Head of Strategic Giving shortlisted for national legacy award

Cornwall Air Ambulance’s Head of Strategic Giving, Debbie Henshaw, has been shortlisted in the 2025 Smee & Ford Legacy Giving Awards.

The annual awards celebrate and recognise colleagues, teams and partners for their successes and achievements this last year in legacy fundraising and administration.

We are delighted to announce that Debbie is in the running for the Director’s Award for Outstanding Legacy Manager.

Since joining the charity, Debbie has developed and implemented the legacy strategy, seeing year-on-year growth and working tirelessly to shine a light on the lifesaving impact of gifts left in Wills. In her time at Cornwall Air Ambulance, she has brought in over £19million through legacy income with £2.7million generated in 2024 alone.

Each year, the crew of Cornwall Air Ambulance are tasked to over 1,000 emergency incidents, with Gifts in Wills funding around one third of those missions.

Debbie said: “The past 12 months have been incredibly busy and incredibly rewarding, from delivering a range of legacy materials, to implementing a new CRM database system to help steward donors, and leading on a dedicated legacy awareness week, it is an honour to be able to make such a difference to the charity that saved my dad’s life. Through our leading legacy strategy, I want to ensure that Cornwall Air Ambulance can continue to help patients in their greatest moment of need, for generations to come.”

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in London on the 24th of April.

A gift in a Will is a simple yet meaningful way to ensure Cornwall Air Ambulance can continue its lifesaving work in this generation and the next. You can find out more about leaving a legacy here: https://cornwallairambulancetrust.org/remember-a-charity/

You can make or update your Will here.