Activate Bradford District and Craven shortlisted for Management Today award
25th November 2025
The Activate Bradford District & Craven (ABDC) Partnership has been shortlisted for Management Today’s Best Public or Third Sector Transformation Award, recognising its effective use of data to strengthen the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector.
To better understand where support is most needed, the partnership has adopted an innovative new system that helps identify and prioritise organisations at risk. By using MyCake resilience ratings, the team can assess financial health more accurately, allowing them to offer help earlier and plan support in a more focused and effective way.
In its first year, the partnership assessed 83 priority organisations, completed diagnostics for 43, and provided intensive consultancy to 16. Most importantly, five organisations at risk of collapse were stabilised, protecting over £2 million in health contracts and preventing disruption to essential services in disadvantaged communities.
The programme expanded further in 2025/26. The partnership has assessed 1,700 organisations and used ‘data-led diagnostics’ to narrow this down to 79 that needed the most urgent support, demonstrating a major improvement in efficiency and evidence-based decision-making.
“We are incredibly proud that this work has been recognised and shortlisted in the Management Today Transformation Awards. The Activation partnership work demonstrates how data-led insight can transform support for the VCSE sector. Using MyCake’s data and Resilience Ratings alongside our diagnostic tools has helped us target resources more effectively, enabling us to direct support to organisations before they reach crisis point. This work helps to secure the impact of VCSE organisations whilst saving time and money for the public sector and charitable funders.” – Anthony Waddington, CEO, Participate Projects
The ABDC approach is now influencing wider regional strategy, with Wakefield and Leeds adopting the model through shared tools and training that is helping to accelerate learning across West Yorkshire.
This work has been funded by Bradford Council and the Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership.
The Management Today Awards celebrates innovation, leadership, and real change across UK organisations. Winners will be announced at a ceremony at the end of November.
About Activate Bradford District and Craven (ABDC)
Activate Bradford District & Craven is a partnership of infrastructure support organisations whose singular purpose is to support the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector: CNet, Community Action Bradford and District, Participate Projects, and the VCS Alliance. The partnership focuses on three strands of work: Strengthening the Sector, Citizen’s Voice, and Sector Voice, with a focus on working with organisations who deliver health and social care services.
Read more about ABDC : https://www.thevcsalliance.org.uk/activation/
