Kings Fund - Community health and wellbeing charities win GSK IMPACT Awards for excellence

28 Feb 2017 09:41 AM

Ten charities from across the UK have won a prestigious national award for improving health and wellbeing in their communities.

The charities are the winners of the 2017 GSK IMPACT Awards, run with The King’s Fund, and will each receive £30,000 as part of the prize. The winners went through a rigorous assessment process and beat more than 400 organisations to achieve the accolade.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the GSK IMPACT Awards, GSK’s flagship UK community investment programme. Since the awards began in 1997, more than 420 charities have won an award and funding totalling more than £5.8 million.

The 10 winners of the 2017 GSK IMPACT Awards are:

  • Basis Yorkshire – supporting female sex workers in Leeds and young people being sexually exploited or at risk
  • Carers Leeds – providing services for unpaid carers who look after family, friends, or neighbours in Leeds
  • Coventry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre – offering support to people in Coventry who have experienced sexual or domestic abuse
  • First Steps – a charity for people with eating disorders in Derbyshire
  • Healthy n Happy Community Development Trust – an organisation running health development and promotion activities in South Lanarkshire
  • PAC-UK – offering support to those affected by adoption
  • Sahir House – an HIV support, information and advice centre in Merseyside
  • Sight Cymru – supporting people in Wales who have lost or are losing their sight to live independently
  • Student Minds – helping university students to look after their own mental health and support friends experiencing mental health difficulties
  • Tyneside Women’s Health – a charity providing services to help women in Tyneside improve their mental health and emotional wellbeing.

As well as the £30,000 in funding, winning charities are given access to free training and leadership development. They are also invited to join the GSK IMPACT Awards Network, a national network of more than 70 award-winning health and wellbeing charities working together to develop their leaders, find new ways of working and support others.

The 10 winning charities will receive their awards at a ceremony at the Science Museum in London on Thursday 18 May. An overall winner will be named on the night and awarded an additional £10,000.

Katie Pinnock, Director of UK & Ireland Charitable Partnerships at GSK, said:

‘The winners of the 2017 GSK IMPACT Awards are a diverse group of charities running a range of services in different parts of the country, but they all share a commitment to excellence and a record of success in improving community health and wellbeing.

‘This year marks the 20th anniversary of the GSK IMPACT Awards and we’re so proud of all the winning charities and their fantastic achievements. We look forward to celebrating and supporting more community health and wellbeing charities in the future.’

Lisa Weaks, Head of Third Sector at The King’s Fund, said:

‘Charities have an increasingly important part to play in the health and care system. Small, local charities are often well-placed to understand a community’s needs and can respond flexibly and creatively to health and wellbeing challenges.

‘The GSK IMPACT Awards programme, which provides training and development opportunities as well as funding, has proved to be a great source of support for these charities. It’s also a wonderful way of highlighting the UK’s top community health and wellbeing charities and their amazing work taking place all over the country.’

Notes to editors: 

GSK IMPACT Awards

The GSK IMPACT Awards, run in partnership with The King’s Fund, are designed to recognise the outstanding work of community-based health care charities. An introductory video can be viewed at www.uk.gsk.com/gskimpactawards

The awards are open to charities working in health and wellbeing with an annual income of between £25,000 and £2 million that are at least three years old. The name ‘IMPACT’ derives from the criteria that winners must have demonstrated in their application submissions: Innovation, Management, Partnership, Achievement, Community Focus and Targeting Need. For more information visit www.kingsfund.org.uk/gskimpactawards

This year £340,000 in prize money will be awarded to UK charities through the GSK IMPACT Awards.

The 2017 winners have been selected by a judging panel of health and charity experts including Dawn Austwick, Chief Executive of Big Lottery Fund; Gilly Green, Head of UK Grants at Comic Relief; Michelle Mitchell, Chief Executive of MS Society and NHS England board member; Lord Michael Bichard; Sir Philip Hampton, Chair of GSK; and Sir Christopher Kelly, Chair of The King’s Fund.

The 2018 GSK IMPACT Awards will be open for applications in July 2017. For further information, visit www.kingsfund.org.uk/gskimpactawards

GSK – one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and health care companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. For further information please visit www.gsk.com

The King's Fund is an independent charity working to improve health and care in England. We help to shape policy and practice through research and analysis; develop individuals, teams and organisations; promote understanding of the health and social care system; and bring people together to learn, share knowledge and debate. Our vision is that the best possible health and care is available to all. For further information visit www.kingsfund.org.uk

Contacts

Photos, interviews and case studies are available.

For further information please call Jack Graves, Press and Public Affairs Manager, The King’s Fund, on 020 7307 2582 or j.graves@kingsfund.org.uk

For further information about GSK please contact Gavin Davies, Senior External Communications Manager, on 07341 079858 or gavin.x.davies@gsk.com