This post was originally published as a press release on 28 September 2016. 

Gender equality group AWARE has won the Charity Governance Award 2016 for the Medium Charities/IPCs category.

The Charity Governance Awards, (CGA), organised by the Charity Council, aim to promote good governance in the charity sector by acknowledging the excelling work of charities, while inspiring others to emulate their best practices.

AWARE qualified as a candidate for the CGA by becoming a winner of the Charity Transparency Awards (CTA). The CTA recognises charities with good disclosure practices.

“We are hugely honoured,” said Corinna Lim, Executive Director of AWARE. “AWARE works hard to live up to our values of transparency and accountability. We couldn’t do our work without our stakeholders and donors, so it’s important that our processes, activities and impact are clear to them. We are highly committed to integrity in our work, and continually find ways to improve and adopt best practices in governance and donor relations.”

Teh Hooi Ling, President of AWARE, said, “It’s gratifying to have our practices recognised by the Charity Council. Changing from a more volunteer-based group to a  professional one brought challenges, and this award is an encouraging sign that our efforts to ensure  exemplary governance have paid off.  Our supporters can be assured that accountability to our stakeholders and winning public trust will always be a top priority.”

In order to qualify for the CTA and participate in the CGA assessment, organisations are required to submit their annual reports, financial statements and Governance Evaluation Checklists (GEC) to the Office of Commissioner of Charities/Sector Administrators. The CTA winners were then invited to take part in the CGA process. They had to complete a detailed questionnaire, after which shortlisted finalists were interviewed by a panel of independent judges determined by the Charity Council.

AWARE will be presented with the awards on 28 September at a ceremony where Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, Ms. Grace Fu, will be the Guest-of-Honour.

An impressive track record with stakeholders

AWARE has also been recognised for its management and governance by other entities.

In 2015, Just Cause Asia, a social enterprise aimed at promoting excellence in the non-profit sector, considered 10 different women’s-focused organisations and ultimately recommended AWARE as one of its top four charities to donate to. Its conclusions were based on surveys of staff, volunteers, beneficiaries and partners, together with a review of finances and other key documents of each organisation. AWARE scored particularly highly in legal, governance and finance, mission and strategy, beneficiary and staff satisfaction and reputation.

Similarly, a public value survey on AWARE conducted by Brightpurpose, a UK-based consultancy, found that respondents valued AWARE’s influence on policy and legislation, its visible, vocal role in driving discourse by taking public stands, its strong hands-on grounding in its Support Services and its longevity and strong organisational ethos. Brightpurpose conducted in-depth interviews with 24 stakeholders who have experience with AWARE’s work, including policy-makers, public agencies, foundations, NGOs, higher education institutes and the media.