Everybody Counts charity awards

The ICAEW's Everybody Counts awards celebrate chartered accountants' exceptional involvement and commitment to charity or the community. This year's outstanding winners show how much you can change people's lives with supreme dedication to your cause.

Launched in 1999, Everybody Counts began as the ICAEW's new millennium initiative to facilitate chartered accountants' community involvement and volunteering in the charitable sector. Gordon Brown, then chancellor of the Exchequer, said: "It is our aim to build a society in which everybody truly counts, and the work of chartered accountants in helping to achieve this is much welcomed."

The Everybody Counts awards were launched in 2000 in recognition and support of the many thousands of chartered accountants who provide help to communities on a voluntary basis. The winners - who receive a £2,000 cheque for their charity - are chosen from four categories: younger members; members in business; members in practice; and retired members.

The 2009 winners are:

• Jonathan Crown , whose chance meeting with a disfigured boy in Ethiopia inspired him to set up Project Harar Ethiopia which last year paid for 300 people to have face-saving operations.
• Charlie Wardle , who turned his experience of personal financial ruin and loss of confidence into a charity, Climb Your Own Mountain, that provides physical challenges to motivate and help people overcome depression, stress and low confidence.
• Andy Appleby , who, for many years has guided the Citizens Advice Bureau through expansion and funding negotiations to create a sustainable service helping 22,000 clients a year.
• Ron Enticott , chair of One-to-One, which provides social activity and contact for adults with various degrees of learning difficulties, who took his dedication so far that he donated a kidney to one of the charity's members.

July 2009

Download the inspiring stories of the 2009 ICAEW Everybody Counts Awards winners (PDF: 185 kb/2 pages)

10th anniversary Everybody Counts awards

If you know of a chartered accountant who has made an exceptional commitment to their community or charity, why not nominate them for the 10th anniversary awards in 2010. Find out more about nominations for Everybody Counts and about our other charity awards and support.

Shoestring operation

Jonathan Crown, ICAEW Everybody Counts Award winner, 2009

Jonathan Crown's life changed in 2001 when a veiled street boy brushed past him in Harar, Ethiopia. "He had a huge hole in his face," says Jonathan, who has since spent half his working life helping people with facial disfigurements through his charity Project Harar Ethiopia.

Jonathan qualified in 1990 with Casson Beckman (now Baker Tilly) and worked in practice for two years before setting up his own successful property business. However, as the son of an opera singer and an accountant, life was always about more than just number crunching.

"From an early age, I had a keen sense of injustice and an interest in social issues." This conscience informed his passion - photojournalism - and led him to record the people and lifestyles in Africa.

The street boy - Jamal - was suffering from Noma, a facial gangrene caused by extreme malnutrition. Through his photography Jonathan met surgeons willing to operate and his charity provides a means for patients to be brought together and transported to hospital for expert surgery.

Overcoming superstition

Project Harar has gone from strength to strength. "Last year we operated on 300 people. This year it'll be 400. These people are completely excluded and shunned due to ignorance and the superstition that the disfigurement is caused by evil spirits.

"The first boy we helped got married last year and has a son of his own. That would never have happened without our intervention. We operate on a shoestring, so the £2,000 cash award from Everybody Counts is a massive boost and will cure eight cleft lip patients in Ethiopia."

"Jonathan was an inspirational candidate for the judges," the judging panel ruled. "We were thoroughly humbled by the immense personal investment and effort. To see the difference to the hundreds of lives touched by Jonathan's work was truly moving."

Personal confidence

Charlie Wardle, ICAEW Everybody Counts Award winner 2009

Charlie Wardle was a typical high flier. He qualified with PricewaterhouseCoopers and then held finance positions with Reed Elsevier, BT and Abbey. However, in 2003, an unsuccessful business venture saw him spiral into debt. "I lost confidence, felt depressed and it took nearly four years to pay back the money I owed," he says.

During that period, Charlie ran various marathons for charity, "in all honesty, because I could get a free holiday and a sense of achievement. Though I carried on with my finance career, my heart was never in it. In the end I thought I'd rather be poor and happy than rich and miserable."

Charlie recognised the huge benefits of doing a physical challenge and that's where the idea of Climb Your Mountain took shape. He realised that physical activity is very beneficial to people suffering with depression, stress, low confidence or other similar problems.

The charity provides training, support, motivation and advice to people who choose to take part in a specific physical challenge. The combination of exercise, a clear focus and then achieving a chosen goal gives the boost needed to help people climb their own personal mountain.

Charlie's example impressed the judges: "We were particularly taken by Charlie's life-changing decision to turn personal turmoil into triumph - helping others to gain physically, emotionally and mentally from overcoming challenges with support and guidance."

Citizens advice

Andy Appleby, ICAEW Everybody Counts Award winner 2009

Andy Appleby has been an active member of the Citizens Advice Service in Three Rivers, Hertfordshire, for over 15 years. He qualified in 1966 and worked in business for his entire career, namely Exxon and then Camelot. It was at the lottery company that he first became involved with its excellent charity programme. Now retired, he has worked with the Prince's Trust, Crimestoppers and eventually the CAB.

"The key thing about Citizens Advice is it gives anybody help about any subject - for free," says Andy. "People we help generally have nowhere else to go to get the best advice".

The Three Rivers Citizens Advice Bureau has four offices with 80 volunteers who help over 22,000 clients a year. Starting originally as treasurer, Andy became chairman after five years. With his previous experience as an Exxon executive, he brought his business and financial acumen to the charity.

Andy liaises and negotiates with the local council to ensure that core funding is justified and maintained, and has played an active role in the expansion of the CAB. He acts as a mentor to the chief executive, Marion Seneschall, who says: "Without Andy's strategic guidance, our CAB service would have suffered the demise of many current CABs - reduced funding and shorter opening hours, resulting in a downgraded, part-time service to the public, ironically at a time in today's economic crisis when the need for the service could not be greater."

As for Andy, he credits his accountancy training with his desire to get involved with charity at a time when, he says, "many of my peers just play golf".

"Being an ACA you will have had a good standard of living and you are a highly trained professional and I felt the need to put something back and give people the benefit of my expertise."

"The judges were convinced by the whole board nomination for Andy," commented the judging panel. "It was clear from the entry that without Andy's skills and perseverance during a very difficult merger, two communities and the surrounding areas would have been deprived of a valuable resource, one which perhaps at this time more than any is essential."

Saving a life

Ron Enticott, ICAEW Everybody Counts Award winner, 2009

When Ron Enticott says he is involved with charity because "I'm really trying to put something into it rather than get something out", it's astonishing how literal his words end up being.

Qualifying in 1968, Ron worked in both practice and industry before setting up his own firm, Airde Accountancy, in 1992. He first became involved with One-to-One (North West Surrey) 12 years ago. The charity provides social activity and contact for adults with varying degrees of learning disabilities.

Ron has been chairman for the last six years but it was events in 2008 that showed the extent of his dedication.

Kidney donation

"I heard that one of the charity's members - 28-year-old Kathryn - was suffering renal failure caused by a lifelong metabolism problem which meant that from early 2008 she was on dialysis seven days a week, nine hours a day," explains Ron, a father of two with five grandchildren. So he offered to donate one of his kidneys.

"I had the op on Wednesday, came out Friday, went to a friend's wedding on Saturday and was back at my desk on Monday," he says in a way that belies his enormous sacrifice.

Kathryn's father, David Priddy, explains: "We'd had three failed matches and then Ron rang out of the blue. The exhaustive tests all proved satisfactory. Kathryn is now free of the risks of dialysis, has much more energy, and a much improved life expectancy. We are really grateful to Ron."

Ron also chairs the governing body of Freemantles School, for children on the autistic spectrum, and is chairman of Runnymede District scout executive.

"We felt compelled as a panel to recognise and reward Ron's tireless and lengthy involvement in charities of many sorts," said the judges. "His efforts and financial skills turned a struggling charity into a success, not to mention the extraordinary personal sacrifices he has made for the beneficiaries of the various charities he has supported."

The ICAEW's Everybody Counts Awards initiative encourages chartered accountants' voluntary work with charitable and community organisations.

Download the full article about the ICAEW Everybody Counts Awards winners 2009 (PDF: 185 kb/2 pages)

July 2009