Full-service digital agency, Cantarus, and NHS Charities Together, the national charity caring for the NHS, have received the Silver Award in the 'Best Membership Engagement' category at the 2023 Association Excellence Awards.

The Association Excellence Awards, an annual event since 2015, celebrates the vital contributions of associations, trade bodies, unions, and professional organisations in serving their members' needs. Attended by over 350 association executives each year, the awards have become well-anticipated fixture in the industry calendar.

Cantarus played a pivotal role in facilitating the digital engagement of NHS Charities Together member charities and their staff. Services included performing the build, design and hosting of the online community on the Discourse community platform, while co-developing a community strategy delivering upon their KPIs. The resulting online community eases member access to knowledge resources on best practices and thought leadership, while ensuring the organisation benefits from insight into member benefits delivered to each of 250 member charities.

The judges commented:

"An entry which clearly showcases the importance of connection and dialogue, and through this how we can better support our members in their work. With much consideration given to the design of the community through the use of content and also how it reflected the culture of organisations is demonstrated through the engagement of the community."

Mark Eichler, Chief Product Officer at Cantarus, comments:

"We are really pleased to share this recognition with NHS Charities Together. It has been a pleasure to partner with them as a client and work closely with their talented team. Nancy Kinder and Jake Tomlin are exceptionally experienced online community ‘pilots’. We built a high-performance vehicle to the specification; and they ensure it delivers on its capability day-to-day."

Cantarus, based in Manchester with operations in London, is a leading full-service digital agency with a specialism in serving charities and membership associations. Offerings to market include web and app engineering, online community, and consultative services on digital for membership bodies. 

NHS Charities Together is the national charity caring for the NHS, working with a network of over 230 local NHS charities based in every hospital, mental health, ambulance and community health service across the UK to help health services go further for NHS staff, patients and communities. Through it’s Covid-10 Urgent Appeal, NHS Charities Together raised an incredible £162 million, which has funded thousands of projects. This includes vital mental health support for exhausted NHS staff, training for emergency volunteers, equipment and support for patients, and community partnership programmes to prevent ill health and reduce pressure on NHS services.

Nancy Kinder, Head of Membership at NHS Charities Together, responded:

“We are delighted to have this recognition. We would not have been able to win this award without the diversity and vibrancy of our membership. With Cantarus’ help, we have been able to provide a forum for our members to connect, learn and grow which makes our sector stronger as a whole.”

The winners were announced on 3rd November at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London. The complete list of winners is available here.

For a more in-depth look at Cantarus' impactful work with NHS Charities Together, the detailed case study can be found here.