The National Payroll Giving Awards 2011 took place last month. In our capacity as hosts of the Payroll Giving Centre, Z/Yen (by which we really mean Linda Cook and Sonya Raymond) worked closely with Institute of Fundraising people to organise the event. The Treasury (nudged by the Cabinet Office) were especially kind to the Payroll Giving Awards this year, allowing the event to be held at Number 11 Downing Street.
Unsurprisingly, the event was extremely well attended. Even The Chancellor himself popped in for a while to see what was going on. The Institute of Fundraising’s new Chief Executive, Peter Lewis, was the master of ceremonies and steered the event with great gusto. The event was hosted by another newbie; Chloe Smith. Indeed, the awards were her first ministerial engagement, as she was appointed Economic Secretary to the Treasury just a few days before the event. Chloe, together with Sir Gus O’Donnell, presented the awards.
Once again, Ian Harris had chaired the panel of judges. Ian’s work was done before the event; he could therefore spend the evening mingling while trying not to give away the results before the awards ceremony. Ian claims he is actually able to forget the names of all the winners by taking some special medicine early in the evening; as you can see from the following photograph, his glass of special medicine is empty.
The Best Large Employer and Best Overall Campaign awards went to Whitbread – jokes about organising things in a brewery should be confined to the headlines. You can see a list of all the category winners and their case studies here. The event was a huge success; Z/Yen is enormously proud to play its part in the Payroll Giving Awards.
