Well, MWOTY HQ has had another absolutely stellar year, with incredible achievements and milestones across 2024.
MWOTY was a sold-out event in 2024 and the fabulous team at the Crowne Plaza was outstanding as ever. Even before we got there the support for our finalists was phenomenal, with 10,000 votes cast on the first day of voting alone!
Your generosity at the event raised over £8,000 for The Women’s Fund, which will support smaller women’s charities across the region through The Community Foundation for Merseyside, and £4,000 for the MWOTY Legacy Fund, which assists the winners throughout the year with networking and self-development opportunities.
The summer brought challenging times with the tragic events in Southport, when three innocent young girls’ lives were taken in an attack which shook not just our community, but the whole of the UK. The subsequent riots threatened to tear our communities apart, but the overwhelming response demonstrated the power of community cohesion and our strength coming together despite the minority.
The Southport Strong Together Appeal, led by the Community Foundation for Merseyside in partnership with Sefton Council and Sefton CVS, provided people with a way to help, raising almost £350,000 to support the children and adults directly involved in the attack, their loved ones and the wider community.
Another remarkable display of community spirit was our City’s response to the threat of closure for Zoe’s Place in Liverpool. We had the privilege of hearing directly from Gina Earnshaw, Senior Corporate & Major Fundraiser of Zoe’s Place about their plans to prevent that at our MWOTY Leader’s Lunch in October.
The event, hosted in partnership with MWOTY and headline sponsor FPC, brought together more than 70 past and present MWOTY Finalists. As well as Gina we also heard from other guest speakers who shared how they have grown successful businesses that have a huge economic influence on the region. The energy in the room was electrifying — it was like bottling a power source that could take us to the moon and back!
As we hoped, shortly after the event we received the fantastic news that Zoe’s Place had been secured. The entire city rallied around to assist with its fundraising appeal, with many MWOTY Finalists, sponsors and partners contributing through various events, from rowing challenges to marathons and charity evenings.
November marked the awards season for the region and I couldn’t have been more proud of our MWOTY Finalists and supporters who were nominated for and won various categories at other awards ceremonies. This is a true testament to the quality and impact of the MWOTY network.
As our impact grows, so too does our reach, with MWOTY stories reaching more than 1.7 million people through our work showcasing our winners and finalists in the press, our monthly newsletter and our social media – and that growth doesn’t look to be slowing as we head into 2025.
The MWOTY alumni, sponsors, partners and supporters have been actively collaborating, with each other with conferences, funding applications and help. This collective spirit is a wonderful example of the MWOTY Movement in action and highlights the vibrant, impactful and deep level community that MWOTY is building.
As we prepare to open nominations for MWOTY again on Monday, January 13th 2025, we anticipate another bumper crop of submissions and a very challenging (in a good way!) time for our judges.
I’m so very deeply grateful for the unwavering support from all our sponsors, partners, and supporters. Their belief in MWOTY and the dynamic influence we continue to make empowers us to make a real difference for women in our City.
Reflecting on 2024, it certainly was a year of trials and triumphs, now we look ahead with hope, confidence, spark and excitement for the new plans we have created for MWOTY in 2025.
Have a wonderful festive break and see you in the new year
Ellie x
Founding Director
MWOTY
