Awards, Apr 06, 2006

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

Aging. The National Council on Aging (Washington) has presented four national leadership awards:

— The Jack Ossofsky Award went to Marc Freedman for his work as founder and president of Civic Ventures (San Francisco) and his leadership in creating the Experience Corps (Washington), a community-service program that engages Americans who are age 50 and older. The award honors an individual or organization that has taken a “creative, new idea and developed it into a successful program, service, or policy that helps older people achieve vital aging.”

— The Geneva Mathiason Award was given to Molly Mettler, senior vice president of Healthwise (Boise, Idaho), which develops educational and advocacy resources for health-care consumers. Ms. Mettler has co-authored five books, including Healthwise for Life: Medical Self-Care for Older Adults. The award honors individuals for major contributions to the council and its programs.

— The Arthur Flemming Public/Private Partnership Award went to the Archstone Foundation (Long Beach, Calif.), which focuses its grant making on helping prepare society for the needs of an aging population, with an emphasis on preventive services, elder abuse and neglect, and end-of-life issues. The foundation was also honored for its work to strengthen Grantmakers in Aging (Dayton, Ohio). The award is presented to organizations that have created partnerships between the public and private sectors that benefit older adults.

— The Ollie Randall Award went to Jeanette C. Takamura, a former assistant secretary for aging at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services who, during her tenure from 1997 to 2001, helped develop a modernized Older Americans Act and establish the National Family Caregiver Support Program. Ms. Takamura is also chair of the board of the American Society on Aging (San Francisco) and currently serves as the dean of Columbia U.’s School of Social Work (New York). The award honors “singular and outstanding contributions toward advancing the cause of aging.”

Community service. The Marin Community Foundation (Novato, Calif.) has presented its 2006 Beryl H. Buck Awards for Achievement to Ethel Seiderman, president of the Parent Services Project (San Rafael, Calif.), who will receive $10,000, and to the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin (San Rafael), which will receive $25,000.

Ms. Seiderman was honored for her efforts to improve the lives of children, advocacy for increased parental involvement, and efforts to secure public and private support for child-care institutions.

The St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin was honored for its longtime work to provide social services to disadvantaged people, including emergency assistance, financial aid, and hot meals. The awards are given annually to an individual and a group whose activities directly benefit residents of Marin County.

The foundation also named Susie Tompkins Buell and her husband, Mark Buell, as the first recipients of its MCF Leaders in Giving Award, which honors local philanthropists. Ms. Buell was the founder and co-owner of the Esprit clothing company and serves as president of the Susie Tompkins Buell Foundation (San Francisco), which makes grants to benefit women and girls in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Buells were invited to select a Marin-based nonprofit group to receive a $10,000 grant, which they have directed to the Bolinas Community Firehouse and Clinic.

Grant making. The Council on Foundations (Washington) has awarded its 2006 Distinguished Grantmaker Award, which recognizes lifetime achievement in philanthropy, to Barry Gaberman, senior vice president of the Ford Foundation (New York).

Mr. Gaberman began his 35-year tenure at the Ford Foundation as a specialist in Southeast Asian affairs and later became Ford’s deputy vice president for U.S. and international affairs. He also serves on the boards of several foundations and is a founding member of the council’s WINGS (Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support) program.

The council has given its 2006 Robert W. Scrivner Award for Creative Grantmaking to Mary Thomas, vice president for programs at the Spartanburg County Foundation (S.C.). Ms. Thomas created two programs — Strengthening Voices and the Grassroots Leadership Development Institutes — to spur funding earmarked for increasing the effectiveness of local nonprofit groups and training community members to be advocates and activists. She also formed partnerships with national foundations, including the William Randolph Hearst Foundation (New York) and the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation (Winston-Salem, N.C.), to help disadvantaged families in the Spartanburg County area.

The council’s 2006 Paul Ylvisaker Award for Public Policy Engagement went to the Blandin Foundation (Grand Rapids, Minn.) for its work to advance innovative public policies that promote healthy forests and communities in Minnesota. The foundation has joined with local leaders and the U. of Minnesota to develop sustainable methods for preserving local forests and natural resources while enhancing the economic viability of rural Minnesota, especially in the Grand Rapids area.

Nonprofit leadership. Claremont McKenna College and its Kravis Leadership Institute (Claremont, Calif.) have presented the inaugural Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership to Roy L. Prosterman, founder and chairman emeritus of the Rural Development Institute (Seattle). Mr. Prosterman was honored for his group’s pioneering legal and advocacy work to help rural poor people in developing countries obtain the legal rights to land, one of the greatest underlying causes of global poverty. The Kravis Prize carries a $250,000 award, which Mr. Prosterman has given to the Rural Development Institute. The prize is financed by Henry R. Kravis, a trustee and alumnus of Claremont McKenna College and founding partner of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (New York), and Marie-Josee Kravis, an economist and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute (Washington).