Awards, Jan 13, 2000

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

Associations. The Technology Section of the American Society of Association Executives (Washington) has given its 1999 Award of Excellence: Technology Innovation Award to Educause (Boulder, Colo.). The winning entry was a set of Web-based tools to improve conference attendance and participation.

Community service. The McKnight Foundation (Minneapolis) has presented its 1999 Virginia McKnight Binger Awards in Human Service to 11 Minnesota volunteers. Each award carries a $7,500 prize. The recipients: Henry Bruns (Arden Hills), Ernesto DelVillar, Sr. (Minneapolis), Marcelle Diedrich (West St. Paul), Darlene Edwards (Barnesville), Denise Gubrud and Margarita Reese (Pelican Rapids), Phoenix Hill (St. Paul), Geraldine Hull (Duluth), Ardis Knutson (Blooming Prairie), Yako Myers (Minneapolis), and Joyce Segelbaum (St. Louis Park).

Conservation. The Catto Charitable Foundation (San Antonio) has awarded its American Land Conservation Award to Annie Hoagland of Godfrey, Ill., for her 30 years of work to protect the Mississippi River, including as chair of the Alton Lake Heritage Parkway Commission and as co-founder of the Great Rivers Land Trust. The award is administered by the Conservation Fund (Arlington, Va.) and carries a $50,000 grant.

Disabled. The Prince Charitable Trusts (Chicago) has presented its 1999 Henry B. Betts Award to Timothy J. Nugent, a professor emeritus at the U. of Illinois who helped break down barriers to the admittance of disabled people to higher-education institutions and who founded the National Wheelchair Basketball Association. The award is presented annually to an individual who has significantly improved the quality of life for disabled people, and includes a $50,000 prize.

The American Association of People with Disabilities (Washington) has presented its inaugural Paul G. Hearne Leadership Awards for People with Disabilities. The awards program is co-sponsored by the Milbank Foundation for Rehabilitation (New York), the Milbank Memorial Fund (New York), and the Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation (New York). The recipients: Mike Ching (Irvine, Cal.), David Garcia (Apalachin, N.Y.), David Gonzalez (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Marlene Huff (Lexington, Ky.), Marcus Johnson (New York), Vanessa Johnson (Albany, N.Y.), Jennifer Kern (Berkeley, Cal.), Tia Nelis (Chicago), Earnest Okwara (Providence, R.I.), Linda Shepard (Douglasville, Ga.), and Anastasia Somoza (New York).

First Amendment. The Playboy Foundation (Chicago) has announced the winners of its 1999 Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards, which each carry a $5,000 honorarium:

— Nicholas Becker, a student at the U. of Maryland who challenged the constitutionality of student-led prayer during his high-school graduation ceremony.

— Michael Moore, the author and documentary filmmaker, for using his cable-television show The Awful Truth, which airs on Bravo, to educate the public about critical issues related to First Amendment rights.

— Donald Parker, the founder of the Long Island Coalition Against Censorship and the New York Civil Liberties Union-Nassau Chapter, for his long-time work to combat censorship in schools and libraries on Long Island, N.Y.

— Bruce Sanford, a partner at Baker & Hostetler, for his book Don’t Shoot the Messenger: How Our Growing Hatred of the Media Threatens Free Speech for All of Us.

— Eugenie C. Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, which defends the teaching of evolution in public schools.

— Elaine Williamson and Jeri McGiverin, who founded Mainstream Loudoun, a membership organization that works to preserve personal and religious freedom, and who successfully challenged Internet filters in Loudoun County, Va., libraries.

Grassroots leaders. The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation (Winston-Salem, N.C.) has presented its 1999 Nancy Susan Reynolds Awards, which honor North Carolinians who have worked largely without recognition in three categories. The personal-service award went to Trudy Fraver Maness, who teaches children with multiple disabilities at the Morehead Montessori School (Durham). The advocacy award went to Ivan Kohar Parra, the director of El Centro Hispano (Durham) and a leader of the region’s burgeoning Latino population. The race-relations award went to Fay Coker Walker, a social activist in Brevard who took early retirement so that she could work full time on overcoming racism and improving race relations in her community. Each award carries a cash prize of $25,000; of that, $5,000 goes to the individual and $20,000 goes to a charitable organization designated by the recipient.

Jewish federations. The United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York and the J. E. & Z. B. Butler Foundation (New York) have named the recipients of the 1999 Zella Bronfman Butler Awards, which annually honor two individuals who have demonstrated exceptional devotion to disabled people. This year’s winners are Rabbi Martin Schloss, who serves as director of the Board of Jewish Education’s School Services Division, and Ellen Pepperberg Millman, who serves as director of the Community Trust for Disabled Adults. Each recipient receives a $10,000 award.

Minority education. The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (San Antonio) has presented its Outstanding Private Sector Partner Award to the Coca-Cola Company (Atlanta) for its exemplary commitment to higher education for Hispanic students.

Non-profit organizations. The Philadelphia Foundation has given its 1999 Alfred H. Williams Award for Organizational Excellence, which honors outstanding non-profit groups serving southeastern Pennsylvania, to the Attic (Philadelphia), which provides advocacy, health, and social services to gay, lesbian, and bisexual youths. The organization will receive a $10,000 cash award, and $10,000 will go to establish an endowment for it at the foundation.

Non-profit research. The Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (Indianapolis) has presented its 1999 awards for outstanding contributions to non-profit research. The winners:

— Lifetime achievement: David Mason, whose books include Voluntary Nonprofit Enterprise Management (Plenum, 1984) and Leading and Managing the Expressive Dimension (Jossey-Bass, 1996).

— Distinguished book (tie): Jerome Himmelstein for Looking Good & Doing Good: Corporate Philanthropy and Corporate Power (Indiana University Press) and Richard Magat for Unlikely Partners: Philanthropic Foundations and the Labor Movement (Cornell University Press).

— Outstanding article published in the Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly: Nancy Wolff and Mark Schlesinger for “Access, Hospital Ownership, and Competition Between For-Profit and Nonprofit Institutions.”

The Gabriel G. Rudney Memorial Award for an Outstanding Dissertation in Non-Profit and Voluntary Action Research went to Betty Jane Richmond for her dissertation, entitled “Counting on Each Other: A Social Audit Model to Assess the Impact of Nonprofit Organizations.”

Violence prevention. The California Wellness Foundation (Woodland Hills) has presented its 1999 Peace Prize Awards to three community leaders involved in violence prevention. The winners: Ruben Lizardo, education and training director of the Community Development Technologies Center (Los Angeles), who works with students, parents, and community educators to promote cooperation among black and Latino residents; Clara Luz Navarro, co-founder of Mujeres Unidas y Activas (San Francisco), a nurse from El Salvador who works with immigrant women affected by domestic violence; and Gilbert Sanchez, founder and director of the Gang Violence Bridging Project at California State U. at Los Angeles, which combines counseling and social services with research on the causes and consequences of gang participation. Each award conveys a $25,000 grant.

Volunteers. The Association for Volunteer Administration (Richmond, Va.) has presented its 1999 Volunteer Administrator of the Year Award to Joyce Conner, volunteer-resources manager for the City of Kettering (Ohio), and its Harriet Naylor Distinguished Member Service Award to Betty Stallings, founder and executive director of the Valley Volunteer Center (Pleasanton, Cal.).