Royal Osteoporosis Society wins a trio of Third Sector awards, including Charity of the Year

Today (Friday 22 September), the Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS) was presented with not one, but three, awards at the prestigious ceremony in London.

Every year, the Third Sector Awards recognise the achievements of inspirational charities and voluntary organisations and celebrate the people who work for them. Winners, like the ROS, are chosen by an elite panel of senior professionals across the third sector.

During this year’s ceremony, the ROS won a hat-trick of awards recognising its extraordinary efforts during a transformative year and impressing judges in the Marketing Campaign of the Year, Medium Sized Charity of the Year and Financial Excellence categories.

Osteoporosis affects 3.5 million people in the UK, causing bones to weaken and break (fracture) following simple injuries. Delays in diagnosis and low public awareness cause 90,000 people with osteoporosis every year to miss out on the treatments needed to avoid life-changing fractures. Despite fracture risk being easily estimable with simple enquiries about family history and lifestyle, these fractures are the fourth greatest cause of premature death and disability.

The Marketing Campaign of the Year award celebrates the impact of the charity’s osteoporosis risk checker, which has enabled over 200,000 people to check their risk of developing the condition, with over 11,000 of users getting an early diagnosis.

The Financial Excellence Award recognises a restructuring of the ROS financial model, which overcame the challenges of a lumpy legacy income profile and fostered a culture of stability, innovation and growth.  

The Charity of the Year award recognises our political breakthroughs in expanding access to Fracture Liaison Services in Wales and Scotland, as well as our 92% employee engagement rating.

Craig Jones, Chief Executive of the ROS, said: “We’re honoured to receive these awards which celebrate the dedication and hard work of our team.

“We made brave sacrifices to scale up our impact as a charity and early breakthroughs show our strategy is working.  We’re changing more lives than ever before, while influencing change at the highest levels of Government and the NHS.  We won’t stop until everyone has the level of care they deserve.  These successes are just the beginning.”