Scottish Charity Awards shortlist

Third Sector Hebrides
This rural third sector interface not only supports the sector across a chain of islands but is a major local employer. Its successful social businesses include Hebridean Chocolates, which provides jobs for 17 adults with additional needs, and Staran, a gardening enterprise with a £91,000 turnover. In 2010 TSH had a record turnover of over £1m.

Crew 2000 (Scotland)
Crew 2000 (Scotland) has been working at the forefront of drug education and sexual health in Scotland for 18 years. Earning the trust of young drug users, the organisation is able to create an honest and accurate picture of Scotland’s relationship with drugs. This enables it to support young people and provide first-class information to health officials, police, government and youth workers.

Planning Aid for Scotland
A local planning issue can split a community and is the main reason why people take action within their neighbourhoods. Over the last few years Planning Aid for Scotland has recruited record numbers of professional planners to volunteer to support local communities, including isolated groups such as gypsy travellers. Now, an amazing 15 per cent of all planning professionals in Scotland are signed up as volunteers.

Long Term Conditions Alliance Scotland
More than 2 million Scots are living with long-term conditions such as asthma, diabetes or arthritis. During its short existence, LTCAS has grown into a strong lobbying force fighting to improve life for people with long-term health conditions. Successes include the development and implementation of the government funded Self Management Fund which has supported 81 projects across Scotland.

Laura Lee
The first ever Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centre opened in Edinburgh in 1996 after cancer sufferer Maggie Keswick Jencks and her oncology nurse Laura Lee decided to build somewhere near the hospital where people with cancer could get support. Since then, Laura has overseen and driven forward this charity success story, which is transforming cancer care in the UK. 15 years on there are now 15 architecturally-renowned Maggie’s Centres improving lives throughout the country.

Jessie Harvey
It is not easy, financially or emotionally, for grandparents forced to take on the full-time care of their grandchildren. Jessie Harvey whose son and partner were unable to bring up their child because of chaotic drug habits, has campaigned tirelessly to raise awareness of the issues affecting her grandson and her. She established Kinship Care for the North five years ago and has been a voice for justice for children and carers through involvement in the Poverty Truth Commission.

Andrew Macintyre
Special Olympic gold medallist in gymnastics, Andrew Macintyre is determined to show that being born with Down’s Syndrome does not prevent him from leading a full and independent life. As a trainer for Down’s Syndrome Scotland, as vice-chair of its West of Scotland branch, a campaigner for better services and now a gymnastics club coach, he inspires other people with learning disabilities to follow his lead.

Lynne McNicoll
On her 50th birthday, Lynne McNicoll decided to start fundraising for the Teenage Cancer Trust in recognition of how fortunate she had been in her life. Within a year she raised more than £50,000 and in four years, she had found £650,000 to establish a specialist hospital unit in Edinburgh. Last year, Lynne launched It’s Good 2 Give, which provides support to young people affected by cancer and aims to raise £1m.

Photo: Daily Record

Apex Scotland and Dunfermline High School (Fife Council)

This ground-breaking partnership has seen ex-offender organisation Apex Scotland apply its experience of helping people turn their lives around to pupils at risk of falling into a life of crime at Dunfermline High School. The partnership has seen a dramatic reduction in exclusions, better attendance, improved performance and a reduction in community complaints and police involvement with young people from the school.

Down’s Syndrome Scotland and The Celtic Foundation
Many people understand what it’s like to be the last person picked for the football team at school, and for children with Down’s Syndrome this is the norm. The partnership with Celtic Football Club Foundation is helping young people to excel at sport through training with coaches and players from one of Scotland’s top football teams, ensuring that they are an asset to any youth team.

Circle and HMP Addiewell (Sodexo Justice Services)
Working with children and families affected by parental drug and alcohol use, Circle noticed that many parents spent time in and out of prison as a result of offences linked to their addiction. This partnership with HMP Addiewell prison works with fathers to help them to maintain links with their children and families while in jail and help them readjust to family life on release.

Scottish Seabird Centre

PoppyScotland
The Scottish Poppy Appeal has been running every year since 1921, yet research amongst members of the public in 2010 revealed that they did not connect the appeal with PoppyScotland’s life-changing work with ex-servicemen and women. As a result, donations had fallen to just 38p per poppy. Last year’s rebranding of the appeal and PR campaign involving two ex-servicemen injured in Afghanistan turned this around, generating a five per cent increase in donations to £2.34m.

The Moira Anderson Foundation
The Stay Safe campaign used drama to educate 3,000 young people between 11 and 14 in West Lothian on the issues of child sexual abuse. Using a play devised by the foundation’s founder Sandra Brown, it also developed teaching resources and a DVD. The vast majority of young people who took part in the workshops afterwards felt confident about spotting the dangers of grooming and sexual predators.

NUS Scotland and student association members
When the Scottish Government announced that it intended to cut bursary funding for Scottish college students by £1.7m, the NUS and Scottish students’ associations burst into action. Over 32,000 students contacted their MSPs to tell them why bursaries for adult college students are so important. As a result, the government announced £15m in bursaries and £8m worth of additional college bursaries and places – a 17 per cent increase.

GalGeal Trust

Elgin Youth Café
Every Friday night 120 young people pile into Elgin Youth Café for live music, socialising and talks on issues such as substance misuse, sexual health, mental wellbeing and smoking. This year the group set up Delta Force which sees members carry out community-based activities such as graffiti and chewing gum removal and helping elderly people with jobs such as shopping and gardening.

Edinburgh Tenants Federation
After two passersby and a concierge witnessed the tragic suicide of a young woman who jumped from a window in a multi-storey housing block, Edinburgh Tenants Federation launched a campaign to raise awareness of mental health issues. This has seen it fight stigma, educate tenants on available support and lobby for 200 front-line housing staff and concierges to be trained in spotting signs of mental health problems.

Seaforth House residents & ex-residents registered tenants organisation
Ypeople’s Seaforth House Resident in Falkirk provides a stepping stone for young homeless people who aim to move into their own home. In 2010, residents between the ages of 16 and 25 decided they wanted more say in how the house is run and developed a residents association. Since then they have been involved in all key decisions, including recruitment, and have fundraised and created a garden. They are now regularly provide advice on homelessness and housing issues to councillors and MSPs.