I wasn’t prepared for this. And I mean that genuinely.

On the evening of Thursday 7th November 2019, I stood in a room in Beijing at the China Social Impact Awards Gala — an event jointly organised by the British Chamber of Commerce China and the United Nations — and heard the names C2W and Come Together Community (CTC) called out as winners in the MNC category for Community & Culture.

I had no speech. I hadn’t written one because, hand on heart, I didn’t think we were going to win.

What the Award Recognises

The China Social Impact Awards’ Community & Culture category is given to the organisation that best demonstrates meaningful progress against three United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

• Goal 11 — Sustainable Cities and Communities
• Goal 16 — Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
• Goal 17 — Partnership for the Goals

When I looked at the other finalists in that room — serious organisations doing serious work — I genuinely didn’t feel we belonged in the same conversation. That feeling is something I’ve reflected on a great deal since. Because I think it says something important: the people closest to a cause are often the last to see how much it means to others.

What CTC Is

Come Together Community (CTC) is a local NGO that I co-founded in Zhuhai, South China in 2011, alongside a remarkable group of foreign companies, local partners, and community members. Every year since, we have brought together over 1,500 people of every background, nationality, and culture to enjoy music at South China’s largest charity music festival — Come Together — raising money transparently for underprivileged children and those living with learning and developmental conditions in the region.

Every single renminbi raised goes directly into the community. No salaries. No admin fees. Our C2W team runs the financial, tax, and administrative functions of the NGO. Our staff volunteer for management and operational roles during the festival, year after year, giving their time freely because they believe in what we’re doing.

That is what won an award that night. Not a corporate programme. Not a budget. People choosing to show up.

What I Said

When I found myself at the podium with nothing prepared, I said what I felt:

“I stand before you a humbled man. When I look at the other finalists, I didn’t think that what we do was big enough or worthy of winning this incredible award. But I guess that’s what this is all about — giving back, and helping in any way we can. So we should all give back and help people, always, and wherever we can.”

I meant every word. The award doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the C2W employees who volunteer their time, the CTC partners who give everything they have to this project, and the wider community in Zhuhai who have made Come Together what it is over nearly a decade.

Why I’m Sharing This

I don’t share achievements like this lightly. But this one felt different — because it came from the United Nations and the British Chamber of Commerce, and because it recognised something we built not for recognition, but because the right thing to do was obvious.

When my friend Ronnie passed away unexpectedly in 2011, leaving his wife and unborn child facing an uncertain future, a group of us decided we weren’t going to just feel sad about it. We were going to do something. CTC was born from that moment — from grief, from friendship, and from a belief that communities are made by the people in them who choose to act.

Winning this award, nearly a decade later, felt like the most meaningful validation of that choice.

To everyone who has ever donated, volunteered, attended a Come Together festival, or simply believed in what we were trying to do — this is yours.

🔗 Learn more about Come Together Community 🔗 2019 China Social Impact Awards

Mark Clayton FCMA CGMA CPA — Group CFO, C2W Group | Founder & Chairman, Come Together Community