Community Development manager Gary Robinson received the award from Football League Trust's Dean Grice before Saturday's game against Scunthorpe United.

The award was made as the Club officially launched the Sir Tom Finney Foundation, the Silver Award guarantees the Club almost £50k in funding to invest in community schemes and activities in the North End area.

Speaking after receiving the award Gary Robinson said: "The Silver Award not only gives us extra funding but it is recognition for the hard work the Sir Tom Finney Foundation does in the local communities.

"The process for achieving this award is extremely thorough, there are lots of criteria which must be met and we have to have achieved excellence in a number of areas. This is a fantastic achievement but we won't stand still, we will continue to grow and develop over the next 12 months.

"We hope to continue the fine and proud tradition that the name Sir Tom Finney means to the people of Preston and the footballing world in general."

Football League Trust General Manager Dave Edmundson said: "I would like to heartily congratulate all the clubs who have achieved their Silver award.

"This is a wonderful indication of the new levels of impact and engagement that schemes are bringing to the communities they serve.

"More importantly, this demonstrates the impressive range of projects and initiatives delivered by League clubs in all four themes, and the partnerships being established in both the public and private sectors."

Edmundson added: "Overall standards are high, and there is no doubt that the Trust, along with the support of all the clubs, intend to maintain this rising trend of improvement."

To achieve Silver status, the club had to fulfil a range of criteria set out by the Trust.

These include:

• An approved level of governance, including representation of at least one senior club executive and at least two strategically-chosen external trustees on the scheme's board

• At least one themed officer working on projects relating to one of The Football League Trust's four core themes (social inclusion/ community cohesion, health, education and sports participation)

• A minimum of a three-year business plan showing sustainable programmes being delivered across all four of The Football League Trust's core themes.

• Evidence of how funding provided by The Football League Trust is being utilized and how it will be used to attract additional funding into the schemes

• Evidence of how schemes are linked into local decision making groups, for example Local Strategic Partnerships

• Evidence on how the schemes works with the Football Club on issues relating to youth development

• A strong player appearance policy

• Charitable status in place

All clubs must also have met The Football League Trust Minimum Charter standard.