Weston Charity Awards: Leadership grants issued to 19 charities

A group of 19 small charities have won grants and leadership support as part of the annual Weston Charity Awards.

The awards, run by the Garfield Weston Foundation and leadership charity Pilotlight, today announced the 19 winning charities, which will receive a grant worth £6,500 and a year of tailored strategic planning support.

Winning charities, which submitted their entries in January, have income sizes ranging from £100,000 to £2m and work to combat issues such as domestic abuse, caring responsibilities and the risks of working in the sex industry.

They include Carer Support South Lakes, Dangerpoint, Doncaster Community Arts, Grace House North East, Eagle's Nest Project, Groundwork West Midlands and more.

Commenting on the awards, Pilotlight interim chief executive, Bruce McCombie said: “Weston Charity Award recipients are selected on the strength of their ambitions and their openness to external perspectives - attributes that will help them benefit most from working with our Pilotlighters.

“Success looks different for each charity we work with, be it in the Weston Charity Awards or through our other programmes. On average, our charity partners typically increase both their reach and income by more than a third within two years of the programme. But those figures only tell part of the story - digging down into individual charities’ experience, it’s not just about growth, we also see more focused services, increased confidence of the charity leaders and sustainable innovations benefitting communities across the UK.”