Chartered Institute of Fundraising Northern Ireland Awards 2023

Winner: Legenderry Relay for Life 2022, Cancer Research UK

• This event goes from strength to strength. The Legenderry Relay for Life is a jewel in the crown of Cancer Research UK’s fundraising in Northern Ireland. This 24-hour non-stop event is held in Derry/Londonderry – Legenderry – and is run entirely by volunteers. It celebrates the year round fundraising of teams made up of families, friends and work colleagues.
• Each team will take to the athletics track at St Columb's Park in a festival of fun, of cancer awareness, remembrance and endurance over 24 hours. With a team member on the track right through the night, the event symbolises that cancer doesn’t sleep, so neither will we in our fight against this disease.  
• Last year, 32 teams with 750 team members took part, raising £131,000 and bringing together the entire local community. Over one hundred cancer survivors walked a lap of honour. Over a thousand visitors came to offer their support. Over two thousand candle bags lined the track, each decorated in memory of a loved one. 24 local primary schools joined together to decorate enormous six foot candle bags, each giving hope of a better future for our children, free from cancer.

Highly Commended: Red Dress Fun Run 2023, Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke

• Congratulations to Chest Heart and Stroke for their annual 5k family friendly walk or run for all ages and abilities. Growing steadily over the last 6 years, back in February it raised £68,000 from over 800 participants, supported by a team of 100 volunteers, primary schools and corporate partners.
• Pop up health checks provide a strong link back to the cause, while the main focus is fun, with plenty of imaginative costumes making their way round Stormont’s grounds. This year participants included lobsters, dancing dogs in red tutus and even a Ladybug Mayor!

Winner: Danske Bank and Aware

• AWARE NI was selected as Danske Bank's charity partner in January 2021 and they battled through the pandemic hand in hand, but socially distanced. That shared experience set solid foundations and the annual partnership has since been extended twice.
• With a shared goal of educating children and young people early, Danske’s fundraising has supported AWARE's Mood Matters Young People programme in post-primary schools. In 2022 alone, that helped deliver 201 programmes to 4,225 people aged 14-18.
• Danske employees have raised an outstanding £186,848, through AWARE's event programme and many staff events including coffee mornings, walks, Euro Sweepstakes, A Day at the Races, Christmas Jumper Day, and their Longest Golf Day Challenge.
• Working with Danske's HR department, AWARE's Educational and Training Team delivered workplace well-being sessions to Danske employees, while Communications Teams worked closely to raise awareness of mental health and financial well-being through Danske’s recent Money Worries campaign. Employees volunteered their time to write Christmas cards to Support Group attendees and Danske sponsored AWARE's 2022 Express Yourself campaign, a mental health poetry competition for children in P6 and P7.
• Overall, a tremendous joint effort, raising awareness of mental health issues, supporting young people in their mental health journey, and creating a healthier and happier community.

Highly Commended: MACE and Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke

• Staff and customers from MACE stores have raised over £250,000 for Chest Heart and Stroke to date, and this year staff from across 80 stores, supported by the charity’s volunteers, took part in a variety of fundraising events including Static Cycles, a Spring Raffle and Christmas campaigns.
• The partnership does so much more than raising funds, it actively supports health awareness through the ‘Numbers Up’ Blood Pressure campaign. 120 people were signposted to their GP after pop-up blood pressure checks in store and it is amazing to think lives have potentially been saved because of this partnership.

Winner: The Income Generation Team, Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke

• This team certainly know how to put the fun into fundraising. More than that, they’ve demonstrated an unparalleled commitment both to their cause and to each other.
• Despite the difficult economic climate, their team raised almost £3.3 million last year, 28% over target.
• They smashed every team target.
• They’ve developed new engagement initiatives such as their Mid-Ulster Roadshow and ‘Heart Month Tour’ in February 2023.
• The Events team trebled their income and participation levels for Red Dress Fun Run.
• In the last year their three Community Fundraisers supported over 350 individual supporter fundraising events, while the corporate team managed 21 partnerships and secured significant sponsorship for major campaigns such as the Blood Pressure Campaign supported by Mace.
• All of this while balancing absence in the team – over the last four years, an eye watering eight babies have been born in a team of only thirteen!
• The charity’s core values are compassionate, committed, courageous and considerate and this team demonstrates excellence in these every day.

Highly Commended: East Belfast Mission Fundraising Team

• This newly established team is small but mighty! Two young and passionate fundraisers, Lianne Mulholland and Becky Larney, are making a difference, not just at East Belfast Mission, but alongside their local community and to the sector as a whole.
• They work across a variety of streams including Grants & Trusts, Community Fundraising, Direct Mailing, Regular Giving, Legacies and business relationships.
• Last year, they exceeded their income generation targets by 75%, raising £237,556.
• The charity’s only five years into its fundraising journey and this team has already created a strong foundation. They are excited to grow and develop further with the recruitment of a new team member this year.   

Winner: Marian Nicholas, Mencap NI

• Marian Nicholas has been a dynamo for both advocacy and fundraising for Mencap since 1985. when she was told that her beautiful daughter Laura had a learning disability.
• Marian uses her personal experience of being a mum, supported by Mencap, to work tirelessly to ensure that families are offered early support, practical help and importantly, hope that they and their children can enjoy a full life.
• Her personal insight has helped shape the services that families need and has highlighted unacceptable care conditions in our local community.
• Her lobbying efforts have ensured that necessary consideration is being given to the rights of people with a learning disability.
• Her fundraising efforts are equally astounding, raising over a million pounds for Mencap over the years, helping to transform the lives of thousands of people with a learning disability.
• Marian’s daughter, Laura, passed away in August last year at the age of 38.
• While many would hide away in grief, Marian has turned her grief into a powerful force to make a difference to the lives of people with a learning disability.

Highly Commended: Osborne Family, Air Ambulance NI

• The Osborne family, from Ballymoney, have been volunteering for Air Ambulance NI since their son, Simon, was involved in a serious collision. Simon made a tremendous recovery, and the family are forever grateful for the care and support they received.
• They’re committed, creative and have the ambition to test fundraising methods the charity itself wouldn’t have the capacity to do. Business owners themselves, in 2021 they inspired 60 other companies to invest in a VW Golf as main prize in an online competition raising £30,000 net from 2,000 entries.
• They raised over £100,000 in the last two financial years, plus a vast amount of awareness as the face of the charity in their community.

Winner: Madison Crawford, Air Ambulance NI

• Madison has been volunteering for Air Ambulance NI since he was 9 years’ old. A familiar face across the charity, he’s regarded by staff and volunteers alike as a dedicated young person, known to turn his hand to whatever support is needed.
• Whether shop collections, tractor runs, Agri-shows, merchandise stands, or inside the suit of mascot Helimed Ted, the staff team know they can completely rely on Madison. He does everything with enthusiasm, confidence, and with his trademark ‘can do’ attitude.
• Madison doesn’t stop. Despite leading a busy life at school, helping his dad on the farm, and as a St. John’s Ambulance Cadet, Madison still gives up his time to volunteer during weekends and school holidays.
• He may not realise it, but he’s become a role-model for others and after persuading his dad to become a volunteer to accompany him at various events, he has also encouraged his mum and sister to all sign up as volunteers as well.
• Since Air Ambulance NI first began in 2017, quite literally, Madison has grown with the charity, and they feel extremely lucky to have him as a volunteer on this journey with them. Long may that journey continue! Madison Crawford is our Young Volunteer of the Year.

Winner: Angeline Murphy, NI Big Community Sew

• Angeline Murphy, from Magheralin, is a keen home stitcher and a former contestant on BBC’s Great British Sewing Bee. To play her part during the pandemic, Angeline set up an online fundraising page to help buy fabric for ‘NI Scrubs’, a group she helped set up.
• Within three days, a network of volunteers grew from 50 to 2,500 and Angeline had already raised thousands. Her individual efforts helped raise over £35,000 for fabric to create PPE and stitch up over 106,000 items for key workers.
• She used her sewing knowledge to source fabric, have her patterns cut from fabric en masse, and turned her home into a distribution hub for fabric and thread scrubs packs for stitchers across NI. Not only that, but she created YouTube sewing tutorials for home stitchers and kept shouting from the rooftops to keep the support coming.
• After NI Scrubs, she had £10k left in the pot and many willing hands, so joined forces with Business in the Community NI to create the NI BIG Community Sew.
• With their help, she secured an additional £26,000, allowing this sewing community to stitch 40,000 reusable face coverings. The enormous operation repeated all of the successes from the scrubs project, even creating a distribution channel through 21 SPAR Post Offices.
• Dedicating her entire maternity leave to fundraising and giving back to the community in a time of need, Angeline Murphy is our Chartered Institute of Fundraising NI Covid Champion.

Highly Commended: Cancer Research UK’s Legenderry Relay for Life

• In June 2021, the Legenderry Hope from Home event was born - stepping in to fill the void that was left by the arrival of COVID-19 the year before. We’ve heard about the traditional event already this afternoon, but this year was a very different online version.
• 20 teams of 400 individuals camped out at home in their bubbles, walked during the day, entertained by themed costume hours and a full programme of musical acts on Facebook. They also used social media to educate, telling personal cancer stories and hearing from cancer scientists on their ongoing work to beat cancer. The event raised £48,000 with no associated costs.

Winner: Clare Galbraith, Aware NI

• The Fundraising Team themselves took the time to write this nomination for their Head of Fundraising, Clare Galbraith.
• When asked to describe Clare and her leadership style, the team were unanimous — caring, inspiring and passionate about AWARE. An inspirational leader who has built the AWARE Fundraising Team into what it is today, growing from 4 to 9 members in 3 years and reaching income targets despite the global challenges.
• She brings the team together for a common goal - the need for good mental health. Clare approaches any situation with an infectious, positive attitude – inspiring the team to achieve more, work together and innovate.
• She understands and utilises the strengths of each team member, takes the time to get to know them and shows appreciation for their work. Her trust, loyalty and guidance empower the fundraising team to go above and beyond, but the team also know Clare is never far away for advice and support.
• Clare has been and continues to be an inspirational leader to AWARE’s fundraising team and is an integral part of AWARE as an organisation. Her creativity, innovation and passion has created a team who are inspired to work collaboratively and to the highest standard to achieve their goals, all of which makes Clare our ‘Fundraising Leader of the Year’.

Highly Commended: Sheila Duffy, Foyle Hospice

• Sheila took up position as Director of Income Generation and Communications with Foyle Hospice in April 2020, just as the pandemic took shape across the world.
• She didn’t let it faze her, relying on her wealth of fundraising and people management skills, knowledge and expertise. She shares that wisdom without question and will always seek creativity and innovation in fundraising.
• She has established great relationships both internally and externally including Londonderry Chamber of Commerce, Visit Derry and other community-based organisations, businesses, schools and individuals.
• Sheila is not the type of person to sit behind a desk and expect things to happen.

Winner: Natasha Mackay, Aware

• Natasha moved into the sector only a year ago, joining AWARE NI as Corporate Partnerships Officer. Following previous roles in marketing and communications, she fully immersed herself in life as a fundraiser, quickly forming strong relationships.
• Natasha has showed a real passion and willingness to learn about the charity’s work, confidently relaying this to supporters and potential corporate partners. Her account management skills became evident early on, and after a couple of weeks she took the lead on a brand-new partnership, which reached £15,000 only four months later.
• In her first year, Natasha has led several of AWARE NI's corporate partnerships and has worked closely with the team to generate over £240,000.
• Natasha is committed to building meaningful, mutually beneficial and tailored business relationships, helping drive positive mental health and wellbeing cultures within the workplace and beyond.
• She recently secured a partnership extension by working closely with AWARE NI's Head of Support Services, creating an opportunity for the company to support the development of a Young Person's Support Group in the North West.
• Natasha is a real asset to AWARE NI and has made a massive impact since joining the team.

Highly Commended: Lianne Mulholland, East Belfast Mission     

• Lianne Mulholland has a true passion for the vital transformative role of philanthropy in our communities.
• Having established a thriving Fundraising Department at East Belfast Mission, last year she led the team to exceed income targets by 75%, raising £237,556, and supported other organisations to raise over £100,000 as part of East Belfast Mission’s commitment towards partnership and collaboration, working together to create a stronger charity sector.
• Lianne goes above and beyond for our community, but also invests in herself, embarking on an MA in Philanthropic Studies to grow her skills and help answer the big questions about the fundraiser’s role in society. 

Winner: NI Big Community Sew

There’s no real surprise that we’re seeing this again as our final winner of the day.

• The winner of this year's Covid Champion award - Angeline Murphy and her team at NI Big Community Sew effectively stitched the Northern Ireland community together in a campaign that produced 40,000 re-usable face coverings at the height of the pandemic.
• They created, collected and distributed these essential pieces of kit, at zero cost to the local community, food banks, nursing homes and charity groups. If a quality face covering costs around £2.50, this project effectively saw a £100,000 investment directly into the hearts of local communities.
• Their Facebook Group teamed up with SPAR/EUROSPAR and Business in the Community to promote the campaign. With support from the Great British Sewing Bee’s Patrick Grant, three local government Ministers and the team at Translink, this collaborative approach saw incredible interaction across a range of media, equating to £150,000 of advertising value.
• They funded the initiative with an initial pot of £10,000 raised through Go Fund Me and local business and bolstered by £26,000 grant. Fabric and materials were donated and time was given freely, including Post Office staff time, delivery drivers on the roads and volunteers from local businesses making up packs. Not to mention the countless hours by the stitchers themselves.

Highly Commended: Lenten Appeal, Trócaire NI

Trócaire’s 2021 South Sudan Lent Appeal was one of the most successful in recent history and, with social distancing still in place, the charity adapted to new communications approaches across radio, digital channels and local parish social media.

This campaign:

• secured UK government support, with every local donation matched pound for pound.
• engaged seven partners across media, corporate and celebrity channels.
• Their communications work resulted over 7.5 million ‘Opportunities to View’.
• Their innovative approach generated new legacy and major donor prospects, recruited 641 donors and overall raised £3.2 million, exceeding target by 62%, over a third of all-Ireland income.