornton@www.gatenbysanderson.com.