Awards, Nov 18, 1999

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

Arts and humanities. The President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts (Washington) have named the recipients of the 1999 Coming Up Taller Awards, which honor outstanding arts and humanities programs that provide children with safe and educational after-school activities. Each organization receives a $10,000 grant. The honorees: Angkor Dance Troupe (Lowell, Mass.), the Corcoran Art Mentorship Program of the Corcoran College of Art and Design (Washington), D.C. WritersCorps of the Humanities Council of Washington, D.C., East Bay Center for the Performing Arts (Richmond, Cal.), El Puente Arts and Cultural Center (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Gallery 37 of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Hilltop Artists in Residence (Tacoma, Wash.), Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, Teen Parent Reading Project of the Vermont Council on the Humanities (Morrisville), and Young Aspirations/Young Artists (YA/YA) (New Orleans).

— The National Gallery of Art (Washington) has presented its Medal for Distinguished Service to Education in Art to Charles R. Lee, chairman and chief executive of the GTE Corporation (Stamford, Conn.); Lucio A. Noto, chairman and chief executive of the Mobil Corporation (Fairfax, Va.); and Edmond J. and Lily Safra, of the Republic National Bank of New York.

Children. The Hannah Neil Center (Columbus, Ohio) has given its 1999 Kellogg’s Hannah Neil World of Children Award, which recognizes selfless commitment to child advocacy, to Kathleen Magee, co-founder of Operation Smile (Norfolk, Va.). The award carries a $100,000 cash prize.

Community service. The Marin Community Foundation (Larkspur, Cal.) has presented its 1999 Beryl H. Buck Awards for Achievement to Kerry Peirson, founder of the Shelter Hill Computer Learning Center (Mill Valley, Cal.), and to the Latino Film Festival of Marin (San Rafael, Cal.). The awards carry prizes of $10,000 and $25,000, respectively.

— The Peninsula Community Foundation (San Mateo, Cal.) has presented its inaugural Thomas W. Ford Award to William L. Butler, founder of W. L. Butler Inc. (Redwood City, Cal.), a general contracting company. The award, which honors the commitment of a businessperson to community improvement and charitable giving, carries a $50,000 cash prize that will be granted to charitable organizations chosen by Mr. Butler.

Conservation and the environment. The National Audubon Society (New York) has given its 1999 Audubon Medal to William Conway, senior conservationist at the Wildlife Conservation Society (Bronx, N.Y.), for his work in zoo management and his stewardship of such projects as the Species Survival Program, which seeks to expand the mission of zoos to include the preservation of wildlife.

Corporate community service. The Points of Light Foundation (Washington) has presented its 1999 Awards for Excellence in Corporate Community Service to five companies: Glaxo Wellcome (Research Triangle Park, N.C.), LensCrafters (Cincinnati), NEC Electronics (Santa Clara, Cal.), the Portland Trail Blazers (Ore.), and United Airlines (Elk Grove Township, Ill.). The following four companies received citations: Coast Commercial Bank (Santa Cruz, Cal.), First Union Corporation (Charlotte, N.C.), the QuikTrip Corporation (Tulsa, Okla.), and Valero Energy Corporation (San Antonio).

Education and health. The Charles A. Dana Foundation (New York), as part of its 50th-anniversary celebration, has presented its Charles A. Dana Distinguished Achievement Award for Efforts in Health and Education to former First Ladies Barbara Bush, Rosalynn Carter, Betty Ford, Lady Bird Johnson, and Nancy Reagan. Each First Lady was asked to designate a $100,000 Dana Foundation grant to the non-profit organization of her choice; Mrs. Carter chose the Mental Health Program at the Carter Center (Atlanta), Mrs. Ford chose the Betty Ford Center at Eisenhower (Rancho Mirage, Cal.), Mrs. Johnson chose the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (Austin, Tex.), and Mrs. Reagan chose the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation’s Presidential Learning Center (Simi Valley, Cal.). Mrs. Bush designated four organizations, each of which will receive $25,000: Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy (Washington), Maine Family Literacy Initiative (Washington), Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center (Portland), and the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research’s Child Development and Learning Disorders Research Group (Rochester, Minn.).

Global issues. The Right Livelihood Award Foundation (Stockholm) has presented its 1999 Right Livelihood Honorary Award to Hermann Scheer (Bonn), for his work as founder of Eurosolar and as a member of the German Parliament to promote solar energy and to expose political and financial obstacles to its widespread adoption. The foundation also presented Right Livelihood Awards to Juan Garces (Madrid), a lawyer who prepared the legal case for the arrest of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in London last October; Grupo de Agricultura Organica (Havana), which has pioneered the use of organic farming methods in Cuba; and the Programme for the Consolidation of the Amazon Region (Santafe de Bogota, Colombia), a collaboration between indigenous peoples and non-governmental and grassroots groups that seeks to protect tropical-forest resources. The recipients will share the award’s prize of 1,800,000 Swedish krona, which is equal to approximately $218,000. The awards are presented annually by the Swedish Parliament on the day before the Nobel Prizes are announced.

New York City. The New York Public Library has presented its 1999 Brooke Russell Astor Award to Yvonne Stennett, executive director of the Community League of West 159th Street, for her efforts to improve living conditions in Manhattan’s southern Washington Heights neighborhood. The award, which carries a $10,000 prize, is presented annually to an “unsung hero” who has contributed substantially to improving the quality of life in New York City. Barbara Hohlt, founding member and chairman of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, and Marie St. Cyr, executive director of Iris House, received honorable mentions.

Philanthropy. Independent Sector (Washington) has given its 1999 Virginia A. Hodgkinson Research Prize to Joseph Galaskiewicz, a professor of sociology and strategic management at the U. of Minnesota-Twin Cities (Minneapolis), and Wolfgang Bielefeld, an associate professor of non-profit and philanthropic studies at Indiana U. (Bloomington), for their book Nonprofit Organizations in an Age of Uncertainty: A Study of Organizational Change, published by Aldine de Gruyter.

— The American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science (New York) has given its 1999 Chaim Weizmann Award for Philanthropic Leadership to S. Donald Sussman, chairman and chief executive of Paloma Partners Management Company (Greenwich, Conn.) and deputy chairman of the Weizmann Institute of Science Board of Governors.

Public service. The Advertising Council (New York) has presented its 1999 Public Service Award to Frank A. Bennack, Jr., president and chief executive director of the Hearst Corporation (New York), for his commitment to community service and volunteerism.