And The Winners Are ...
Announcing the results of the 2007 Fundraising Professionals of the Year Awards
February 2007 By Margaret Battistelli And Abny Santicola- Katya Andresen of Network for Good was named Fundraising Professional of the Year (Agency). NFG is, indeed, a nonprofit organization.
- The Dixie Chicks — the fundraising team from Heifer International (Dixie Ost, director of direct marketing; Kim Perrow and Christy Moore, direct marketing managers; and Misty Thornton, reporting and analytics manager) were named one of the Top Women in Fundraising (Agency), when, again, Heifer is a nonprofit organization, not a fundraising consultancy.
This story clarifies the information for those winners who were incorrectly categorized, but we’ve decided against naming additional winners so as to avoid confusion, since it’s one thing to make a correction on a Web site but quite another when conflicting copy exists in the much longer-lived print issue. We apologize for the mix-ups. -- MB]
I’ve said this before, but it remains true: I’ve long believed that fundraisers are a rare breed. Passionate. Dedicated. Creative. Tenacious. And most of them, at their very core, true believers.
Where those qualities converge, it’s tough to find anything short of excellence. Such is the happy but difficult dilemma we face when we think about who to honor in efforts such as this, FundRaising Success’ second annual Fundraising Professionals of the Year Awards. There are plenty of choices to weigh, campaigns to praise and people to recognize. The process begins and, when it’s over, you find yourself with 50 people who deserve to have their names engraved on the plaques — but only 20-ish spaces to fill. Not to mention the 50 others who it broke your heart to have to “cut” in the first go ’round.
Our winners are chosen from nominations sent in from FundRaising Success readers, others solicited from members of our Editorial Advisory Board and colleagues, and still others named by FS staff members. The process is fairly subjective, based on staff impressions of the nominating information rather than simply by number of nominations.
Ken, you are mistaken. Heifer doesn't "raise money for animals" at all. They raise money for hungry people in Africa (including Nigeria), Asia, Central & Eastern Europe and the Americas. They are working to end poverty & hunger and it's no easy feat. They're doing well -- even for those in Nigeria. Please do you research before downplaying the accomplishments of others.
Raising money for animals, cancer, food Pantries, Doctors without borders etc., are no brainers. Try raising money for the poor in Nigeria Africa.