Awards, Mar 06, 2008

The following awards have been presented for work in advocacy, fund raising, nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, and other areas:

Community development. The Fannie Mae Foundation (Washington) and the Partnership to End Long Term Homelessness (Boston) have presented the 2007 Maxwell Awards of Excellence, which honor organizations that promote efforts to prevent homelessness. The recipients, who have each received a $75,000 grant:

— The Connection Fund (New Haven, Conn.) for its Legion Woods program for homeless veterans.

— Downtown Emergency Service Center (Seattle) for its efforts to provide housing for chronically homeless individuals.

— La Casa Norte (Chicago) for its Solid Ground Supportive Housing Program for youths.

— Umpqua Community Action Network (Roseburg, Ore.) for its Grandview Homes program for homeless families.

The awards also recognized 10 runners-up and awarded each a $10,000 prize: Aeon (Minneapolis); Avalon Housing (Ann Arbor, Mich.); Avesta Housing Development Corporation (Portland, Me.); Boley Centers (St. Petersburg, Fla.); Coalition for the Hungry and Homeless of Brevard County (Titusville, Fla.); Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (Denver); Common Ground (New York); East Liberty Development (Pittsburgh); Mercy Housing Lakefront (Chicago); and Skid Row Housing Trust (Los Angeles).

Corporate philanthropy. The Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (New York) has presented its Excellence in Corporate Philanthropy Awards, which honor companies for their executives’ commitment to philanthropy, innovation in corporate giving, and dedication to evaluating the effectiveness of their philanthropy. The award for companies with annual revenue in excess of $3-billion was given to PNC Financial Services Group (Pittsburgh). The banking company was honored for its Grow Up Great program, which donated $100-million over 10 years to help needy young children succeed in school.

The award for companies with annual revenue of less than $3-billion went to Moody’s Corporation (New York) for its creation of the Mega Math Challenge, an online applied-mathematics competition for high-school students. The company awards scholarships to contest winners and hosts other collaborations to boost economics, math, and science education.

In addition, Community Voice Mail (Seattle) received the Directors’ Nonprofit Award, which is accompanied by a $25,000 prize, for its partnership with Cisco Systems. The group provides free and confidential access to a phone-answering service for poor and homeless people, enabling them to communicate with employers, landlords, medical providers, and family members.

Fund raising. The Association of Fundraising Professionals (Alexandria, Va.) has announced the following recipients of its 2008 Awards for Philanthropy:

— Award for Outstanding Foundation: Levin Family Foundation (Dayton, Ohio).

— Chair’s Award for Outstanding Service: Willits Sawyer of Cambridge, Mass.

— Community Counselling Service Award for Outstanding Fund-Raising Professional: Jim Caldarola of Anchorage.

— Freeman Philanthropic Services Award for Outstanding Corporation: Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club (Bentonville, Ark.).

— Ketchum Award for Outstanding Volunteer Fund Raiser: Robert Murley of Chicago.

— Paschal Murray Award for Outstanding Philanthropist: T. Boone Pickens of Dallas.

— William R. Simms Award for Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy, Ages 5-17: Emily Schreiber of Birmingham, Ala., who, just weeks after being diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, created a swimming fund-raising event called Laps for CF.

— William R. Simms Award for Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy, Ages 18-23: Shin Fujiyama of Falls Church, Va., who founded Students Helping Honduras, a charity that raises money to rebuild houses in Honduras that were destroyed by Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

Immigrants. The Vilcek Foundation (New York) has announced the winners of its annual awards to honor the achievements of foreign-born individuals in science and the arts. The biomedical-science prize was given to Inder Verma, a professor of molecular biology at the Salk Institute’s Laboratory of Genetics (La Jolla, Calif.). Dr. Verma emigrated from India and joined the Salk Institute at the age of 26, where he has studied cellular genes that can cause cancer and the development of gene therapy. Osvaldo Golijov, originally of La Plata, Argentina, has received the arts prize. A composer and an associate professor of music at the College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, Mass.), he has been influenced by Jewish and Latin music in creating contemporary classical music. Both award winners have received a $50,000 cash prize.

Technology. The Tides Foundation (San Francisco) has announced the winner of the second annual Antonio Pizzigati Prize for Software in the Public Interest. The $10,000 prize was given to Barry Warsaw, who is the lead software developer for GNU Mailman, a tool that nonprofit groups can use to manage e-mail lists and online newsletters.