Perth’s Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research is very proud to announce it brought home two category awards from the Fundraising Institute of Australia’s National Awards for Excellence in Fundraising, held in Brisbane on Thursday 29 February 2024.
The first was the Best Supporter Experience Award for last year’s New Town Toyota Walk For Women’s Cancer “10th Birthday Celebration”. The event attracts more than 1000 walkers each year who cover 35kms on one day in April and raise money for cancer research annually. Most participants are women, many of whom have a lived experience of cancer. The Harry Perkins Institute developed a caring experience for each participant. From the moment of registration, walkers received personalised journeys to inspire and assist them with training and fundraising. Successes and heartfelt moments were shared. The aim was to celebrate the loyalty of the women who had walked for each of the 10 years. In 2023 1,168 walkers raised $1.46m.
Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research Director, Professor Peter Leedman AO, was humbled and honoured to be named in the second award as a Fundraising Champion of the Year. The award acknowledges the importance of the highly valued contribution of non-traditional fundraising advocates.
Professor Leedman is an esteemed researcher, Endocrinologist and a passionate fundraiser. He compares fundraising to research, approaching both with a sense of wonder and understanding the risks of new approaches. For more than 10 years he has participated in the 200km two-day MACA Cancer 200 Ride for Research. For the annual Walk for Women’s Cancer, he dons a pink tutu and drives to pit stops along the route to distribute lollies, snacks and refreshments to tired walkers.
“As a medical research institute, the Perkins relies on community support to fill the gap between Federal, State Government and other grants, and the real costs of carrying out groundbreaking research.
“In the past financial year, fundraising provided around 68% of our revenue making fundraising, gifts in Wills and successful events critical to the Institute.
“Connecting with our community is a key part of what we do. People want to learn about and support medical research. Providing well-run enjoyable events enables the public and our researchers to be involved together,” Professor Peter Leedman said.
