Impact and Storytelling

Established in 2017, The Charity Impact Awards celebrated the positive impact community, voluntary and charitable organisations make in people’s lives across the length and breadth of Ireland every single day.

The Charity Impact Awards aimed to celebrate the positive contribution of Ireland’s charities, community and voluntary organisations and social enterprises. The awards also promoted best practice, accountability and transparency by highlighting the stories of organisations and individuals who have made a positive impact in communities across Ireland.

In its first year in 2017, 118 organisations entered and 37,894 people visited the awards website leading to over 30,000 votes being counted.

Better Together was a nationwide campaign which aimed to build support for hundreds of charities, community groups, clubs and associations across the country by encouraging the public to support these good causes and make a difference in their communities. The Better Together awards initiative ran from 2007 – 2016. It was an opportunity for Irish charities to demonstrate their work through short videos.

Community groups and charities could submit a 2-minute video illustrating their work and indicating how the public could support them. A project-specific website hosted the 120+ entries for the duration of the campaign (Sept – Nov annually) and the public voted on their favourites. In the final year a total of 186,000 votes were cast! Every December, the winners were announced at an awards event in Dublin which was usually attended by over 300 people.

The Better Together initiative ended in 2016 at the peak of its success, having achieved its purpose of helping charities and the public communicate better. It was replaced in 2017, by Ireland’s National Charity Impact Awards. In order to run the Better Together initiative, The Wheel relied on support and funding from Medtronic, EBS, Newman’s Own Foundation.