Social value: awards, campaigns and events

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Why are awards, campaigns and events important?

Campaigns and events raise awareness about issues affecting Surrey communities and residents, and about work currently underway to improve outcomes.

Awards and ceremonies reward and value the work being carried out to bring social, environmental and economic benefits to the residents and communities of Surrey.

What are we trying to achieve?

Campaigns, events and award ceremonies usually come with an additional cost to an organisation. We are looking for ways to help reduce these costs.

This could be through offering use of a room or a whole building, providing refreshments, supporting with marketing or a range of practical suggestions listed below.

What practical things can you do?

There are some practical suggestions below, based on needs and priorities that staff at Surrey County Council have identified. Please get in touch with svprogramme.team@surreycc.gov.uk if you have any more that you would like to add to the list.

  • Offer the use of a room, a large space, or a whole building.
  • Provide marketing support, for example via social media.
  • Sponsor an event with financial support that will go towards awards, building hire or hospitality.
  • Provide hospitality, including staff, refreshments or other logistics.

Here are some of the events, awards and campaigns that would benefit from your support:

  • Surrey Fire and Rescue Service Annual Awards: This annual ceremony recognises and celebrates the bravery, hard work, and long-standing commitment of men and women to the Surrey Fire and Rescue Service.
  • Safe Drive Stay Alive, Surrey: This is a live theatre-based education production that aims to raise road safety awareness amongst young people and to positively influence their attitudes to driving and as passengers. It runs for two weeks each November at Dorking Halls and is attended by over 12,000 people every year.
  • Surrey Fire and Rescue Service – Yes & Cadets. Yes & Cadets are national community safety initiatives and play a key role in shaping publicity materials, including digital and social media safety messages to inform and raise public awareness.
  • Fostering Friendly Scheme – Foster Care Fortnight (National Campaign): The Fostering Friendly employers schemes offer businesses of any size a chance to make a difference to foster carers and the children they care for in their local communities and improve support for their own employees at the same time. They also help promote Foster Care Fortnight™, the annual campaign to raise the profile of fostering and encourage people to consider becoming foster carers and offer children the care they need.
  • Care Leavers Covenant (CLC). The CLC is a national inclusion programme that supports care leavers aged 16 to 25 to live independently. A number of competitions and special events are organised throughout the year, where donations of gifts and giveaways to event participants are requested.
  • Celebration Events for Young People. Celebration events are being held for young people accessing SEND and mental health services throughout the year.
  • Citizen Days. These events are focused on social value activities in a number of local areas around Surrey, sponsored by employers and staff.

How can we measure our impact?

The impact of awards, campaigns and events can be measured by looking at:

  • The degree to which they have sparked conversations and stimulated new ways of thinking, for example, based on the total number of comments on social media posts, or via frequency of hashtags linked to the events/awards.
  • The degree of inclusivity and diversity of the participants for each event.
  • Increased awareness of organisers' public profile, such as through site social traffic after the event.
  • Feedback from those who attended.

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