Winner of Interact’s charity intranet competition with 7 great reasons

 •  29 Aug, 13  •  3 min read

The Winner

After 7 weeks and a huge number of charity entries from around the world, we are pleased to announce that the winner of this year’s Interact charity intranet competition was Maggie’s Cancer Centres who submitted a brilliant video giving 7 great reasons why they deserved to win Interact Intranet 7.

There are 15 Maggie’s Cancer Centres across the UK and 1 in Hong Kong; all of them offering free emotional, practical and social support to people with cancer and their families and friends. Their entry stood out because they had a number of their staff involved in highlighting 7 key ways Interact could help them, including:

  • Being able to share individual expertise to support colleagues more effectively so that they can in turn better support the people entering their Centres
  • Creating one place where staff can go to to connect and communicate regardless of their location
  • Building meaningful relationships and creating a support network of ideas to help share activities and initiatives across different Centres and inspire new events
  • Allowing each member of staff to have a louder voice so everyone can have their say in shaping the future of Maggie’s Centres

Maggie’s Centres stood out as a small organisation, looking to make a big difference with them addressing how an intranet could help them achieve their ambitious growth plans of doubling their centres and tripling the number of people they help over the next 5 years.

As the winner of this year’s charity intranet competition Maggie’s Cancer Centre’s has won an intranet package worth GBP40,000 / $60,000, which includes:

  • Interact 7 software and user licenses
  • Key modules: Workflow and Forms, Interact Analytics, Blogging Tool, Event Calendar
  • A standard theme design
  • A dedicated project manager
  • On-site consultancy sessions relating to planning and implementation of their intranet
  • Training sessions for Intranet Administrators and Content Authors
  • 1 years software updates and support

The judging

After reviewing all the entries Interact managed to carefully shortlist 10 charities and bought in external judges Sam Marshall from Clearbox Consulting and Mark Morton, Intranet Manager for charity Epilepsy Action to decide the final winner.

Judge, Sam Marshall said that

Maggie’s Cancer Centre’s had a clear vision of how an intranet would support their plans for growth. For example, they talked enthusiastically about internal communities that would work like the kitchen tables in their hospices as a gathering place. I really felt that this was a charity that could take the features of Interact Intranet and use it to amplify the good work they’ve been doing so far.

Fellow Judge, Mark Morton, backed this up further by saying

I was particularly impressed by Maggie’s commitment to mirroring online what they’re renowned for offline. Their centre’s are built on being a place where people affected by cancer can get together and share, which is something they want to replicate on their intranet for staff and volunteers to communicate effectively with each other. Their buildings are also very well known for their innovative architecture, and they hope that the unique style of the buildings can be complemented by a stylish-looking intranet platform.

Sarah Matthews, Marketing Director at Maggie’s was delighted to have won. She says

Making sure everyone feels a part of Maggie’s is an important part of what we do within our Centres, from the moment people walk through the doors. Winning a new intranet from Interact Intranet will enable us to more effectively connect our teams across the country and provide us with a digital environment which will inspire sharing and stimulate communication.

Interact look forward to helping Maggie’s Centres launch an essential intranet for their charity to help them achieve their ambitious plans for growth.

The runners up

This year’s competition was truly exciting with the number of excellent entries received – particularly those who had taken the time and effort to put together exceptional videos and presentations. In fact we were so amazed with the quality of the entries we decided one winner wasn’t enough and Interact chose a highly commended second winner The Children’s Trust, who will also receive the full charity competition package.

The Children’s Trust is the UK’s leading charity for children with acquired brain injury, multiple disabilities and complex health needs and again they submitted a video that represented why Interact Intranet 7 was important to them and the work they do.

Nigel Danson, the CEO & Founder of Interact said

The opportunity to work with such a worthy cause like The Children’s Trust is really important to us at Interact. Their entry really brought home how an intranet could make a difference and we are excited about how we can work together in partnership going forward to help them support their staff, who in turn can support these children and their families to live the best life possible.

Maggie’s Cancer Centres and The Children’s Trust weren’t the only great charity intranet entries and at Interact we know how much a charity can benefit from an intranet from the large number of charities we already work with worldwide, which is why we also decide to give the other 8 shortlisted charities free Interact Intranet software and licenses.