2025 Shortlist | Sibs
Sibs
Shortlist – Improving Impact: Charities with 4-30 paid staff
About the Charity
Sibs is the only UK charity solely focused on supporting siblings of disabled children and adults. These often-overlooked individuals face unique emotional, practical, and social challenges that span their entire lives. Sibs provides vital support through its Young Sibs information hub for children, and tailored peer support, wellbeing events, and resources for adults. The charity also equips parents and professionals through training and workshops to better understand and respond to sibling needs.
With a mission rooted in inclusion and emotional resilience, Sibs champions the voices of siblings—many of whom grow up feeling unseen and unheard. Through advocacy, direct support, and national awareness campaigns, the charity ensures that sibling experiences are recognised, respected, and responded to.
Charity number: 1145200 | www.Sibs.org.uk
England – North West | 4-10 paid staff
What the Board Achieved
Sibs is a small charity with a national reach and an ambitious mission—to raise awareness and improve the lives of siblings of disabled people. Over the past three years, the board has led the organisation through a significant period of growth and impact, championing a bolder, more visible approach.
Recognising the complex and lifelong nature of sibling experiences, the board supported a shift from one-size-fits-all services to a broader, more personalised model of support. This included launching new peer support groups, running sibling-focused well being and art events, and equipping schools and professionals with training and resources. The board also endorsed a media and advocacy push—highlighted by securing Jo Whiley as the charity’s first patron and leveraging National Siblings Day to bring sibling stories to the public.
Trustees’ demonstrable commitment to listening was matched by strategic action. The creation of a 60-member Reader Panel ensured sibling voices shaped services. The board championed stronger data collection, professionalised evaluation efforts, and supported internal and external research to better understand and respond to sibling needs. As a result, service reach expanded significantly—there was a 71% increase in families using Young Sibs, more than 700 siblings engaged in the Facebook support group, and more than 340 adults joined peer support events.
What Inspired the Judges
The judges were deeply inspired by the scale of Sibs’ ambition and the strength of its community focus. Sibs stood out as the only national charity on the shortlist—and the only UK organisation dedicated solely to sibling issues. The board’s strategic leadership was both empathetic and effective, with many trustees bringing lived experience while still maintaining clear-eyed governance and long-term vision.
The panel praised the board’s clarity around its role—not only in supporting bold service delivery but also in challenging itself to grow. Trustees actively pursued training, streamlined governance practices, and formed subcommittees to focus on critical areas like EDI and remuneration. They leaned on partnerships and sector resources such as NCVO and the Association of Chairs to enhance performance and support charity-wide learning.
Sibs also impressed through its balanced approach to match ambition with realism—developing the charity in a slow but steady way to best represent and further the needs of its beneficiaries. Other charities can learn from Sibs’ ability to combine emotional intelligence, strategic development, and advocacy for a community whose needs are often hidden. As the panel noted, the board’s faith in the charity’s staff team and its willingness to listen, learn, and adapt shone through every part of the entry.
