The Charity of the Year award celebrates organisations that have had a particularly special year. For example, by delivering a new area of work, overcoming challenging circumstances or celebrating a big anniversary.
This award recognises achievement in every area of your organisation.
You don’t have to be a national organisation to apply for this award, but you should demonstrate the impact of your work as widely as possible in the communities you support. We will have three award winners in this category to better represent the make up of our membership and the voluntary sector: a small organisation with under £100k turnover, an organisation with £100k to £500k turnover, and a larger organisation with over £500k turnover.
Judging criteria
Our judges want to understand the story of your organisation and will be looking for evidence of the difference that you have made. In your answers and supporting evidence you should try to include:
- A clear outline of what your organisation does
- The story of what made this year special
- Facts and figures that highlight how you’ve achieved your success
- Real-life examples of the impact of your work, which may include case studies and/or testimonials
You can save your progress as you go through the application form to avoid losing your information. Once you reach page 3 there will be a 'Save progress' button at the end of each page.
If you would like to review all the questions and criteria for this category before you begin your application, please visit our 'Useful information' page.
Would you like some support to complete your awards application? Please get in touch if you need any help or have any questions about completing your application. We'll be happy to help.
The closing date for applications is 12 noon on 17 March 2026. The judging panel can’t consider applications received after the deadline so please leave yourself plenty of time to apply.
