The Bronx Defenders Announced as Semifinalist for Nonprofit Excellence Awards

“The Bronx Defenders is honored and thrilled to be selected as a semi-finalist for the 2013 New York Community Trust-New York Magazine Nonprofit Excellence Awards,” said Robin Steinberg, Executive Director of The Bronx Defenders. “This nomination is a testament to the dedication and fierce advocacy that each and every staff member at The Bronx Defenders brings to the often overlooked world of public defense. Empowered by our interdisciplinary and innovative management strategies and practices, our teams of advocates holistically represent clients, achieve better life outcomes and help stabilize communities.”

The Awards are based on eight key areas of nonprofit management: focus on results, governance structure, financial management, human resources, diversity and responsiveness, IT practices, communications, fundraising and resource development.

The ten semifinalists, based in New York City and the suburbs, represent diverse fields including legal services, housing, education, and athletics. In addition to BronxWorks and The Bronx Defenders, they include:

• Corporation for Supportive Housing (Manhattan) helps build housing that lets those most in need, the homeless and disabled, connect to homes, health care, jobs, and the community.
• DoSomething.org (Manhattan) is the country’s largest nonprofit for young people bringing about social change, making it easy for teens to get involved via social media.
• Global Kids, Inc. (Manhattan) gives young people from the city’s most neglected neighborhoods a unique understanding of global issues through workshops, web-based programs, service projects, and international travel.
• Hot Bread Kitchen (Manhattan) is a nonprofit social enterprise that hires low-income men and women to make delicious multi-ethnic breads and teaches them the skills necessary to launch food businesses and achieve management track positions in food manufacturing.
• Make-A-Wish Metro New York and Western New York (Lake Success, Long Island) grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.
• Row New York (Long Island City, Queens) empowers young people from New York City’s under-resourced communities by combining athletic training through the unique sport of rowing with academic tutoring.
• The Children’s Village (Dobbs Ferry, Westchester) works in partnership with families to help society’s most vulnerable children, so that they become educationally proficient, economically productive, and socially responsible members of their communities.
• Young Women’s Leadership Network (Manhattan) empowers students to break the cycle of poverty through education, running all-girls public secondary schools, and a comprehensive college guidance program.

This fall, three of the semifinalists will be selected as winners of the Nonprofit Excellence Awards, and will receive cash awards of $30,000, $20,000 and $10,000, respectively. They will also be recognized in New York Magazine and by WNYC, and will receive tuition scholarships for the Programs in Social Enterprise in Executive Education at Columbia Business School. This year’s cash awards and benefits are the largest in the program’s seven-year history.

“By showcasing inventive innovative management at several nonprofits, we can help inspire hundreds of others to learn from best practices,” said Lorie Slutsky, President of The New York Community Trust.

“These semifinalists are doing amazing things, employing vastly different strategies in a diverse array of communities. But they have in common great management practice,” said Ronna Brown, President of Philanthropy New York. “We look forward to learning more about their management strategies and hearing directly from them about the institutional practices that have made them standouts in our sector.”

In the program’s first six years, 497 nonprofit organizations have applied for the Awards, and 20 have been recognized for their management excellence. A list of past winners is available at http://npexcellence.fcny.org/npea/winners/.

NPCC created these awards in 2007 and serves as the tax-exempt manager of the program, in collaboration with The New York Community Trust and Philanthropy New York. New York Magazine and WNYC co-sponsor the program, which is also supported by The Clark Foundation, Taconic Foundation, McGladrey LLP, the Fund for the City of New York, Programs in Social Enterprise in Executive Education at Columbia Business School, and Ford Foundation.

The Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York (NPCC) serves as the voice and information source for New York nonprofits. An umbrella organization representing and serving some 1,500 member nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations throughout New York City, Long Island and Westchester, NPCC is the largest such organization in the New York City area. It represents all types of nonprofits on sector-wide issues. Established in 1984, NPCC informs and connects nonprofit leaders, saves nonprofits money, helps them manage and govern themselves better, and protects and strengthens the entire nonprofit community’s relations with all levels of government.  (www.npccny.org)

Since 1924, The New York Community Trust has been the home of charitable New Yorkers who share a passion for the City and the suburbs—and who are committed to improving them.With its donors, The Trust supports an array of effective nonprofits that help make the City and suburbs vital and secure places to live and work, while building permanent resources for the future. The New York Community Trust ended 2012 with assets of $2.1 billion in more than 2,000 charitable funds, and made grants totaling $137 million. (www.nycommunitytrust.org)

Philanthropy New York is the primary membership organization for private, family, corporate and public foundations based in the tri-state New York area. Its 285 member organizations – including some of the leading private, corporate, family and public grantmaking foundations in the world –recognize that a vibrant and well-managed nonprofit sector is fundamental to healthy communities. Collaborating in the Awards provides Philanthropy New York an important opportunity to celebrate management excellence among our members’ nonprofit partners, learn from their experience, and help build greater capacity in the sector.Philanthropy New York is the principal professional community of philanthropic foundations based in the New York City region with a mission of enhancing the ability of philanthropists to serve the public good. Philanthropy New York members recognize that without extraordinary grantees, there would be no effective grantmaking programs. (www.philanthropynewyork.org)

New York Media is the parent company of the ground-breaking weekly New York magazine, founded in 1968; the up-to-the-minute news and service website nymag.com; the Grub Street network of food blogs; the entertainment and culture news site Vulture; and the twice-yearly New York Weddings magazine. (www.nymag.com)

WNYC is the most listened-to public radio station in the country, reaching over 1.1 million listeners each week. Consisting of FM 93.9, AM 820 and wnyc.org, WNYC aims to inform the public locally and globally on current events, politics, and civic affairs; export New York’s arts and cultural riches to the rest of the world; and, give voice to diverse audiences. WNYC produces signature programs including The Brian Lehrer Show, The Leonard Lopate Show, and Radiolab, among others, and also broadcasts the best offerings from NPR, American Public Media, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), and Public Radio International. With more than 100,000 members, the station operates as an independent non-profit and has one of the largest membership bases of any institution in the city. (www.wnyc.org)