Terms & Conditions
What are the Charity Impact Awards?
The Charity Impact Awards celebrate the positive impact that charities, community and voluntary organisations and social enterprises have in people’s lives across Ireland.
A vibrant nonprofit sector is at the heart of a healthy society. However, this important contribution is all too often overlooked. The Charity Impact Awards aims to change this!
Who is behind the Charity Impact Awards?
The Wheel, Ireland’s national association of charities, community and voluntary organisations, and social enterprises developed the Charity Impact Awards to promote best practice and increase awareness of the significance and role of the sector.
We passionately believe that people, through their participation in community and voluntary organisations, charities, and social enterprises, play a central role in improving and enriching life in Ireland. The aim of the Awards is to recognise and showcase this important contribution.
What do we mean by “impact”?
“Impact” simply means making a positive difference in people’s lives. It can be tangible like a much-needed community amenity or essential service, or something intangible like increased confidence, a sense of community pride or inclusion and general well-being. Impact matters because it is the essence of why charities exist — why we do what we do.
Key Dates:
- 6 September 2021: Nominations open (9am)
- 1 October 2021: Nominations close (5pm)
- 13 October 2021: Public voting opens for all entries
- 3 November 2021: Public voting closes (5pm)
- 8 November 2021: Shortlist announced
- 7 December 2021: Charity Impact Awards
For category-specific terms & conditions, please click on the tabs below.
This award celebrates the work of community and voluntary organisations, charities, clubs, or groups that have brought about positive change.
Eligibility Criteria
There are three subcategories of the Charity Impact Award, and they are open to:
- Small Organisations
This category is open to all independently governed and constituted community, voluntary or charitable organisations with no paid staff.
- Medium-sized Organisations
This category is open to organisations with paid staff and annual turnover of up to €1 million. All entrants in this category must be registered with the Charities Regulator.
- Large Organisations (with paid staff and annual turnover over €1 million)
This category is open to organisations with paid staff and annual turnover of over €1 million. All entrants in this category must be registered with the Charities Regulator.
Please note: you can enter this category or the Social Enterprise of the Year category, but not both.
Assessment Criteria
1. Tell us about the issue(s) this organisation is tackling and why it’s important
Assessment Criteria:
Clarity on the organisation’s vision, mission and purpose. Why was the organisation set up? What is it trying to change or do? Why is it important to do this? Has this been answered clearly and concisely?
2. How does your organisation go about tackling these issues?
Assessment Criteria:
How does the organisation help people or a community? What is the organisation’s approach to this work? Why is this approach working?
3. Tell us about a case where the organisation has made a positive difference.
Assessment Criteria:
Has the organisation’s story been told well? Has the organisation made a positive difference? Each application is encouraged to provide a case study which illustrates the impact of the organisation’s work, and also a quote or endorsement.
4. What has the overall impact of this work been and how do you measure it?
Assessment Criteria:
Does the application demonstrate the impact of the organisation on the wider community — locally, regionally and/or nationally? Do they include facts and figures that reflect the success, as well as detailing the methodology that produced them? How well is the overall impact of the organisation described?
5. What makes your organisation special?
Assessment Criteria:
What is the organisation’s unique selling-point? What makes the organisation different from others working in the same field/area?
6. How can the public support your work?
Assessment Criteria:
How clear is this and how accessible is it for the public to support the work?
7. Describe how your organisation is transparent and accountable
Assessment Criteria:
Does the organisation comply with relevant codes or standards?
This award recognises the impact of social enterprises. Social enterprises are organisations that engage in trading activity in a way to achieve their social mission, or to generate a contribution to the cost of delivering their mission.
Eligibility Criteria
Any trading income or surplus the organisation generates is reinvested in the enterprise and not distributed to directors or shareholders.
An organisation can only enter this category or the Charity Impact Award category, not both.
Assessment Criteria
1. Tell us about the issue(s) this social enterprise is tackling and why it’s important
Assessment Criteria:
Why was the Social Enterprise set up? What is it trying to change or do? Why is it important to do this?
2. How does the social enterprise go about tackling these issues?
Assessment Criteria:
How does the organisations help people or a community? What’s the organisation’s approach to this work? Why does this approach make sense? What is the organisation’s unique selling-point? What makes the organisation different from others working in the same field/area?
3. Tell us about a case where the social enterprise has made a positive difference.
Assessment Criteria:
Has the organisation’s story been told well? Has the organisation made a positive difference?
4. What has the overall impact of this work been and how do you measure it?
Assessment Criteria:
Does this answer demonstrate the impact of the Social Enterprise on the wider community – locally, regionally and/or nationally – including some facts and figures that reflect the success?
5. What is your social enterprise’s approach to earning income?
Assessment Criteria:
How successfully does the social enterprise earn income? What has it done to maximise the contribution that earned income can make towards the cost of service? How does this approach differentiate its work from other approaches?
6. How does your organisation grow its customer base?
Assessment Criteria:
How successfully and strategically does the organisation employ sales and marketing tactics? How relevant are the methods they have employed to grow their customer base?
This award aims to shine a light on voluntary trustees who have made an extraordinary contribution to an organisation.
Eligibility Criteria
Any trustee [i.e. board member, committee member, etc.] of an organisation’s board can be nominated.
Assessment Criteria
1. What is the purpose of the nominee’s organisation, and how has the nominee advanced that purpose?
Assessment Criteria:
What is inspiring, creative, innovative and unique about the nominee and their value to the organisation? Consider any special skills, experience or qualities that make them stand out. Consider how the organisation and the people it serves have benefited from the nominee’s involvement. How has the nominee’s involvement made a positive impact on the organisation and the people it serves? How long have they been a Trustee?
2. How has the nominee demonstrated leadership within the organisation?
Assessment Criteria:
Does this question give us an impression the nominee’s character or skills? Is the nominee inspiring and committed to the organisation?
3. What good practice standards has the nominee championed within the board?
Assessment Criteria:
Has the nominee integrated good practice standards — new or existing — into how the board (and the organisation) works? Have they helped the board to do the best work that it can?
4. What makes the nominee a particularly effective trustee?
Assessment Criteria:
Has the nominee has helped to ensure that the board (and by consequence, the organisation) runs effectively? In what ways do they stand out?
5. How has the nominee upheld standards of transparency and accountability within the organisation?
Assessment Criteria:
How has the nominee helped to ensure that the organisation complies with the relevant codes or standards?
The Community Hero Award (in association with the Volunteer Ireland Awards) is a lifetime achievement award honouring a volunteer who has made an extraordinary contribution to a good cause over the course of their lifetimes. This Award aims to shine a light on those remarkable individuals who, year after year, dedicate their time and energy to supporting a community and voluntary organisation, club or associations.
Eligibility Criteria
The ten longest-serving volunteers from the 30 shortlisted nominees of the Volunteer Ireland Awards are eligible to be selected for the Community Hero Award.
Assessment Criteria
The Individual: Consider what is inspiring, creative, innovate and unique about the nominee.
Their Dedication: Consider the dedication, the work, the time and commitment the person puts into their role.
Their Impact: Consider how inspiring their story is and how impactful their actions have been on the organisation and the people that it serves.
Shortlisting, Voting, and Judging
Each application that fulfils the Eligibility Criteria for their category [see above] will be published on www.charityimpactawards.ie.
All awards will be presented at a special online ceremony on 7 December 2021.
Charity Impact Award, Social Enterprise of the Year, and Trustee of the Year
Voting:
All accepted entries will be open to public voting from 13 October to 3 November 2021. The public vote will help to determine our final shortlist.
A weighting of 25% will be given to the public voting. Within each category, it will work as follows:
The total number of votes is counted and each of the 5 organisations is given a percentage based on its percentage of that overall vote. For example, if the total votes are 2,000, and one organisation gets 800 votes out of that total, it will be assigned 40% of that overall vote. This 40% will provide 25% of the total score for that entry.
Shortlisting:
A shortlist of 5 entries will be drawn up for each category, using the specific Assessment Criteria. The Shortlisting Process is carried out by The Wheel’s staff, also taking into account the number of public votes received by each entry.
Judging:
The judging will be done by a panel of independent judges, details of whom will be available on the Charity Impact Awards website prior to the judging taking place, using the specific Assessment Criteria.
Within each category, it works as follows: Judges scoring – each organisation will be marked out of 100 by each judge, and the total score will determine the winner within each category.
Community Hero Award
Shortlisting:
This category is not open to applications, nominations come directly through the Volunteer Irelands Awards
A shortlist of 5 entries will be drawn up by Volunteer Ireland and the panel of Judges will a single winner in this category. There will be no public voting for this category.
Prizes
The winning entry in each category (excluding the Mary Redmond Award) will receive a €1,000 prize.
This prize money will go to the winning organisation, or, in the case of the Trustee of the Year and Community Hero categories, to the organisation with which the individual is affiliated.
Other Terms & Conditions
By submitting this application, you are agreeing to the below terms of the competition.
Obligation to Use Your Application Form
By entering this application you are acknowledging and agreeing that The Wheel and its partners are not required to host, display, accept, consider any entered or submitted application to the Charity Impact Awards, and you further agree that if The Wheel determines that your entry does not meet eligibility requirements for any reason, The Wheel may, at its sole discretion, remove your submission from the contest at any time.
Agree to Be Bound
By entering, entrants agree to be bound by the decisions of the shortlist and judges and these official rules and to comply with laws and regulations as well as all rules and terms of use posted on http://www.chairtyimpact.ie
Further, The Wheel reserves the right to (a) modify the Terms & Conditions / Rules of the campaign at any time during the National Charity Impact Awards and (b) cancel, terminate or modify any transmission or other activity not capable of completion as planned, including by reason of infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, force majeure or technical failures of any sort.
Not Responsible for Technical Difficulties
The Wheel and those working for or on its behalf will not be responsible for lost, late, misdirected, damaged, submissions or attempted submissions, or for e-mail, internet, computer hardware and software, phone, and/or any other technical errors, malfunctions, and delays that may prevent you from uploading your application into the competition, or interfere with your compliance of the rules of this competition. All responsibilities related to submitting a qualifying entry fall on you, the entrant or potential entrant.
Entry Compliance and Entry Disputes
- Entry is open to recognised community and voluntary organisations, clubs, social enterprise or associations on the island of Ireland.
- The Wheel will validate all entries and will determine, at its sole discretion, whether each application meets the entry criteria detailed herein for acceptance as an entry into the contest. If there is any doubt as to which category of the competition the submitting organisation fits in to, The Wheel reserves the right to change the category and information the submitting organisation that it has done so.
- The Wheel also reserves the unqualified right to investigate the bone fides of any organisation, club or association, or of any private business or individual that are mentioned or featured in an entry. We reserve the right not to accept, or to disqualify an entry, if we are not fully satisfied with the authenticity and validity of the credentials of either the entrant or any associated entity. You understand that The Wheel is under no obligation to disclose its reasons for not accepting an entry.
- The opening and closing date and time for entries (in all categories) are as indicated on http://www.charityimpact.ie. Any entries received after 5pm (GMT) on 1 October 2021 will be disregarded, and will not appear on the website.
- The Wheel will validate all entries and will determine, at its sole discretion, whether each application meets the entry criteria detailed herein for acceptance as an entry into the contest.
- Public voting will open on the 13 October and remain open until the 3 November. At the same time as the public voting is taking place the Judging Panel will review the shortlist and award marks. The winner in each category will be decided by combining the results of the public voting and the judges’ marks taking the public voting and judge’s marks together.
Voting Procedure
Individuals are allowed to vote once in each category. Only votes that have been verified by email will be counted. The competition organisers are not obliged to disclose the number of votes recorded for individual entries. The Wheel is not responsible for votes lost or not recorded due to technical or communication failures. Voting opens at 9am on 13 October 2021 and closes at 5pm on 3 November 2021.
Promotion/Publicity
By submitting an entry, you grant The Wheel and its partners the right to use information and content provided by you for publicity and institutional promotional purposes to the extent permitted by law. You understand and agree that The Wheel may request more information from you for such purposes, should your application become shortlisted or a winner. The shortlisted agree to participate in such reasonable publicity as may be requested by The Wheel and their partners.
Release from Liability
Entrants agree that The Wheel and related individuals or entities as well as our sponsors shall not be liable for losses or injuries of any kind resulting from acceptance of award, participation in the contest, individual, joint or collective technical malfunctions of the telephone network and/or transmission line, computer on-line system, computer dating mechanism, computer equipment, hardware and/or software, or any delay or distortion of an entry resulting from data transmissions that are garbled, incomplete, misdirected, lost, mutilated, delayed, corrupted, mechanically duplicated, illegible or otherwise not in compliance with these official rules.
Furthermore, you also agree that The Wheel and its partners are not liable in any way for any false claims, inaccuracies or illegal content contained in your video or in associated information links or external websites.
Data Protection
The data, which is provided by entrants when they enter the awards, will be held by The Wheel. Entrants’ data will be shared with the judging panel, but it will not be shared with, or sold to, any external parties or commercial entities.
Video and Photos
You consent to any video and photos given as part of the application to be used by The Wheel. If you are posting photos of children under the age of 18, you must ensure that you have written consent from a legal guardian.
Note: for all contests, video have a maximum length of 90-seconds. The Charity Impact Awards team may grant a grace period of up to an additional 15-seconds for each video.
Disqualification
Any organisation that attempts to distort or manipulate the results of the competition will be disqualified.
Accuracy of Information Supplied by Entrants
The organisers are not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by entrants.
The Wheel reserves the right to modify or vary these terms and conditions at any time.
Appendix
Governing Body — The term Governing Body includes a steering committee, Council, Board, Management Committee or Executive.
Trustee — The term trustee can include members of a steering committee, council members, directors, member of the management committee or executive members.