May 15, 2011 | Read Time: 1 minute
The award: The 2011 Collaboration Prize, which recognizes models of collaboration among nonprofit organizations
Who gives the award: Lodestar Foundation
The winner: Adoption Coalition of Texas
About the winner: The coalition, which operates in the Austin metropolitan area, was formed in response to the Adoption and Safe Families Act, a federal law passed in 1997 that significantly increased the number of foster-care children available for adoption. Several adoption agencies began to work with Child Protective Services to more quickly process applications from families who wanted to adopt foster children. As a result of their effort, children were placed in homes within three months, says Bruce Thompson, the coalition’s executive director. The coalition now helps prospective adoptive parents by putting them in contact with an agency near their home and allowing them to undergo required training at any agency in the coalition.
Why it won: Lois Savage, president of the Lodestar Foundation, says the Adoption Coalition of Texas was selected in part because it has been successful—the adoption rate in the area has increased by more than 150 percent since the coalition began—and because it has inspired other groups. Mr. Thompson says the San Antonio region has adapted a lot of the coalition’s practices and that the two regions have the highest adoption rates in the state.
Advice for other groups considering collaboration: “The collaboration has to be built around a mission that everyone is passionate about, and people must be willing to give up their own ground if working together means they can help make a difference,” says Mr. Thompson.
