The Brain Tumour Charity has been named Charity of the Year at the Third Sector Awards.
The winners of the awards, which recognise the outstanding work carried out by charities, not-for-profit organisations and their partners, were announced at a dinner at the London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square, hosted by the actor and comedian Kerry Godliman.
The specialist insurance firm Markel was the headline sponsor.
The Brain Tumour Charity has made remarkable progress through its research, awareness and support programmes and met its target of committing £20m to research into brain tumours between 2015 and 2020 two years early. It also opened the Everest Centre for research into low-grade childhood brain tumours last year.
ALSO READ All the winners of the 2018 Third Sector Awards
The charity had earlier been announced as the winner of the award for the best Annual Report and was a finalist in the Fundraising Event category for its Everest in the Alps event, which involved 30 skiers travelling to the Swiss Alps to ski the height of Everest with the aim of raising more than £500,000 for the Everest Centre. The group raised more than £950,000 from the event.
Lord Victor Adebowale, chief executive of the social care charity Turning Point, was given the Luke FitzHerbert Lifetime Achievement Award.
The crossbench peer, who is also chair of the umbrella body Social Enterprise UK, is a former chief executive of the homelessness charity Centrepoint and was director of the Alcohol Recovery Project.
He has led Turning Point for the past 17 years, during which time its annual income has more than quadrupled and its workforce tripled.
Other winners on the night included WaterAid, which won the Fundraising Campaign award for its #Untapped campaign, and Children for Health, a charity that seeks to mobilise children and young adolescents in developing countries to become health activists in their communities, which won the Small Charity, Big Achiever award.
Josh MacAlister of the children and families charity Frontline won the Charity Chief Executive award and Heidi Hall of the Royal School of Ballet was given the Rising Chief Executive award, which is awarded to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to their organisation or the wider sector during their first two years in post.
The YouTube gamers The Yogscast were named Celebrity Charity Champions for their work in raising more than $11m for a range of charities including Whale and Dolphin Conservation, which has received more than $900,000 from the group’s support.
Full list of winners
Annual report the Brain Tumour Charity
Best Charity Law Firm Penningtons Manches
Big Impact Award Mercy Corps Europe
Breakthrough of the Year GiveOut for A new model to fight the global struggle for LGBTQI rights
Brand development Children's Hospices Across Scotland
Charity Chief Executive Josh MacAlister, Frontline
Celebrity Charity Champion The Yogscast, Whale and Dolphin Conservation
Charity Partnership of the Year RefuAid and Street UK
Charity of the Year the Brain Tumour Charity
Charity Chair of the Year Adeem Younis, Penny Appeal
Communications Campaign of the Year Meningitis Research Foundation for One Life. One Shot
Communications Team of the Year British Red Cross
Corporate Partnership of the Year Medair UK and Qlik
Digital Innovation of the Year Westminster Drug Project for Capital Card
Enterprise Award Brazelton Centre UK
Fundraising Campaign WaterAid for #Untapped
Fundraising Event Tommy's for 2018 London Landmarks Half Marathon
Fundraising Team of the Year Challengers
Luke FitzHerbert Lifetime Achievement Award Lord Victor Adebowale
Marketing Campaign of the Year Girlguiding for Know Your Place
Rising Chief Executive Heidi Hall, Central School of Ballet
Small Charity, Big Achiever Children for Health