Charitable Funds Management Award
This Award recognises best practice in the management of charitable funds by the 300 charities associated with NHS trusts across the UK. It recognises excellence both in the use of resources to fund the charity’s purpose and in the way that funds and investments are managed as well as considering best practice in financial reporting.
Further detail on this Award can be found in HFMA’s 2009 Awards brochure.
Winner: Above and Beyond Charities
Overseeing more than 500 separate charitable funds, management of the Above and Beyond Charities needs to be top class. In 2008/09, it committed £4.3m to improving healthcare in Bristol, earning it the 2009 HFMA Charitable Funds Management Award. The organisation holds the charitable funds for the eight hospitals within University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, as well as those for Bristol Primary Care Trust and North Somerset Primary Care Trust.
Achievements
The charity is clear about its purpose – ‘to enhance healthcare in Bristol’ – and this plays a key role in any fundraising activity. Its vision, mission and values statement sets out four categories for which grants will be considered.
Systems and procedures play a pivotal role in ensuring the funds are managed effectively, and the organisation provides clear policy and procedures guidance to its staff, fund advisers and hospital staff.
The judging panel said the entry demonstrated best practice in several areas, such as the inclusion of summarised financial statements in the annual report – ‘a clever solution to avoiding the split of annual review from statutory report and accounts’.
The judges made several recommendations for enhancing the management of the funds, and Above and Beyond director Sarah Talbot-Williams said these had been taken on board.
'The judges' suggestions were very helpful as we always strive to get even better,’ she said. 'It's fantastic to win this award. There has been a huge amount of work done in partnership with the staff in the hospitals and the team in the charity. Effective financial management is vital to ensure we can enhance the work of the healthcare teams to deliver the best for patients in Bristol.’
Further detail on the winning entry is available in the HFMA 2009 Awards Supplement.
What the judges said
“This entry represented best practice in a number of areas. There is a welcome openness about excess reserves and the investment loss is well explained. Fundraising is an element, but the report is not unbalanced with an excess of marketing”
Further detail on the entry requirements, judging criteria and judges for this particular award can be found in the HFMA 2009 Awards Brochure.