Make a nomination

Letters of support

You, as the nominator, will have to submit two letters of support from two additional people who know the organisation well. Letters of support are an essential part of your nomination, as they help to clarify and explain the impact of the nominated group’s work in the local community.

Who writes them?

Letters must be written by individuals who know the work of the group and are happy to support it. For example, these letters could be from a service user, member of a partner organisation, local resident or councillor, or a family member of a beneficiary etc.

Letters from beneficiaries or members of the community are more powerful than letters from MPs or individuals less familiar with the group’s work.

Letters written by the nominator, a volunteer or anyone involved in the running of the organisation including employees and trustees will be ineligible and not considered.

What are they meant to cover?

• the impact of the group on the local community
• who and how have they helped
• what the volunteers in the group do and why they are special
• the relationship of the supporter to the group, including the reason for the endorsement

This is not an exhaustive list, but covers some of the information we may expect to see.

What do they look like?

• letters should be no more than 500 words or 2 pages long 
• letters should be dated
• letters can be:
  • images in jpg, jpeg and png formats;
  • files in doc, docx, odt, pdf and txt formats.

The letters can be informal or formal, their aim is to convey the great work that the nominated group is undertaking. For example, this could be a formal letter, a typed email or a handwritten note.

Only two letters can be submitted, as it often takes time to obtain these, we recommend requesting these as soon as you create an account on our website.