Awards, Sep 29, 2005

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

Community development. Ashoka (Arlington, Va.) has announced the three winners of its Changemakers Innovation Award Competition on How to Build a More Ethical Society, each of which will receive a $5,000 prize: Nagarik Aawaz (Kathmandu, Nepal), for its Displaced Youth Volunteer Program; the Rasur Foundation (Quizur, Costa Rica), for the Peace Army of Costa Rica; and City Montessori School (Lucknow, India), for its School as a Lighthouse of Society program.

Corporate giving. The Points of Light Foundation (Washington) has presented its Awards for Excellence in Workplace Volunteer Programs, which recognize companies for their efforts to encourage community service among employees. The recipients are Aetna (Hartford, Conn.), Cisco Systems (San Jose, Calif.), Federated Department Stores (Cincinnati and New York), Georgia Natural Gas (Atlanta), Home Depot (Atlanta), and the Washington Trust Company (Westerly, R.I.).

Fund raising. The Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement (Naperville, Ill.) has given its 2005 Distinguished Service Award, sponsored by Bentz Whaley Flessner (Minneapolis), to Christina Pulawski, director of development and donor services at Loyola U. Chicago, and its 2005 Margaret Fuhry Grant Award to Michelle Johnson, assistant director of development research at the U. of Arkansas (Fayetteville).

Health and human services. The National Assembly of Health and Human Service Organizations (Washington) has presented its 2005 Essence of Leadership Awards in the following categories:

— The Award for Excellence in National Board Leadership went to Geoff Boisi and Ray Chambers, founders of Mentor/National Mentoring Partnership (Alexandria, Va.).

— The Award for Excellence in National Executive Leadership went to M. Cass Wheeler, president and chief executive officer of the American Heart Association (Dallas).

— The Award for Excellence in National Public Leadership went to U.S. Representative Tom Osborne of Nebraska and Elliot Spitzer, attorney general for the State of New York.

Humanitarianism. The Opus Prize Foundation (Minnetonka, Minn.) has presented its 2005 Opus Prize to the Rev. Trevor Miranda and the Reach Education Action Programme (Mumbai, India), for their work to open more than 450 literacy centers that serve poor children and young adults in India. The prize, which carries a $1-million grant, is awarded annually to a faith-based organization or individual who uses innovative strategies to help mitigate deeply rooted social problems. The foundation also awarded $100,000 each to the Rev. William Wasson and Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (Miacatlán, Mexico), which serves orphaned and abandoned children in Latin America and the Caribbean, and to Juliana Akinyi Otieno, a pediatrician in eastern Kenya who works at New Nyanza General Hospital (Kisumu, Kenya) and also operates an after-hours clinic based in her home.

Nonprofit leadership. Independent Sector (Washington) has presented its 2005 Leadership IS Award to the National Hispana Leadership Institute (Arlington, Va.) for its work to develop leadership among Hispanic women in the United States. The award, which is accompanied by a $10,000 grant, recognizes a nonprofit organization that promotes leadership among its board and staff members, volunteers, and clients. Independent Sector also awarded Honorable Mention to New Jersey Seeds (Newark), which works to eliminate economic and social barriers that affect low-income, high-achieving young people in urban areas.