Harlem RBI Wins A Top NY Nonprofit Excellence Award

The winners of the 2012 New York Community Trust – New York Magazine Nonprofit Excellence Awards were announced today at a ceremony at Citi, 399 Park Avenue. They are:

·      Gold Prize for Overall Management Excellence to Red Hook Initiative http://www.rhicenter.org in Brooklyn.

·      Silver Prize to Harlem RBI www.harlemrbi.org in Eats Harlem, which uses the power of teams to coach, teach and inspire inner-city youth to recognize their potential to realize their dreams. Richard Berlin, Executive Director and Kenneth Rosh, Board Chairman accepted the award and a $10,000 prize. Harlem RBI won the Prize for Excellent Communications in 2008 and has now been recognized for its outstanding management practices.

·       Bronze Prize to Open Door Family Medical Center http://www.opendoormedical.org in Ossining (Westchester).

Each winner also received scholarships towards tuition at Programs in Social Enterprise in Executive Education at Columbia Business School, valued at a total of $18,000. In a Best Practices Workshop preceding the awards, Charlie Herman, Business and Economics Editor for WNYC Radio interviewed each of the winners about how they manage their organization to achieve mission-driven results.

“We are proud to support nonprofit management excellence as an extension of the work we do at The Trust to keep the City vibrant and healthy,” says Lorie Slutsky, President of The New York Community Trust. “We regularly make grants to help organizations plan for the future, invest in technology, and raise money. This is what nonprofits need to thrive and provide vital services efficiently when New Yorkers need them most.” The Trust became lead sponsor of the awards program for the first time this year.

A Selection Committee of 28 nonprofit experts chose these three organizations from an original group of 50 applicants. Through two stages of written applications and a site visit for each of six finalists, applicants addressed their management practices across Seven Areas of Nonprofit Excellence: (1) Overall Management Focus on Results; (2) Governance Structure that Moves Organization Forward; (3) Strong, Transparent and Accountable Financial Management; (4) Inclusive, Diverse and Responsive Organizational Practices; (5) Enlightened Use of Human Resources and Information Technology Resources; (6) Regular and Effective Communications and Use of Communications Technology; and, (7) Effective, Ethical Fundraising and Resource Development.

Since 2007, the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York (NPCC) <http://www.npccny.org> and Philanthropy New York <http://www.philanthropynewyork.org/s_nyrag/index.asp>  have managed this program, which is open to nonprofit organizations based in New York City, Long Island and Westchester.

“Each of these three winners showed excellent management practices across the seven areas of nonprofit excellence,” said NPCC President Michael E. Clark. “The corporate world could learn a lot from examining how efficiently and creatively these organizations are run. The funding community also learns each year how important it is to fund management so that nonprofits can thrive, grow and innovate.  To help the nonprofit community learn from these three groups, NPCC also will be running a series of Pathways to Excellence workshops in early 2013, featuring winners sharing their best practices and members of the Awards Selection Committee.  Education is what this awards program is all about.”

“The truly impressive response of nonprofits in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy is a striking reminder of just how essential it is that we ensure that service providers are well-managed and effective,” said Ronna D. Brown, President , Philanthropy New York.  “We salute these three outstanding winners, which have risen to the top of an impressive field. They are model organizations, and should also be highly valued voices in public discussion of how the nonprofit sector is crucial to strong communities in good times and bad.”

Financial and in-kind support for this year’s awards program is provided by The New York Community Trust, New York Media, WNYC, The Clark Foundation, Ford Foundation, McGladrey LLP, Citi, the Fund for the City of New York and the Programs in Social Enterprise in Executive Education at Columbia Business School. For more information on the program, please visit http://npexcellence.fcny.org.

The 2012 Awards are also sponsored by New York Magazine <http://www.nymag.com> and WNYC <http://http://www.wnyc.org/>;

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