GALA AWARDS CEREMONY RECOGNISES GLOBAL CHARITIES IN THE UK

It was a glittery evening at London's Sheraton Park Hotel, as Britons celebrated the first ever charity awards in the Asian circle. The Asian Voice Charity Awards powered by Charity Clarity hosted a gala dinner on May 20th, to reward charities that think big and solve the most pressing social issues of our time, both in Britain and globally. 
It showcased excellent charities which operate in Great Britain and globally, that aim to give a much-needed boost to organisations struggling to get the profile and funding they need to move forward. 
Different from other awards, each charity and individual winner of this awards received a huge package of support, that could be worth up to £20,000 for each and potentially much more. The winners were chosen by an independent panel of Judges, chaired by Lord Dolar Popat. Others judges included Kate Marsh, CEO, The Funding Network, Jonathan Burchfield, Partner and Head of Charity & Social Enterprise Team, Stone King LLP, Rajay Naik, CEO, Keypath Education and Subhash Thakrar, Vice-Chairman, London Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Patrons for the awards included social innovator and entrepreneur Michael Norton, OBE, Kate Marsh, CEO, The Funding Network, actor Nitin Ganatra, Rajesh Agrawal Group Chairman and CEO, Rational FX, Funke Abimola, General Counsel & Company Secretary, Roche, Anand Shukla, CEO, Brightside, High Commissioner of Uganda to the UK, Joyce Kikafunda, Senior Counsellor, APCO Dr Roger Hayes, Celebrity hair Stylist, Mentor and Entrepreneur, Jawed Habib and Head CSR and Telenor Myanmar Min Thu Aung.
The awards were divided into 10 categories, viz. Charity of the Year, Start-Up of the Year, Outstanding Achievement, Outstanding PR team, Fundraising Campaign, Most enterprising, Excellence in CSR, Consultancy of the Year, Investment Management of the Year and Editor's Choice Awards.
This year's winners are:  Magic Bus, My life films, Priya Varadarajan Durga Alarm, London’s Air Ambulance, Polio Children, Shanti Life, Natwest, New Philanthropy Capital, CCLA and Mahmood Ahmadu respectively.
The compere for the evening was the very talented actress Sheena Bhattessa, while excellent entertainment was provided by singer Navin Kundra and Matthew Sulzmann jazz group. 
Speaking about the awards, Publisher/Editor of Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar, CB Patel said, “Britons have generous hearts. On average each person donates £100 to support worthwhile charities every year. According to the Charities Commission, there are over 165,000 registered charities, of which some 25,000 have an Asian connection and of which about 10,000 have an Indian background. The Indian heritage of sharing, caring and giving is an age old tradition. Celebrating our tradition of self-help encourages better standards and transparency. Let’s also hope that it also reminds us all to help our fellow man- if not with money then with our time.”
Chair of the Judging Panel Lord Dolar Popat said, “During my 45 years in this country, I have witnessed the amazing generosity of many individuals. From those who volunteer in hospices to those act as trustees for other charities; passionate and selfless individuals have dedicated time, energy and emotion to making this world a better place. But with all that good-will comes a tremendous responsibility. 
“It is vital that, if charities are to continue to thrive, they act in a way that implements the best practice guidelines we demand of any publicly-listed business or Government Department. That means transparency, democracy and a skills-based approach to Governance. 
“I’d like to thank all the nominees tonight. Your work inspired me and my fellow judges and you left us with some extremely difficult decisions to make and the winners were ultimately decided after an extremely rigorous and thorough process. You are worthy and brilliant charities and I speak on behalf of all the panel when I say it is an absolute honour to have chosen all of you as tonight’s winners. 
“This one is particularly special as you’ll be the very first winners of your respective categories; but I hope that in fifteen or twenty years’ time the Asian Voice Charity Awards is established as it rightly should be: as a forward-thinking set of awards that acts as a kite mark for the very best activity in the third sector...”
Pratik Dattani, on behalf of Charity Clarity, co-partner and co-organiser of this awards ceremony said, “'It's wonderful to see winners involved in tackling some of the most difficult social problems, such as dementia, women empowerment, polio and microfinance loans, not just in Britain but as far afield as Nigeria.”