MARK ASTARITA – THE GILL ASTARITA FUNDRAISER OF THE YEAR

Good evening colleagues I had hoped to present the payroll giving award but they just wouldn’t let me.

Seriously this award is made in honour of my late wife who like all of you was an amazing fundraiser but was sadly taken far too early by cancer almost 3 years ago.

Two years ago I stood here and challenged the Institute and Paul Marvel, Head of Learning to make her dream of a fundraising academy a reality. Paul you did it thanks mate and thank you Rupert Tappin for keeping the dream alive.

Colleagues there can be no higher award than to be recognised by your colleagues as the best in class, top of the pops the fundraiser we all want to be.

So to mark the fact that with a little a bit of luck and all of you backing me up I still will get elected at tomorrow’s AGM as chair of the Institute and knowing Gill if she had been here would have been so very proud I have here a personal cheque for a £1000 for this year’s winner to give to their very own charity. And It is somewhat fitting that all this year’s candidates come from some of our great UK cancer charities. Oh! and by the way you do know if I don’t get elected tomorrow Gill will haunt you and those that knew and loved Gill know I am not joking.

So let’s recall that this award is for the fundraiser who, in the view of their peers, has shown consistent excellence and best practice in achieving high quality fundraising through their own efforts, vision and strategy. They will be and everyone will know them as the UK’s very best Fundraiser of 2011 it really does not get better than that.

So the shortlisted entries are:

Hannah Scott of

Jools Tait of

Julie Worrall of

The Judges said that this fundraiser is the sort of fundraiser that everyone would want to work with. They have achieved significant personal income generation and their commitment to the development of staff shone through which judges felt was very much in the spirit of the award.

OPEN THE GOLD ENVELOPE!

This year’s winner of the 2011 Gill Astarita Fundraiser of the Year Award is

Julie Worrall of