‘Fundraising of the year’ award - 24 June 2025
Did your fundraiser(steam) make a difference through a successful fundraising strategy, campaign, event, or campaign in recent years? And are you proud of it?
Then nominate them for the Fundraising of the Year Award. One of the nominees will be awarded for being a successful, innovative or surprising fundraiser. We also share the cases of the other nominees, doing what we at Fundraisers Belgium stand for: helping fundraisers professionalise through information, inspiration and networking.
Does your organisation's fundraiser or fundraising team deserve a nomination? Or would you like to give a fundraiser(steam) from another organisation a nomination for their valuable work in recent years? If so, please let us know.
What info do we expect? (max. 3 A4 pages)
Please complete the items below as fully as possible when submitting a case. Only with a complete case can the jury make an informed decision.
- Location of the organisation (contact person, company number, link to website).
- Team members behind the project with their respective functions.
- Description of the case (action, project, campaign,...). What was the trigger, what vision and approach was developed and how was the case realised? In what way were the plans brought to fruition?
- What were the objectives (KPIs, targets) of the action?
- On whom did the case have an impact (internal operation, employees, board, members, the sector, stakeholders)?
- What impact did the action have on achieving your organisation's mission? And how was this communicated to donors?
- What do you think is special/innovative about the fundraisers' input and the case per se (innovative, impactful, efficiency-enhancing, connecting,...)?
- Were/are any external parties involved in the creation? If yes, who? For which role/task?
- What are the (preliminary) results? If possible, please also include financial implications (cost, revenue) of the action/campaign. Contrast this with the total fundraising budget. How do you evaluate the campaign (did you achieve your targets?)?
- What are success factors and what are areas for improvement in the story?
- What would you recommend to other organisations if they would also like to do a similar initiative?
The entry
Submissions will also be included on the Fundraisers Belgium website and will be shared in our communications (online version will be proofread by the submitter first). Nominations can be made via the online form. The deadline for nominations is Wednesday 30 April 2025 at noon.
In assessing the cases, the jury will pay attention to certain criteria and professional values such as:
- Vision and strategy
- Approach and implementation (process, deployment of people and resources) in relation to objectives
- Applicability by fundraisers and teams in other organisations (copy-paste factor)
- Originality and innovation of concept or executio
- Result achieved (financial)
- Impact achieved (organisational, social, ...)
Jury composition:
- Jeroen Brugge (11.11.11, board member Fundraisers Belgium)
- Koen Van den Broeck (Straatverplegers vzw, board member Fundraisers Belgium)
- Ann-Sophie Bouckaert (HOGENT, research fundraising non-profit)
- Manuela Meeus (Donorinfo)
- Lydia Vandam (relationship building and fundraising in the cultural sector)
- Linda Sonck ( Flemish Autism Association)
Chair of the jury (non-voting): Isabel Penne (KU Leuven, president Fundraisers Belgium).
In the event of an ex aequo, the chairman will have the casting vote.
Jury members cannot nominate anyone themselves and refrain from deliberating on a case from their own organisation.
Competition rules award:
- The ‘Fundraising of the Year’ Award will be presented on 24 June 2025 during the Day of the Fundraiser at Zebrastraat in Ghent.
- Eligible cases were developed or started in the course of 2024 (or in case of a multi-year project already the years before). If not yet completed, the lack of results may be disadvantageous in the judging.
- An organisation can submit itself or be nominated by external parties for the award. In that case, the organisation will be contacted to obtain further information.
- The submission is made by preparing a dossier (maximum three A4 pages) with the following information:
- Description of the case (action, project, campaign,...). What was the trigger, what vision and approach was developed and how was the case realised? In what way were the plans brought to fruition? What were the objectives (KPIs, targets) of the action?
- On whom did the case have an impact (internal operation, staff, board, members, the sector, stakeholders)?
- What impact did the action have on achieving your organisation's mission? And how was this communicated to donors?
- What do you think is special/innovative about the fundraisers' input and the case per se (innovative, impactful, efficiency-enhancing, connecting,...)?
- Were/are any external parties involved in the creation? If yes, who? For which role/task?
- What are the (preliminary) results? If possible, please also include financial implications (cost, revenue) of the action/campaign. Contrast this with the total fundraising budget. How do you evaluate the campaign (did you achieve your targets?)?
- What are success factors and what are areas for improvement in the story?
- What would you recommend to other organisations if they would also like to do a similar initiative?
5. Entries will be listed on the Fundraisers Belgium website. Entries and winning case will be featured extensively in our communication channels.
6. The jury will choose the 3 best cases based on the above criteria and these will be shared by the respective fundraiser(steam) at the Award ceremony on 24 June 2025 in Ghent during a 12-minute presentation. Afterwards, the audience present will choose the winner.
7. Deadline for submission is Wednesday 30 April 2025 at noon. Participation is free of charge.
8. The evaluation of the three best cases will be done by an expert jury (see composition above) under the guidance of Fundraisers Belgium. The jury's decision is final.
9. By submitting a case, the participant agrees to these terms and conditions. Entries that do not meet the above conditions will not be admitted.
