Winners 2017
Jersey Charity Awards 2017 - Winners
Once again there were three categories for the 2017 Jersey Charity Awards:
- • Small Charity of the Year
- • Medium Charity of the Year
- • Large Charity of the Year
The awards were judged by an independent and diverse panel of judges comprising of Senator Paul Routier MBE; local businessman Kevin Keen; Arclight Solutions Ltd Senior Consultant Jane Galloway and Liz Le Poidevin Chairman of the Association of Jersey Charities, who were looking for examples of excellence, together with ideas and leadership to inspire and from which others can learn.
Prizes are to be awarded, for all 3 categories are as follows:
£5,000 to the winner of each category
£1,000 to the runner up of each category
£500 to the charity in third place for each category as listed below:
Small Charity of the Year - Short List
Jersey Marine Conservation
MPS Uganda
After Breast Cancer
Jersey Brain Tumour
Donna Annand Melanoma
The standard of entries in the small Charity of the Year category was indeed exceptional and extremely varied, from Jersey Brain Tumour Charity who support residents diagnosed with brain tumours, offering practical help and support, not just to the individuals but also, just as important - they offer much needed support to their friends, work colleagues and families.
All the causes in the small category, including Jersey Marine Conservation, who promote marine environmental education and Donna Annand Melanoma Charity, who’s volunteers have worked tirelessly to raise awareness of skin cancer, including recently branching out to raise awareness amongst professionals such as chiropractors, hairdressers and masseurs, are all deserving of an award and recognition.
3rd: After Breast Cancer Jersey
After Breast Cancer was set up to provide women diagnosed with breast cancer, emotional support and financial help with the purchase of items such as wigs, lymphoedema sleeves, cleaning, ironing, post operative bras etc.
In the last year, liaising with the local breast surgeon, they raised the funds to purchase a lipo sculpture machine to enable women to have a choice of reconstructive surgery that can be done on the island. At a cost of around £20k , this has improved the lives of people significantly, cutting down on the stress, time, loneliness and cost of having to go off island for the treatment, and at a time when they need their loved ones around them the most.
This was a well thought out initiative, purely voluntary driven which has had a significant impact in helping to restore confidence in women affected by breast cancer.
In 2015 After Breast Cancer was awarded the first prize, which helped them investigate the possibility of delivering exercises classes and healthy living talks, specifically designed for breast cancer patients to improve mobility and fitness, helping to increase stamina and improve confidence. It was great to read that this has come to fruition and the exercises classes and talks are proving to be very popular. We applaud the fact that they secured free use of the facilities at Heath Haus and that they ‘cut their cloth’ according to their budget, recognising that they couldn’t afford the extra luxury of offering free kit bags, demonstrating good governance principles and stewardship of donor money.
2nd: Jersey Marine Conservation
Jersey Marine conservation is a purely volunteer driven small charity that is ‘punching way above its weight’ having carried out a campaign to create Marine Protected Areas around our island waters and consequently bringing a halt to the destruction of key parts of the seabed.
Living on an island that’s renowned for its local fish and seafood the destruction of the seabed has seen a decline of most marine species at a catastrophic level, the JEC seabed cable survey revealed that 80% of the Granville Bay between Normandy and us has been dead for 15 years.
The volunteers at Jersey Marine Conservation have worked hard to gather data and analyse findings from their seabed surveys to identify areas around our shores at risk and to campaign for greater protection. Creating a Marine Protected Area ultimately benefits the whole community because if our seabed and sweater changes, the result would be catastrophic not just affected the marine species but also a vital food source and economy.
This multi-agency project has made us more aware of how vulnerable our marine environment is and through this award and the education outreach that Jersey Marine Conservation do, we hope that more people are made aware.
1st: MPS (Jersey) Uganda
This was a quantifiable viable project driven entirely by volunteers to raise the educational achievements of children at Mifumi Primary School in Uganda.
With a relatively small amount of money, just £19,000 for the purchase of text books, science apparatus, sports equipment, book shelves, mats for the library, guttering and solar electricity for the building, sanitary products and educational training for the teachers, a huge difference has been made, enabling an increase in the educational capability of the school and the quality of life for the pupils and other local inhabitants.
For example with no sanitary products many of the young girls had to miss school, with the absenteeism causing stigma which inhibited individual’s academic potential. The project provided 300 young girls with reusable sanitary pads that have helped them stay in school with dignity.
We liked the fact that it also linked to the education of children in Jersey, enlightening the younger generations to the issues facing people outside of Jersey and the fact they plan to develop closer links with an exchange programme in the years to come.
There was a clear demonstration of good leadership, a well thought out and implemented project plan that involved the beneficiaries in the decision making process and volunteers who went ‘above and beyond’ the normal call of duty, including the chairman – Matt Gorman who has dedicated a huge amount of time to the charity since 2013.
Medium Charity of the Year - Short List
The Credible Food project
Enable Jersey
Community Savings
Music in Action
Freedom for life Ministries
The entries in the Medium sized Charity of the Year category were again of an excellent standard, with many innovative and interesting initiatives, reflecting the diverse range of services delivered by medium sized organisations across the island.
We really liked what the Credible Food Project is trying do, by encouraging soil regeneration for healthier crops, cleaner water and cleaner air. They have produced higher yields of Jersey Royals with a better nutritional density without the use of agro chemicals that contribute to pollution in our drinking water, on our beaches and in our food. As they say ‘healthy soil produces healthy crops, which means we stay healthier’.
Community Savings have been working hard for many years now helping socially disadvantaged Jersey residents access basic financial services that most of us take for granted. Two years ago they were facing severe cuts in their government funding but have not only survived but come out of this difficult time with a more streamlined and appropriate service for clients, including modernising account access through smart phone technology and achieving a diversification in their funding stream.
Enable Jersey, formerly Jersey Society for the Disabled have also been through tough times as they underwent a restructuring of their services, to give people with disabilities better access to their services and a wider scope of activities.
It was a hard won contest with so many deserving causes that we wish all could have won an award.
3rd: Music in Action Limited
Music in Action provide outreach with musical educational programmes, designed to encourage and inspire children and young adults.
In June 2016, Music in Action launched the educational signing project – Jersey Sings! A huge double concert, spread over two days, at Fort Regent that involved the largest choirs ever to sing in Jersey.
Working in conjunction with Jersey Music Service they involved around 1400 participants, mainly children who benefitted through this educational project as it helped enhance, memory and language skills by them having to learn around 4000words off by heart. It also helped develop better breathing capabilities, better posture, boosted self-esteem and confidence, whilst also introducing many of them to music they had never heard before, such as gospel, pop and choral.
With cuts to the educational service and the withdrawal of free musical instrument tuition, the only medium that all children can take part in is singing. It was inspiring to hear about children discovering music, in this inclusive project that was capable of reaching every child, from all sorts of differing background’s, abilities and disabilities, to share the same stage and sing together.
This was a well organised, brilliantly costed out and thought through Jersey based initiative, that has the potential for sustainability through the development of additional income streams. At a cost of just £53 per child, in comparison to running the event in the UK, at £175 per child, the return on investment and additional benefits are commendable.
2nd: Enable Jersey
The Jersey Society for the Disabled was established in 1970, to serve the needs of disabled people in Jersey. Following a comprehensive strategic review, setting out the societies vision and plans to achieve its mission statement, a restructuring process commenced, to bring the charity in line with the times.
This involved consultations with all stakeholders, not all of whom were entirely comfortable with the proposed changes, which required some difficult decisions to be made. This included identifying the need for a more diverse and inclusive board that resulted in the resignation of some board members and appointment of new board members.
It was refreshing to read that the primary aims of updating the constitution, ensuing compliance with the Charities, Safeguarding, Employment and Data Protection laws have all been achieved, demonstrating good governance principles and practices are now in place.
Many positive outcomes have been achieved, which have included the addition of keep fit classes and better-quality meals on offer at the Thursday Club, the provision of bespoke holidays in conjunction with Maison Les Landes and more exciting activities for members with Wet Wheels. Volunteer drivers will also be getting trained in MIDAS and specially designed trikes will be provided for children with disabilities, in conjunction with the Lions Club and Variety.
The society faced difficult challenges that threatened its existence and lessons were learnt along the way but the charity now has a new more appropriate and positive name and is in a much better position to meet the needs of Jersey residents with disabilities.
1st: Freedom for Life Ministries
This group exists to give people a second chance in a non-judgmental, future -focused way, whilst not minimising the seriousness of a person’s past actions, they believe that everyone matters, has value and the potential to live life to the full.
In 2016 they established ‘Life Cycles’ a bicycle sales and servicing business in collaboration with the States of Jersey Police, to provide meaningful, enjoyable work placements for ex-prisoners, whilst also providing an element of holistic care and a sustainable income source for the charity.
Research has shown that there’s a direct link between reoffending and joblessness and by providing meaningful work placements this has significantly reduced reoffending.
This is a lovely example of an innovative social enterprise that has demonstrated collaboration with a multi agency approach.
They had to make a pitch for the work to Jersey States Police and then appoint a project manager. They chose Mark who has been through the system himself, so he is in a good position to help others on a similar path and a shining example of success.
There is a great synergy with this business model that re-purposes and up-cycles waste, as the organisation works with people who might feel discarded by society and gives them a new purposes in life – a new place in the world, which is in itself very empowering.
Large Charity of the Year - Short List
Brighter Futures
Centre Point Trust
Jersey Employment Trust
Autism Jersey
From the amazing work that Autism Jersey do, not just for their clients but to raise awareness, to the moving story presented by Brighter Futures, who significantly improve the life chances of families, we were impressed with the high quality of work and we found it difficult to decide the winners, as we felt all were worthy of recognition but after much debate the winners were unanimously agreed upon.
3rd: Centre Point Trust
Centre Point Trust provides nursery care to children aged 2-5 years, offering a breakfast, after school and holiday club for children aged 4-14 years. They support working parents irrespective of their individual circumstances and aim to provide less fortunate children with the same opportunities other children take for granted.
Centre Point have faced many challenges over the years and in September 2016, for the first time in 7 years they saw a radical drop in numbers, as a many primary schools opened up their own after school clubs, they lost an average of 60 children a week, which impacted seriously on their finances.
Not being able to compete (price wise) with schools they undertook a complete review of their operations, and staffing structure, after identifying a gap in the market, for 0-2 years olds. They then set about raising awareness of this new service through social media and invested in a new website, which is more interactive, with downloadable forms and the ability to pay online, helping to streamline their financial processes.
Centre Point recognised the need to change and adapt in order to survive and having ‘faced their demons’ they have overcome many difficult challenges, which included staff redundancies and a cutting of hours for some staff, they are now in a much stronger position.
This project has demonstrated strong leadership, good strategic business planning processes, financial acumen- that also involved a diversification of income streams and good board governance
2nd: Brighter Futures
Brighter Future has always been good at involving its beneficiaries in its remit and this project was one of the most inspiring as it positively empowered its client through the setting up of a drama group, who produce a theatre piece, shown at Jersey Arts Centre each year.
It is a great example of inclusion as the theatre piece tackles difficult topics, that depict real life stories and problems that affect our community. Over 50 parents have taken part, with each show a sell out it has reached over 1500 people, many of whom are professionals who work with the families.
The Theatre production is a real confidence booster for all who take part, whilst also encouraging and supporting mothers to open up, in a creative way and talk about their experiences. It helps to break down barriers to engagements between parents and professionals, especially when it comes to safeguarding and early intervention.
More important in a way is the impact this has on the actors who have experienced positive changes in their relationships, igniting a passion in many of the children for the performing arts and a new-found admiration for their mothers.
This is well thought out project that demonstrated good financial planning and great collaboration with the theatre director at the Arts Centre.
1st: Jersey Employment Trust
JET has been providing people with disabilities and long term health conditions secure work, training and support for a number of years now. They employ over 90 staff, with over 40% having disabilities or long-term health conditions.
Following a successful tendering process with the States of Jersey, they were selected as the charity now responsible for running Jersey’s Reuse Facility at La Colette. Tendering is not without its trials and tribulations and it was a bold step forward, they were prepared to take calculated risks and had the confidence to tender for this contract and we applaud them for that and hope that they become an example to other non profit making organisations.
The Reuse facility is open every day and staffed by JET clients who sort the items, such as furniture and white goods etc for either reuse, repair or for up-cycling where they are creatively transformed. It provides meaningful and empowering work opportunities for clients.
JET have demonstrated collaboration with other charities over this project, as many suitable items are given to charities such as MIND, Jersey Autism, Mencap and Headway Jersey.
This initiative ticked a number of boxes for the judges, it was a well organised, sustainable project that will help raise awareness of JET whilst also addressing an important, clear and increasing need in Jersey and we look forward to seeing it develop even further.
Outstanding Contribution.
And one last award, a special award this year, for someone who has been nominated as making an outstanding contribution to the charity they work with.
This person has made a huge contribution to the charity she works for. She has taken her daughter's wish and has instilled passion in all who volunteer for the charity and more widely to anyone who comes into contact with the charity. She provides the foundation for the charity's work and no one can comprehend the hours of work she has put into raising awareness of the issue they deal with here in Jersey. She is amazing and we are blessed to have her – the Charity, DONNA ANNAND MELANOMA CHARITY, the outstanding contribution goes to Donna's mother, ROSEMARY LE SAINT.