Finalists 2022
We are pleased to announce this year's Scottish Charity Awards finalists. The shortlist includes 32 inspirational individuals, projects and organisations from across Scotland’s voluntary sector. Our judging panel will determine the winners across our nine categories at the Scottish Charity Awards ceremony on 23 June.
Members of the public can have their say by voting for their favourite overall entry in the People's Choice Award sponsored by SCVO Credit Union. Voting closes at 5pm on Friday 26 May. You only have ONE vote, so choose your favourite carefully!
If you would like to find out the winners of all our Awards categories, you can now book to attend our celebratory awards ceremony which will be held on Friday 23 June at the Sheraton Hotel, Edinburgh!
All finalists
#United2EndMND - MND Scotland, My Name'5 Doddie Foundation and MND Association
#United2EndMND is a unique coalition of Motor Neuron Disease patients, MND Scotland, My Name'5 Doddie Foundation, MND Association, and leading researchers, with a single aim - to campaign for UK Government to invest £50 million into targeted MND research to accelerate the search...
Abbie Wilson - Young Scot
Abbie Wilson is Vice-Chair of Young Scot. During her time as a young volunteer with us, Abbie supported us by taking part in our Youth Commission on Smoking Prevention, by volunteering for the Commonwealth Games Youth Legacy Ambassadors programme, and volunteering for Year of...
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Carol Topper - Playlist for Life
Carol lives with dementia and first discovered Playlist for Life in 2017 at her local Help Point, St Andrew’s Church in Carluke. Carol is supported by her husband, Malcolm. Since then Carol has been a media volunteer for Playlist for Life, helping the charity to spread the word...
Christopher Mathers - Quarriers
Chris became a volunteer with Epilepsy Community Outreach after being diagnosed in his 30s and receiving support from the service. As well as being part of his local epilepsy support group, he now also facilitates sessions and has always made it a fun, engaging and welcoming...
Claire Wadsworth - Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs
Routes works with young people aged 12-26 who are affected by a loved one’s alcohol and drug use in East and West Dunbartonshire. Substance use at home can be devastating for young people, and stigma can lead to them being judged and misunderstood. It can also affect their...
Covid Aid
Based in Scotland, Covid Aid is the UK’s national charity dedicated to supporting those significantly affected by Covid-19. We are here for people throughout the pandemic and beyond. By building an empowering and caring community, we help anyone who may not have found the right...
COVID-19 Pop-up Vaccine Centre - Camphill School Aberdeen
Our POP-UP COVID-19 vaccination centre was the first of its kind in Scotland for young people with learning disabilities; delivering vaccines to 98% of all those eligible - ahead of the national average. In partnership with the NHS, we transformed our gym into a “pop-up...
Dads Rock
Dads often feel excluded or forgotten about when it comes to parenting services and support. Dads Rock has spent the past decade supporting and championing Dads in Scotland, helping them to build nurturing, positive relationships and provide their children with a great start in...
Earn Your Stripes – building skills to champion wildlife - Scottish Badgers
‘Earn Your Stripes – building skills to champion wildlife’ is a unique skills development project supporting the next generation of wildlife champions. Charities Scottish Badgers and Scottish Wildlife Trust joined forces to provide a structured 4-6 week training programme for 1...
Elgin Sports Community Trust
ESCT is a local charity that has built an all-weather sports complex for use by all ages, genders and abilities within the community. We provide health and social welfare opportunities and work with other charities to provide a safe and accessible space. We have so far created...
FeldyRoo
#FeldyRoo was set up at the beginning of the Pandemic to provide hot meals two times a day, free newspapers and a friendly chat for isolating residents in Highland Perthshire during both lockdowns. During this period a team of 140 volunteers, 10 hospitality businesses...
Gail Burden - Sleep Scotland/Teens+
Gail joined us in January 2021 at a time where the charity had been struggling. Gail used an inclusive approach to quickly review the organisation and rapidly implement changes. Thanks to Gail’s unwavering commitment to deliver rapid transformation, we are now a happy, healthy...
Green Hive
We are passionate about Community led positive action, and supporting the development of innovative and sustainable products, services and solutions focused on our three core areas of activities: Green Environment, Green Enterprise and Green Infrastructure. We facilitate and...
Hana Bútorová - Citywise Mentoring Ltd
Hana has devoted years of love and service to the vulnerable children that Citywise supports in the east end of Glasgow. Initially a volunteer, then a project leader, Hana is now our Programmes Director, responsible for our curriculum and the delivery of all project work. In her...
Heather Bryson - Dementia and Disabled Services
Heather, (age 9) re-cycles, making gifts that she sells, raising money for Dementia services. Volunteers time for various community and global projects. She produces exercise videos, hosts zoom sessions for care homes/day cares encouraging people to participate in gentle...
Ian Monteague - FARE Scotland
Ian Monteague has been involved with FARE for 32 years and is now the current chairperson. Ian is passionate about reducing poverty in all its forms. He has assisted the organisation to grow from a community meeting in 1989 to employing 74 staff. FARE provide services throughout...
Inclusion Scotland
Despite growing international recognition of the susceptibility of disabled people to climate impacts, disability issues have received little attention from practitioners and policymakers internationally, and in the context of climate governance in Scotland. Inclusion Scotland’s...
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Inside Out - Staf/CYCJ: Youth Justice Voices and Barnardo's Scotland: Outside In HMP&YOI Polmont
Inside Out is a youth-led steering group for care-experienced boys and young men in HMPYOI Polmont and is part of Staf and CYCJ’s Youth Justice Voices project. Through pro-social and creative participation activities the boys “speak out" to improve the care and justice systems...
Inverclyde Community Development Trust
Our Greenock Zero Waste Community Pantry is a membership-led, volunteer-run shop selling nutritious, affordable, surplus food. We get supermarket food intended for landfill, fresh produce grown by Inverclyde Shed, and reach the community through several local partner...
Jane Clifford - Parkinson's UK Scotland
Parkinson’s is a complex, progressive brain condition. Over time people need increasing levels of care. Volunteer educators like Jane inspire care professionals to deliver more effective care. Jane enabled our 30 volunteer educators to continue to support professionals - and...
Juliana Amaral - Berwickshire Association of Voluntary Services (Bavs)
Juliana was appointed in September 2020, joining the organisation during one of the most challenging times in the 50 years of Bavs' existence. In a very short period of time, she managed to transform the charity, from systems implementation to new policies, new innovative...
Kate Clark - Kairos Women+
Kairos Women+ is a community-led women's organisation based in Paisley, Renfrewshire. We believe in the power of collaborative decision-making and bringing women and non-binary people together to make change in their community! Kate Clark has been part of our community since 201...
Langholm Initiative – Creating the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve
The community of Langholm made the headlines in 2021 with its historic land buy out from Buccleuch Estates. A huge fundraising campaign spearheaded by a small community in Dumfries and Galloway raised £3.8m in just 6 months to bring 5,200 acres of land into community ownership...
Leuchie House
Leuchie House, Scotland's National Respite Centre for people living with neurological conditions, has made giant strides over the past year by embracing digital initiatives and innovation. We are particularly proud to have established a new Centre for Enabling Technology, led by...
Miren Ochoa Sagues - People Know How
People Know How's Head of Service & Research Miren has dedicated her passion to People Know How and the last year has really shown that the sky is the limit for her when it comes to helping others. From Miren’s drive to support people we have seen our services grow beyond our...
My Own Front Door - ENABLE Scotland
My Own Front Door is a campaign to uphold the human rights of all adults who have a learning disability in Scotland to live in the home they choose, in the community they choose, close to the people they love, by 2023. The campaign required priority action on an issue first...
Nan Fotheringham - Coatbridge Citizens Advice Bureau
Without volunteers we wouldn't have a Citizens Advice Bureau and the local community would lose out on the place that everyone goes to when they need advice to resolve an issue. Our volunteers are the first point of contact with people, they are highly trained advisers...
Nina Murray - Engender
In the wake of the sudden death of Engender's Executive Director, Emma Ritch, Nina has provided unswerving and compassionate support to the Board and staff despite her own loss. Nina agreed to extend her time in office as Convenor to provide continuity as the organisation and...
Pat Carragher - Children's Hospices Across Scotland
After nearly 40 years of practicing as a doctor and 26 years working for CHAS, Dr Pat is retiring as Medical Director in summer 2022. In this time, Dr Pat has helped children with life-shortening conditions and their families across the whole of Scotland, ensuring that no one...
Raza Sadiq - Active Life Club
Raza Sadiq has worked tirelessly for over 23 years in the voluntary sector, committed to promoting diversity and inclusion within the community, using sport as the mechanism to create social cohesion. The Youth Empowerment slogan has amplified young people into men/women...
Royal Zoological Society of Scotland
Covid-19 forced the closure of Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park for several months, which removed almost all our charity’s income. But in 2021, thanks to our Save our Zoos campaign, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s family grew as people showed their love of...
Ruth Hart - Kairos Women+
Kairos Women+ is a community-led women's organisation based in Paisley, Renfrewshire. We believe in the power of collaborative decision-making and bring women and non-binary people together to make change in their community! Ruth Hart has been a volunteer since January 2020. She...
S.M.I.L.E Counselling
S.M.I.L.E Counselling is a free counselling service for 11-24 year olds. S.M.I.L.E has seen so many changes in the last year, from our growth in reach to clients through our various counselling services and development of new projects that will enable further awareness around...
Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs
Scottish Families supports anyone concerned about someone else’s alcohol or drug use. Families can face anger, stress, isolation, loneliness, financial problems and anxiety all while trying to support their loved one. Substance use remains a critical issue in Scotland with stigma...
Shaper/Caper
We are a unique team of playful, kind, supportive and curious people with a ‘can-do’ attitude. Our Mission is “Dance for All”, an invitation to share our journey with everyone who wishes to come along with us. Regardless of the challenges that we may encounter, we always have...
Simon Community Scotland
Life Cycles combines our objectives for Healthy Working Lives, positively impacting on climate change and and better by design services. We chose cycling as a healthy, affordable and environmentally friendly means of travel, as well as being a fun one. Life Cycles equipped the...
Simon Community Scotland
We have successfully developed a model to help people experiencing homelessness to participate in the digital world. Get Connected 100 provided digital devices, unlimited connectivity and support from a trained digital champion based around a digital skills framework - informed...
Sustainable Thinking Scotland CIC
With our green waste recycling project, we aim to create a circular economy around biochar - stable carbon obtained from 'baking' biomass. We produce this from local wood waste, providing significant carbon savings of 3 tCO2e removed for each tonne we convert, and the finished...
The Access Hub - Simon Community Scotland
The Access Hub is a uniquely formed space that has reshaped services and their impact for people at risk of or experiencing homelessness in Glasgow. Psychologically informed the design creates a safe, engaging and welcoming venue for people to connect with over 40 different...
The Big Hare Trail - Leuchie House
The Big Hare Trail allowed us to mark our 10th Anniversary as an independent charity by shouting from the rooftops that Leuchie is ‘Hare to Stay’. The campaign overcame the challenges of fundraising during the pandemic in a fun and engaging way. Leuchie worked in partnership...
The Forget Me Notes Project
Our charity uses music to build community, combat social isolation and aid self-expression. Through the pandemic we have found that embracing digital ways of working has enabled us to better support people living with dementia and others: • Zoom choir has created a community of...
The Larder
The Larder believes in the power of learning and its’ ability to change lives. We are an award-winning Social Enterprise, dedicated to the alleviation of poverty and for every person, regardless of their start in life, to reach their full potential, given the right time, space...
Wellbeing Works, Dundee
The Team at Wellbeing Works demonstrated creativity, tenacity and determination over the last couple of years, to help people who face mental health challenges to keep well as they navigated the impacts of the pandemic. Within the last 18 months, the organisation has also moved...
West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare
West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare provides support to anyone affected by poverty across West Dunbartonshire. We offer Emergency Food Provision, a Babybank, a School Uniform Bank, School Holiday Brunch Bag Project, a Fuel Poverty Project, and a Christmas Toybank. Due to...
