Awards, Apr 03, 2003

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

Corporate giving.

The Points of Light Foundation (Washington) has presented its 2002 Awards for Excellence in Corporate Community Service to these companies for their support of employees’ involvement in community service:

— IBM Corporation (Armonk, N.Y.), which sponsors several volunteer programs, including an online mentoring project through which employees are matched with students in nine countries, and camps where woman employees teach middle-schools girls how to assemble personal computers, develop Web sites, and write computer programs.

— John Hancock Financial Services (Boston), which joins with Boston public schools to provide tutoring in math and literacy. Employees also team up with professional athletes to use sports to teach leadership skills to youths.

— Oracle Corporation (Redwood Shores, Calif.), which sponsors volunteer fairs to inform employees about local volunteer opportunities, as well as “global volunteer days” through which Oracle employees worldwide carry out one-day service projects.

— Safeco Insurance (Seattle), which gives annual community-service awards, compensates employees for personal time spent volunteering, and allows workers to take time off during the day to volunteer.

— Salesforce.com and Salesforce.com/foundation (San Francisco), which pays staff members one percent of their salary — or six days annually — to volunteer at one of the company’s 41 Community Technology Centers or to participate in other service projects.

— Universal Parks & Resorts (Orlando, Fla.), which maintains a committee of employees who recruit co-workers to participate in community-service projects to help needy children and families and to improve education.

Human rights. The Order of St. Andrew the Apostle (New York) has presented its annual Athenagoras Human Rights Awards. International Orthodox Christian Charities (Baltimore) was honored for distributing money and needed items worldwide in response to disease, natural disasters, poverty, and wars. The Orthodox Christian Mission Center (St. Augustine, Fla.) was honored for sending missionaries to, and supporting members of the clergy in, 12 countries.

Religion. The John Templeton Foundation (Radnor, Pa.) has presented Holmes Rolston III with its 2003 Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities. The award, which includes a £725,000 (approximately $1,100,000) cash prize, recognizes work that advances understanding of God or spirituality. Mr. Rolston is a Presbyterian minister and a professor of philosophy at Colorado State U. (Fort Collins). His research and writings focus on environmental ethics, using creation as a motivation for the need to conserve biodiversity and ecology.

Research. The Dan David Foundation (Tel Aviv) has announced the recipients of its 2003 Dan David Prizes, which recognize individuals for innovative and interdisciplinary research on the past, present, and future of the arts, humanities, science, and technology. Each prize carries a $1-million cash award, of which $100,000 goes to support scholarships for young researchers in the winner’s field. The winners:

— Past. Michel Brunet, a professor of paleontology at the U. of Poitiers (France) who has conducted extensive field work in Chad, where he discovered an almost-complete cranium of what is believed to be the oldest human ancestor.

— Present. James Nachtwey, a photojournalist and contract photographer with Time magazine who has documented AIDS, famine, war, and other pressing global issues; and Frederick Wiseman, a documentary filmmaker whose innovative films have examined such social issues as the U.S. criminal-justice system and domestic violence.

— Future. John Bahcall, a professor at the Institute of Advanced Study (Princeton, N.J.) who has made significant contributions in astrophysics, particularly in the field of neutrino astronomy.

Women and girls. The Ann Bancroft Foundation (Plymouth, Minn.) has announced the recipients of its 2003 awards honoring Minnesota individuals and organizations for their support of girls and women. The winners:

— Linda Berglin, a state senator who advocates low-cost health care for women and families, pay equity, and policies aimed at combatting sexual discrimination.

— Erin Enger, who has started mentoring programs at her high school in Shakopee.

— Houston County Women’s Resources (Hokah), which provides services for women and children who are homeless or victims of domestic violence.

— Mee Moua, a state senator who actively advocates the improved socioeconomic and political status of disenfranchised people.

Youths. The William T. Grant Foundation (New York) and the National Academies (Washington) have presented their annual Youth Development Prize and its accompanying $100,000 cash award to the University-Assisted Community School Program (Philadelphia). This collaboration between the U. of Pennsylvania’s Center for Community Partnerships, selected Philadelphia public schools, and the West Philadelphia Partnership provides science-education outreach and programs to students and encourages neighborhood residents to become more involved in civic affairs.