The Winner of the 2024 Ellie Maxwell Award is….
May 2, 2024
Ellie Maxwell Award winner 2024, Sanitree.
The Ellie Maxwell Award is given to a student organisation at the University of Edinburgh that is doing exceptional and innovative work in the charitable sector.
The award was launched in 2019 as part of Firefly International’s 20th anniversary celebrations with Edinburgh University in memory of founder, Ellie Maxwell.
She founded Firefly, to offer support to children impacted by conflict, while studying at Edinburgh and died prematurely of cancer, aged 32.
We are delighted to announce the winner of this year’s award, Sanitree. Ella Duffield made the application on their behalf and is a 4th year geography student.
She has worked with Sanitree over her time at the University of Edinburgh and is currently their Fundraising Grants manager.
Sanitree’s work in Jaipur, started 5 years ago, with University of Edinburgh student Bharat Sand Martha recognising a need to address period poverty in India.
Sanitree’s Managing Director Ishu Shiva advocated for a more sustainable way to tackle this through reusable pads.
The charity was born and has grown as a social enterprise over the intervening years. A dynamic Outreach team in the UK supports the organisation in India through fundraising and building awareness.
The judges for the Award, Joana Guedes da Costa, EMA winner 2023, Liz Sams, Foundation Scotland and Mark Chadwick, CBM UK liked Sanitree’s application which demonstrated clear strategy and realistic targets. They also felt that Sanitree was at a stage in its development that would benefit from the financial and mentoring aspect of the award.
Photo: Ella Duffield, Sanitree’s Fundraising Grants Manager