Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales takes home prestigious 2019 charity award in the grantmaking and funding category
06 June 2019
Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales is delighted to be recognised as the leading grantmaker in the Civil Society Charity Awards for its commitment to helping small and local charities thrive for the long term.
The Foundation impressed the judges with the story of its five-year journey to support underfunded, under-resourced small and local charities to become more sustainable. Starting with a tiny pilot in 2014, offering 24 grantees access to either a consultant or a mentor from Lloyds Bank, the Foundation developed a capacity-building programme called Enhance.
Since then, 800 charities have become stronger, more effective and robust through the programme, which offers tailored support in areas such as marketing and communication advice, strategic planning and consultancy around income diversification.
The programme has helped charities initiate strategic changes, including one which was financially near to closure but was able to reduce services to the most important ones and then gradually start rebuilding
Integral to the programme’s success has been Lloyds Bank Foundation’s unique partnership with Lloyds Banking Group, which has provided more than 500 charity mentors, as well as other third sector partners, including Eastside Primetimers and Cranfield trust, who have helped develop offers that have effective impact on small and local charities.
Now entering its 20th year, the Charity Awards are the longest-running and most prestigious awards scheme in the charity sector, recognising charities that are innovative, exemplify best practice, and deliver sustainable benefit to communities and society in general.
On winning the Award, Paul Streets OBE, Chief Executive at Lloyds Bank Foundation said:
“We’re thrilled to have been recognised as the leading grantmaker at the Charity Awards last night. For 35 years we’ve been funding small charities but recognised that the underfunded, under-resourced heroes of our local communities needed support beyond grants to thrive in the long term. So, we developed a range of tailored support and committed to influence policy and practice.
We’re honoured that our work has been recognised through the Charity Awards and wish to thank our frontline staff, Trustees, partners and colleagues in Lloyds Banking Group. Above all, full credit must go to the small and local charities we have the privilege to partner with. They form the everyday lifelines for their local communities and without them a funder is nothing.”
Matt Nolan, chief executive of Civil Society Media which organises the Charity Awards, congratulated the Lloyds Bank Foundation on winning the highly-coveted award:
“We had more entries than ever before this year, and the standard was as high as ever, so the Lloyds Bank Foundation should be very proud to have won their category. Their programme has delivered great results.”
“For 20 years the Charity Awards have been recognising and celebrating the fantastic work that large and small charities do up and down the UK every day of the week, and the rigorous judging process ensures that only the very best-run charities win awards.”
To view the full list of award winners and shortlisted charities visit https://charityawards.co.uk/2019-awards/
For more information, please contact Press & Communications Officer Imthiaz Rehman on irehman@lloydsbankfoundation.org.uk.
About the Charity Awards
The Charity Awards 2019, now in its 20th year, is organised by Civil Society Media, publishers of Charity Finance, Fundraising and Governance & Leadership magazines and www.civilsociety.co.uk.
The Charity Awards is sponsored by Rathbones Investment Management. Rathbones is a constituent company in the FTSE4Good Index, an index of businesses that behave responsibly and demonstrate strong environmental, social and governance credentials. Rathbones also has its own charitable foundation which donates to various causes, and its employees raise large amounts of money each year for charity, which the firm matches.
The distinguished panel of judges for 2019 were:
Su Sayer OBE, chair, CPRE
Lynne Berry OBE, chair, Sustrans
Ruth Davison, executive director of impact and investment, Comic Relief
Martin Edwards, chief executive, Julia’s House
Richard Hawkes, chief executive, British Asian Trust
Petra Ingram, chief executive, Brooke
Mandy Johnson, chair, Institute of Fundraising South East and London committee
Sir John Low CBE, chief executive, Charities Aid Foundation
Jehangir Malik OBE, chief executive, Muslim Aid
Chris Michaels, director of digital, communications, and technology, the National Gallery
Cathy Phelan-Watkins, owner and director, Civil Society Media
Andrew Pitt, head of charities – London, Rathbones
Danielle Walker Palmour, director, Friends Provident Foundation
We had more entries than ever before this year, and the standard was as high as ever, so the Lloyds Bank Foundation should be very proud to have won their category. Their programme has delivered great results.
