My Name'5 Doddie Foundation has been named as the Charity of the Year at this year’s GoCardless JustGiving Awards.

Doddie Weir’s My Name’5 Doddie Foundation was chosen for its work in investing into research projects across the UK to find effective treatments for motor neuron disease (MND).

The charity has had an incredibly poignant and important year, with its annual Doddie Aid fundraising event - a virtual mass-participation exercise event raising more than £2 million and doubling the number of participants.

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It also recently launched its research strategy, ‘Catalysing a Cure’, which will guide how it invests funds raised and partnered with Scottish Rugby to deliver its five-year anniversary celebrations at Murrayfield Stadium during Scotland’s match against New Zealand.

 

 

Jill Douglas, Chief Executive of My Name'5 Doddie Foundation was presented with the award by TV and radio presenter, Zoe Hardman and Pat Phelan, MD of UK & Ireland and Chief Customer Officer at GoCardless, last night (September 25th) at the Roundhouse in London. She said:

“It's an honour for My Name'5 Doddie Foundation to win Charity of the Year at the GoCardless JustGiving Awards. We'd also like to recognise the other two shortlisted charities who do brilliant work, which makes this win especially meaningful.

“The last year has been a poignant one for everyone involved at the Foundation. Doddie was our founder and remains our inspiration, we miss him every day but we will continue to honour his legacy - he was determined that we carry on the work he started.

“Doddie Aid was another great success with 38,000 people signing up, and we hope to top this is in 2024. We launched our new research strategy in the spring and committing millions of pounds to vital MND research - we're incredibly proud of the way the charity has evolved and continued to grow and make a difference.

"Finally, to our supporters - your votes made this award possible, but most importantly, you make the funding of vital MND research possible. Thank you.”

Television personality, Jamie Laing and radio host, Matt Edmondson hosted the eleventh year of the awards which saw seven winners as well as JustGiving’s Charity of the Year announced at the ceremony. Since JustGiving started in 2001, more than £6 billion has been raised for good causes in more than 180 countries.

Matt Edmondson said “Getting to co-host the GoCardless JustGiving Awards with Jamie is like finding a double-word score in Scrabble—brilliant and rewarding! Tonight's finalists have touched us deeply with their stories, and they're all champions, as far as I'm concerned.”

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The finalists were selected from more than 13,000 nominations by a panel of judges including Radio DJ Rickie Haywood-Williams, actress Angela Griffin, longstanding fundraiser, famous for wearing a charity shop outfit every day for one year, Caroline Jones and President and General Manager of JustGiving, Pascale Harvie and put to a public vote to win.

The award ceremony was attended by guests including Bill Bailey, Zoe Hardman, Ellie Simmonds, Rickie Haywood-Williams, Angela Griffin, Dean McCullough, Tillie Amartey, Neil Jones, Aimee Fuller and Faye Winter.

Also in attendance was ultra-athlete, campaigner and TV personality, Josh Patterson who won a Special Recognition Award.

The award recognises the outstanding contribution of an individual who has made a real impact on the world around them.

For more than five-years Josh has been an avid fundraiser for the Samaritans and in his most recent ‘Run for 1 Million’ challenge Josh ran 76 marathons in 76 cities on consecutive days.

Pascale Harvie, President and General Manager at JustGiving said: “Big congratulations to the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation for winning Charity of the Year. After the world sadly lost Doddie in November, his team have done an incredible job at keeping his legacy alive.

“In the last year the My Name’5 Doddie’s foundation has pioneered MND research, skyrocketed their social media community and doubled Doddie Aid donations. It is safe to say that Doddie’s name will live on through this amazing charity and its team.

“Celebrating the extraordinary accomplishments of our charities and fundraisers at the GoCardless JustGiving Award Ceremony was amazing - they should all be so proud of what they’ve achieved and the positive impact that they’ve had.”  

Pat Phelan, MD of UK & Ireland and Chief Customer Officer at GoCardless added: "Congratulations to My Name’5 Doddie Foundation for their hugely deserved win. We were so impressed by the team, the fundraisers and all of their supporters. The work they've done is nothing short of inspirational and it's a privilege to use these awards to shine a spotlight on their passion and dedication."