Star Bright!
It’s never an easy task. Every time we have to move a nominee in the Fundraising Professionals of the Year Awards from the “maybe” folder to the “no” folder, my heart breaks a little. And no matter how many judges we have in any given year, I’m the one who reads every single nomination, classifies them all, vets them down and passes them on. I read about the accomplishments, tireless dedication, major campaigns completed well over expectations and little, everyday niceties that make our nominees both stand out and, at the same time, represent the very best of fundraising across the board. I read about all of these things, and it makes it just so hard to move those e-mails.
But with close to 150 nominations across six categories and only about 15 awards to give out, move they must.
Judges this year included Jeff Jowdy, president of Lighthouse Counsel and a member of the FundRaising Success Editorial Advisory Board; global fundraising and social-media consultant Ephraim Gopin; and Cheryl Pond Rose, a freelance writer who specializes in writing about nonprofits and fundraising. On behalf of the FundRaising Success staff, I want to thank them, as well as everyone who took the time to make a nomination. But especially, I want to thank all of our winners, our nominees and all of you who work with such drive, passion and dedication to the fundraising and nonprofit sector.
So without further ado, as they say, we are proud, humbled and happy to present this year’s winners.
