Award for Warwick Myton Hospice campaigner who’s won the hardest challenges

Ruth Freeman has been a pivotal driving force behind millions of pounds worth of fundraising for Myton Hospice in an incredibly short amount of time - and she did all that while fighting her own personal battle with breast cancer.

And the Myton Hospice’s director of income generation and marketing received a standing ovation when she was named as The Gill Astarita Fundraiser of the Year at the FundraisingAwards in London. She was nominated by her chief executive Kate Lee.

Ruth said: “I am delighted to have been given the award and am still in shock at hearing my name being called out.

“I am really grateful to our CEO Kate Lee for nominating me and I would also like to thank my wonderful team for all their hard work.”

On joining Myton, Ruth was faced with a stalled capital appeal to raise £7m to build a new Coventry hospice, which had raised £3m in six years and the need to double revenue from £2.5m to £5m by 2010 to cover the new costs. She completed the capital appeal and the new hospice in Coventry opened its doors to patients in 2009.

Ruth has increased annual voluntary income to £7m and under her guidance the charity’s fundraising team has built the second largest hospice lottery in the UK, increased its number of shops by over 50 per cent and built one of the strongest local charity fundraising and events team in the country - raising some £3m every year. She has achieved significant year on year growth and continues to do so.

Ruth, who previously worked for Barnardo’s, has been called an “inspiration” by her team and has achieved all this whilst also undergoing a personal battle with breast cancer, being a dedicated mum and supporting many other organisations.