Awards, Apr 18, 2002

The following awards have been presented for achievement in fund raising, management, philanthropy, and research:

Advocacy. The Gleitsman Foundation (Malibu, Calif.) has selected Mike Farrell, a star of the long-running television sitcom M*A*S*H, and Mimi Silbert, co-founder of the Delancey Street Foundation (San Francisco), to share the 2002 Citizen Activist Award and its $100,000 prize. Mr. Farrell was selected for his years of personal activism, including in support of American Indians, death-row inmates, farm workers, and needy people in Bosnia, Rwanda, and elsewhere. Ms. Silbert was selected for her role in creating the Delancey Street Foundation’s self-help, residential education program for ex-convicts and substance abusers.

Africa. The Africa-America Institute (New York) has presented its Award for Individual Vision and Achievement to Mathilde Krim, founding chairman and chairman of the board of the American Foundation for AIDS Research (New York). Dr. Krim was recognized for her work at AMFAR and for her advocacy in behalf of HIV-positive people in Africa and elsewhere over the past two decades.

Arts and humanities. President Bush has announced the recipients of the 2001 National Humanities Medal, including Sharon Darling, founder and president of the National Center for Family Literacy (Louisville, Ky.), the National Trust for Historic Preservation (Washington), and Robert Coles, a research psychologist and professor of psychiatry and medical humanities at Harvard U. (Cambridge, Mass.) who has written more than 50 books on child psychology, ethics, and the humanities.

The 2001 National Medal of Arts went to eight recipients, including the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Modern Dance Company, and School (New York) and the dancer and choreographer Judith Jamison, artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and artistic director of the Ailey School.

Fund raising. The Association of Fundraising Professionals (Alexandria, Va.) has presented its 2002 Award for Excellence in Fund Raising, Small Category to White Memorial Medical Center Charitable Foundation (Los Angeles). The center, a faith-based inner-city hospital in East Los Angeles, serves more than 100,000 patients annually. The foundation was honored for its work to increase charitable giving to the center from just over $500,000 annually in 1996 to nearly $8-million in 2000.

Health. Grantmakers In Health (Washington) has given its 2002 Terrance Keenan Leadership Award in Health Philanthropy to Tom David, executive vice president of the California Wellness Foundation (Woodland Hills). Mr. David was honored for his “thoughtful and responsive grant making, his willingness to change and embrace new endeavors, and his commitment to improving communication between grant makers and the nonprofit sector.” The group also honored Ruby Hearn, a senior vice president at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Princeton, N.J.) who retired last year, for her many contributions to the field.

The Intercultural Cancer Council (Houston), which works to eliminate the unequal burden of cancer among minorities and medically underserved populations in the United States, has presented its Leap of Faith Award to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (Dallas). The foundation was recognized for raising millions of dollars for epidemiological research on the disparities in breast cancer incidence and mortality rates that occur in specific populations, and for producing educational materials and program guidelines aimed at specific populations, including African-Americans, American Indians, Latinas, lesbians, and women in medically underserved urban and rural areas.

The Institute of Medicine (Washington) has given its 2001 Gustav O. Lienhard Award for the advancement of personal health services to Ruth Watson Lubic, president and co-chief executive officer of the District of Columbia Developing Families Center (Washington). Ms. Lubic was recognized for her 40 years of pioneering work in the development of humane, innovative, and high-quality child-bearing and child-rearing services, including the development of accredited birth centers nationwide. The award is endowed by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Princeton, N.J.) and carries a $25,000 prize.

Nonprofit leadership. The Washington Council of Agencies has presented its 2001 Shayne Nonprofit Leadership Award to Ruth Dickey, executive director of Miriam’s Kitchen (Washington), a meals program that serves more than 30,000 breakfasts annually to needy people in Washington’s Foggy Bottom neighborhood. The award, which is accompanied by a $1,000 prize, honors an outstanding executive director of a Washington-area nonprofit group whose annual salary is $50,000 or less.

Nonprofit organizations. The Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation (Tulsa, Okla.) has given its inaugural Charles Schusterman Award for Excellence to the Town & Country School (Tulsa), which serves students with learning disabilities. The award honors exemplary foundation-supported nonprofit groups in the Tulsa area, and carries an unrestricted prize of $5,018 — according to Jewish tradition, the Hebrew word for “life” (chai) has a numerical value of 18 and a monetary gift of that amount is intended to bring success.

Philanthropy. The William E. Simon Foundation (Morristown, N.J.) has awarded its annual Prize in Philanthropic Leadership to Raymond G. Chambers, founding chairman of the Points of Light Foundation (Washington), and its annual Prize in Social Entrepreneurship to the Rev. Eugene F. Rivers III, pastor of Azusa Christian Community (Dorchester, Mass.). The Prize in Philanthropic Leadership recognizes a donor whose contributions have had significant results, and awards an honorarium of $250,000 to the winner’s designated charity or charities. Mr. Chambers received the award for his support for education, scholarships, job training, employment, libraries, hospitals, and schools in and around Newark, N.J. The Prize in Social Entrepreneurship honors an innovator who has improved people’s lives and includes $250,000 for unrestricted use. Mr. Rivers was chosen for creating the Ella J. Baker House, a neighborhood center that has “calmed the crisis of youth and gang violence in one of Boston’s poorest areas.”