Local Charity Wins South West Award
April 21st, 2014Southern Brooks Community partnership was announced as the winner of the One to Watch Award at the inaugural South West Impact Awards yesterday, sharing the prize with SS Great Britain Trust. The awards were organised by South West Forum to recognise the work of social purpose organisations in measuring and communicating the difference they make. They are the first awards of their kind in the UK and were presented by Dame Suzi Leather at a reception after the In Pursuit of Happiness conference in Bristol.
Dame Suzi, Chair of the Lankelly Chase Foundation and a former Chair of the Charity Commission explained, For a charity, measuring impact is the way to show you are delivering your charitable purpose and is also the way to show commissioners, funders, beneficiaries, supporters, regulators and policy makers that you are making a difference to people s lives. Evidencing impact not only helps organisations improve their services but is likely to make them more sustainable, efficient and effective. Show-casing how it can be done well, regardless of organisational size, is hugely helpful. Hats off to South West Forum for providing this learning and encouragement.
Southern Brooks Community Partnership runs a range of projects to help children and young people through the transition into independence and adulthood; to make sure families get support that meets their individual needs; to reduce isolation, especially amongst older people; and to support the development of safe, strong and inclusive communities. Judges recognised how Southern Brooks have recently reviewed their impact practice and have started an impact journey, going back to first principles with an organisational Theory of Change and are looking forward to seeing how this develops into a comprehensive evaluation framework.
This has been an exciting and challenging process for our organisation, really helping us to clarify the changes we are working towards in our communities. Developing our Theory of Change has involved everyone in the organisation, trustees, staff and volunteers. There are some areas of work that we have always measured the impact but we now have in place a framework across the organisation and we are looking forward to using this to really demonstrate our impact. A really big thank you to everyone involved says Julie Close, Director of Southern Brooks Community Partnership
The ss Great Britain Trust seeks to preserve the ship, ss Great Britain, and her building dock and to enhance public understanding and appreciation of their social, commercial, scientific, and technological context and historic significance.
Other local winners were One 25 who won the Best Communicator Award.
The awards were sponsored by Charity Bank. Commenting on their importance of, Chapman Harrison, Charity Bank s Regional Manager for the South West and a member of the judging panel said Every organisation which has received an award has been acknowledged as an early-adopter of business practices that place the emphasis on evidencing social impact. It is natural for Charity Bank to support the Forum awards initiative because they are exactly in line with our own approach. But measuring impact is not just for funders. We are pleased to see organisations, large and small, using impact measurement to help them understand, evaluate and increase their positive impact on society.
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