Our Awards
As a small charity we are very proud to have won several awards for our work in Kenya, particularly for our flagship Seed of Hope vocational training and business skills programme.
Improving Impact – Charity Governance Award 2022 – Winner
The Clothworkers’ Company selected Raising Futures Kenya as the winner of the Improving Impact category at their annual Charity Governance Awards. Here’s what the judging panel said:
“The judges felt RFK demonstrated visionary leadership in prioritising the needs of the local community and taking a dynamic approach to streamlining it’s programmes.
The board has also focused on shifting power to local communities and developing local leadership in Kenya — the organisation brought most of its programmes into community ownership and is empowering its implementation partner for the ‘Seed of Hope’ to take on more operational and strategic decision-making. The judges were impressed by RFK’s ambitions to share learning from the process of shifting power from organisations in the Global North to those implementing the projects in the Global South.
All this has been underpinned by a more rigorous approach to impact measurement. The judges were particularly struck by RFK’s decision to focus on its most impactful programme and felt this demonstrated the organisation’s ambition to focus on depth of impact over breadth. Working closely with partners from communities to collect data using a range of quantitative and qualitative methods has also enabled RFK to be more agile in responding to change and supported continuous improvement of its programme.”
Andy King (Chair), Olivia Geymond (Deputy Chair) and Mike Doris (Treasurer) were proud to represent Raising Futures Kenya at the awards ceremony in London.
Diversity and Inclusion Award for Best NGO on Promotion of Human Rights 2022 – Finalist
In 2022 we were shortlisted as a finalist in the Diversity and Inclusion Awards in the category for Best NGO on Promotion of Human Rights, held in Nairobi.
We were nominated for our work over the last 20 years to support and encourage inclusion in education for children with disabilities. Our nomination statement said:
“Raising Futures Kenya supports Kirunguru School in Kandara District and Percy Davies School in Kambiti, offering specialist residential education, therapies and personal care. They work with parents and the wider community to challenge stigma and harmful attitudes towards disabled people and work with partners to carry out assessments on children from the local communities and advise parents on educational and care plans. They work to get disabled children into mainstream education where possible.”
We are proud to announce that both specialist education schools are now fully financially independent, no longer requiring funding from us, thanks to community ownership and support from the Ministry of Education.
Mary Mwangi (Operations Director) and Florence Olwenge (Seed of Hope Manager) were very proud to represent the charity at the awards ceremony in Nairobi.
Small Charity Big Impact Award 2019 – Winner
In 2019, as part of Small Charity Week, we were announced as the winner of the Foundation for Social Improvement national Small Charity Big Impact Awards, chosen from hundreds of other small charities.
The award recognises the impact of our Seed of Hope programme, providing vulnerable young people in Kenya with better opportunities through personal guidance, counselling, business support and vocational training.
Pauline Broomhead CBE, CEO of the Foundation for Social Improvement (FSI), the charity behind the award and Small Charity Week said:
“Small charities do amazing work, often having an impact far beyond their size, yet they often don’t receive the recognition and celebration they deserve. We’re delighted that over ten years of Small Charity Week thousands of small charities have had the chance to shout about their work and get the support they need, and our Small Charity Big Impact Awards are one of the highlights of the Week. We are thrilled to award Raising Futures Kenya this prize and congratulate them on their amazing work.”
“Without the tireless hard work of small charities and community groups, many people in the UK and internationally would be considerably worse off,” said Zoe Darrah, Marketing Co-ordinator at Policy Bee, the sponsors of the awards. “As most of these organisations don’t get anything like the recognition they deserve, a glittering awards ceremony that sings their praises can only be a good thing. If it were up to us, they’d all get a prize – as it is we’re just pleased to support this good cause for good causes.”
Andy King (Chair) and Kirsty Erridge (then Deputy UK Director) were very proud to represent the charity at the awards ceremony in London.
Watch our award film about Seed of Hope here.
GlobalGiving Top Ranked Organisation 2022
GlobalGiving is an international donation platform, connecting donors with charities and the projects they are running.
We have been a member of GlobalGiving for years, each year they assess and rank the charities they work with to give donors confidence.
For another year we have been awarded a Top-Ranked Organisation badge, a Vetted Organisation badge and Site Visit Verified badge, which means the GlobalGiving team have visited our work in Kenya and verified it.
Andy King, Chair, voted Most Influencial Fundraiser 2022 – Winner
Our Chair, Andy King, was voted Civil Society’s Most Influential Fundraiser in 2022, voted for by other fundraisers. His nomination says:
“His passion for fundraising and supporting charities has been evident in his day job, and the hours he dedicates to being the Chair of Raising Futures Kenya. He has transformed how we approach fundraising and given us the tools, skills and confidence to approach partners”.
