Blackbaud Recognizes Inspiring Fundraisers and Charities at this Year’s JustGiving Awards   

A host of celebrities joined this year’s GoCardless JustGiving Awards last night at the Roundhouse in London to celebrate the remarkable feats of the inspiring fundraisers and charities which have used JustGiving in the last 12 months to raise money for good causes.  

Television personality and podcaster Jamie Laing and radio host Matt Edmondson hosted the eleventh award ceremony where seven winners as well as JustGiving’s Charity of the Year were announced.  

The individuals and charities were selected from more than 13,000 nominations by a panel of judges and put to a public vote. Judges included Radio DJ Rickie Haywood-Williams; actress Angela Griffin; longstanding fundraiser, famous for wearing a charity shop outfit every day for one year, Caroline Jones; and Senior Vice President of JustGiving from Blackbaud®, Pascale Harvie.  

The ceremony was attended by special guests including Zoe Hardman, Ellie Simmonds, Rickie Haywood-Williams, Angela Griffin, Giovanna Fletcher, Dean McCullough, Tillie Amartey, Katya Jones, Aimee Fuller and Faye Winter.  

Also in attendance was ultra-athlete, campaigner and TV personality, Josh Patterson who won a Special Recognition Award. The award recognizes the outstanding contribution of an individual who has made a real impact on the world around them. For more than five-years, Josh has been an avid fundraiser for the Samaritans and in his most recent “Run for 1 Million” challenge, Josh ran 76 marathons in 76 cities on consecutive days.   

Co-host Matt Edmondson said: “Getting to co-host the JustGiving Awards with Jamie is like finding a double-word score in Scrabble—brilliant and rewarding! The finalists have touched us deeply with their stories, and they’re all champions, as far as I’m concerned.” 

The winners included: 

• Teen fundraiser of the year – Gabriel Clarke 
• Young fundraiser of the year – Harry Smith 
• Celebrity fundraiser of the year – Bill Bailey 
• Charity Of The Year – My Name5 Doddie Foundation 
• Outstanding Commitment – Richard Benson 
• Creative fundraiser of the Year – Major Mick Stanley 
• Endurance fundraiser of the year – Gary McKee 
• Community Hero – Krista Sharpe 

Since JustGiving began in 2000, more than £6 billion has been raised for good causes across more than 180 countries.  

Pascale Harvie, Senior Vice President at JustGiving from Blackbaud said: “Last night’s ceremony was amazing. I felt so privileged to be in the company of some of our incredible fundraisers and charities. They don’t do what they do for praise, but they wholeheartedly deserve it.  Over the last 12 months, they have quite literally gone above and beyond to do good and make our world a better place, and I cannot thank them enough for that. On behalf of everyone at JustGiving, congratulations again to all of our GoCardless JustGiving Award winners. You are truly special.”  

Pat Phelan, MD of UK & Ireland and Chief Customer Officer at GoCardless added: “We’d like to congratulate everyone who was recognised at this year’s GoCardless JustGiving Awards, from the nominees to the finalists and winners on the night. The incredible stories we’ve heard are testament to the creativity, dedication and generosity of fundraisers and their supporters up and down the country. We’re exceptionally proud to do our part to ensure that fundraisers and charities have a seamless, secure and cost-effective way to continue collecting donations for the causes that are close to their hearts.” 

To read more about all of the GoCardless JustGiving Award winners please visit: https://blog.justgiving.com/2023-justgiving-awards-winners 

For more information, contact: press@justgiving.com  

About JustGiving
JustGiving from Blackbaud® is the world’s most trusted platform for online giving. We help people raise money for the charities and people they care about the most. In 2000, JustGiving.com began with one simple goal – to enable charities to receive donations online from anywhere in the world. Fast forward 22 years and over £6 billion has been raised for good causes in almost every single country in the world. JustGiving became part of Blackbaud, the leading software provider exclusively dedicated to powering social impact, in 2017.

About GoCardless
GoCardless is a global leader in direct bank payments. We help more than 75,000 businesses, from start-ups to household names, collect both recurring and one-off payments, without the chasing, stress or expensive fees. Each year GoCardless processes more than US$30 billion of payments across 30+ countries. Our acquisition of Nordigen means we’re also helping businesses make faster and more informed decisions through easy access to bank account data. We are headquartered in the UK, with additional offices in Australia, France, Latvia and the United States. For more information, please visit www.gocardless.com and follow us on Twitter @GoCardless.