The Air Ambulance Service gets shortlisted as a finalist for the Smee & Ford Legacy Giving Awards 2023!

The Air Ambulance Service is delighted to announce that the Legacy Fundraising Team has been shortlisted for Excellence in Pledger Acquisition at the Smee & Ford Legacy Giving Awards 2023, recognising and celebrating their outstanding achievement and skill in the legacy sector.

Being shortlisted for a Smee & Ford Legacy Giving Award provides the Legacy Fundraising Team with an independent validation of their hard work and commitment to legacy giving and helps to benchmark achievements with peers across the UK. This much deserved recognition has helped to promote their success and demonstrates how we’re helping reward the skill and dedication of the people involved in this vital sector.

The award entries were reviewed and assessed by a judging panel that includes some of the biggest names from across the charitable legacies community. To be shortlisted as a finalist for these awards, despite tough competition from a pool of brilliant applications, is a mark of real achievement for The Air Ambulance Service. The Legacy Fundraising Team have been selected based on matching the criteria for Excellence, Innovation and Impact and attributing scores against a transparent system aimed at recognising and rewarding inspirational legacy teams and individuals.

The Air Ambulance Service’s main objective for entering the awards is to celebrate the achievements made within the Legacy and In Memory Team over the last 18 months. The organisation is still relatively new to legacy promotion and are making great strides this year in pledger acquisition.

In addition to implementing pledger events, they have held a Gifts in Wills Week, to promote legacies both internally and externally, revamped social media promotion and held internal workshops throughout the year to team members to increase their knowledge and confidence to promote legacies across their areas.

This year the budget for the program of legacy events was £6,000, utilising venues which support the charity to keep costs low and have generated pledges worth many times this amount from these events. The combined legacy activity this year has generated more than £80,000 in pledged legacy income as a result of using the Free Wills Network alone.

“We are incredibly proud to have been shortlisted in the category of Excellence in Pledger Acquisition as part of the Smee & Ford Legacy Giving Awards,” said Legacies and In Memory Manager for the charity, Chloe Bass.

“We have come a long way over the past 18 months and have made some amazing achievements within our team, which we are determined to continue. The funds we receive from our Legacy and In Memory supporters are vital to keep our service operational and to keep saving lives in Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland and further afield,” she added.

Polly Avgherinos, Managing Director, Smee & Ford said:

“We would like to congratulate Legacy Fundraising Team on being nominated in the category of Excellence in Pledger Acquisition ahead of the Smee & Ford Legacy Giving Awards. We are looking forward to welcoming them to the ceremony in April, to join us in recognising and celebrating the talent, commitment and passion of people working in legacies and the important work they do on behalf of legators, charities and their beneficiaries.”

The winners will be selected following a rigorous judging stage ahead of the Smee & Ford Legacy Giving Awards ceremony. The full list of nominees for the 2023 Smee & Ford Legacy Giving Awards can be found at Legacygivingawards.co.uk/finalists-2023/

The selected winners will be announced during a private ceremony at Hilton Bankside, London, on 27 April 2023.

To learn more about the charity or to donate visit: www.theairambulanceservice.org.uk or call 0300 3047 999.