Awards, Jun 15, 2000

The following awards have been presented for work in philanthropy, fund raising, volunteerism, and non-profit management:

Advocacy. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (Washington) has chosen Raymond Lader of Punta Gorda, Fla., as the recipient of its 2000 National Youth Advocate of the Year Award. Mr. Lader, a 17-year-old high-school student and a former smoker, organized his fellow students in lobbying for tobacco-control laws in the Florida legislature, providing puppet shows and seminars for children on the dangers of tobacco, and raising $3,300 from a charity race for the American Cancer Society.

Youth to Youth (Dover, N.H.), composed of 250 middle- and high-school students, has received the 2000 Youth Advocates of the Year Group Award for the group’s work monitoring local retailers’ compliance with laws restricting the sale of tobacco to minors, testifying before the state legislature, and producing radio public-service announcements.

Corporate giving. The Conference Board has awarded the 1999 Ron Brown Award for Corporate Leadership to:

— General Mills (Minneapolis), for its collaboration with Glory Foods and the Stairstep Initiative, with additional financial backing from US Bancorp, in support of Siyeza. Siyeza is a food-processing plant in an inner-city neighborhood that provides 200 jobs for local residents and receives volunteer help in engineering, financial analysis, and marketing from General Mills employees and retirees.

— GTE (Irving, Tex.) and its “GTE Reads” literacy program, which provides financial help and outreach services to aid national and local literacy groups. In addition, GTE raises money for these efforts through a matching program that allows its customers to donate $1 a month as a line item on their telephone bill or at a Web site.

— Hewlett-Packard (Palo Alto, Calif.), which designed the “Diversity in Education Initiative” to improve the representation of female, African American, Latino, and American Indian students in university engineering programs. The program supports local efforts to better prepare students in kindergarten through 12th grade to enter college and offers students who go into engineering or computer science four-year, $3,000-per-year scholarships and three paid summer internships; Hewlett-Packard employees also act as mentors to the scholarship students.

— IBM (Armonk, N.Y.), for its “Reinventing Education” grant program, which finances educational reform projects in the United States and abroad; its projects have yielded demonstrable student improvement in reading and mathematics.

— US West (Denver), for the “Commitment to Diversity” program, which promotes ethnic and gender diversity in the company’s workforce, and for the company’s foundation, which supports many organizations that serve low-income and ethnic-minority populations.

Education. The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (Washington) has named John Merrow II and the Women’s Philanthropy Institute (Madison, Wis.) the 2000 winners of the James L. Fisher Award for Distinguished Service to Education. Mr. Merrow is the co-host and executive producer of “The Merrow Report,” a national public-television and public-radio program on educational issues, and has produced two documentaries for PBS and free resource guides for parents, teachers, and policy makers. WPI educates women on the social and financial aspects of giving and teaches non-profit professionals how to better involve women in philanthropy with workshops and conferences and their quarterly newsletter, WPINews.

Leadership. Dennis Pastrana, president and chief executive officer of Goodwill Industries of South Florida (Miami), and John Sykes, a philanthropist in Tampa, Fla., each have received the Florida Association of Nonprofit Organizations’ (Miami Lakes) Lawton’s Heart Award for leadership in improving living conditions in the Tampa metropolitan area. Mr. Pastrana has created programs that have helped more than 1,500 people who are disabled or on welfare to obtain jobs and has demonstrated skill in fund raising. Mr. Sykes has given many large gifts to Tampa non-profit organizations, including the U. of Tampa and Metropolitan Ministries.

Management. The Sara Lee Foundation (Chicago) has awarded its 2000 Chicago Spirit Award for leadership in improving life for economically and socially disadvantaged residents of the Chicago metropolitan area to Deborah’s Place (Chicago). Deborah’s Place helps women who are or have been homeless by providing temporary shelter, therapeutic services, and educational and employment programs. The organization also runs WomanCraft, a for-profit subsidiary that allows clients to gain work experience and income by making and selling jewelry and paper products. The Spirit Award carries a $100,000 grant to improve and expand services.

Museums. The American Association of Museums (Washington) has selected Elmer E. Rasmuson, former Mayor of Anchorage, and his wife, Mary Louise, as the recipients of the 2000 Medal for Distinguished Philanthropy for their longtime service, personal financial contributions, and grants to museums through the Rasmuson Foundation (Anchorage).

AAM awarded Joyce E. Jensen, director of education and volunteer coordinator at the Naval Undersea Museum (Keyport, Wash.), the 2000 Nancy Hanks Award for Professional Excellence. Ms. Jensen directs all of the museum’s educational and volunteer programs, including several she created, such as a symposium for female high-school and middle-school students on women in science and mathematics and hands-on activities for children that demonstrate engineering principles. The award carries a $1,000 stipend for professional development.

The Chicago Botanic Garden received the museum association’s 2000 Museum Accessibility Award for incorporating into the Buehler Enabling Garden designs that allow people with disabilities to enjoy the facilities. The garden uses ergonomic tools and devices such as pulley systems that bring plants to the user so that handicapped individuals can garden and participate in workshops.

The Association of Youth Museums and the Metropolitan Life Foundation have awarded the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose (Calif.) the 2000 Promising Practice Award. The award honors U.S. children’s museums that display innovative management and programs and carries a $10,000 unrestricted grant. CDM was recognized for its “Summer of Service” program, which lasts eight weeks and involves youths aged 12 to 14 in using math and science in ecological activities with younger children.

The Providence Children’s Museum (R.I.) and the Chicago Children’s Museum were also recognized with honorable mentions that each carry a $5,000 prize.