Narcissism in Philanthropy
Awarded to a foundation, corporation, trust, or donor for displaying amazing narcissism during 2009 in the practice of philanthropy.

Abominable Media Coverage of the Nonprofit Sector
Awarded to a newspaper, magazine, website, radio program or other media reporting on U.S. nonprofit organizations and/or the U.S. nonprofit sector, for abominable press cover in 2009.

         Read more about The Awards

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About the Awards

The Just Awards are civil society’s pointed mockery of itself.

Inspired by such diverse awards as the Razzies and the Ig Nobel Prizes, the Just Awards will highlight the irrational, the irresponsible, and the irrelevant organizational behaviors that most damage the work of the nonprofit sector. With the support of a panel of respected judges and with a particular emphasis on the worlds of philanthropy and the press, we will offer awards each year to those organizations who best exemplify the foibles of our sector.

Some awards of this nature are just for fun. Others are intended to help make change. The Just Awards will be both. In the case of philanthropy, this means looking sharply at how funders behave in ways that separate them from the people they serve, damage the organizations they support, and subvert their missions. In the case of the press, this means calling attention to the worst coverage of civil society.

We will award two “Justies” in 2010: one for most amazing example of narcissism by a U.S. philanthropic organization and another for most abominable coverage by a U.S. press organization. Judges for the award will be selected in December 2009. The award process will be announced publicly in January, 2010 and anyone may submit nominations at that time. The awards will be announced during the week of April 20, 2010, immediately preceding the annual conference of the Council on Foundations.

Just Awards is a joint project of Blue Avocado and Nonprofit Online News.
 

The Just Awards are intended to draw attention to the irresponsible philanthropic and media behaviors that damage the nonprofit sector, and by drawing this attention, to improve practices and ultimately, the effectiveness of authentic community nonprofits.
 

Eligibility

  • For the Narcissism in Philanthropy award, nominees may be private, family, public, corporate foundations or trusts operating in the United States.

  • For the Abominable Media Coverage of the Nonprofit Sector award, nominees may be any media — print, web, email, radio, television, etc… — covering the United States nonprofit sector.
     

Who Can Make Nominations

Anyone. In order to nominate, you must disclose your name and affiliation to us, but if you wish, this information will not be disclosed to anyone else. We understand that people may need or want to keep their identifies confidential.
 

How to Submit a Nomination

  • Complete the online nomination form

  • OR – If the form above does not work for you, then please send the info in an email to this address and it will be forwarded to the organizers: webmaster@gilbert.org

  • OR – Fax your nomination to (415) 723-7155. Please be sure to include your telephone number and/or email address when faxing your submission, so that we may contact you with questions about it.
     

Suggested Nomination Guidelines

For nominations, we offer the following as guidance only. We encourage you to use your own criteria and good sense in making nominations.
 

For the award: Narcissism in Philanthropy

  • What are the actions, policies, or impacts of the funder or foundation for which you are nominating them?

  • What is it about these actions, policies or impacts that bother you? Examples: Do they hurt nonprofits in some way or hurt nonprofits of a particular type? Do they symbolize something that is inappropriate? Do they represent a misuse of funds for which the donors received a tax deduction? Was there inexcusable ignorance or naivete that resulted in negative impacts?

  • Where are these actions or policies documented (if they are) . . . the funder’s website, their own grant application procedures, a local newspaper, elsewhere?

  • If there isn’t supporting evidence available through public access, can you suggest one or two people who we could contact (without mentioning your name) that could give us additional information?

  • Is there anything else we should know about this foundation that would give them “extra points” towards their winning this “award”?
     

For the award: Abominable Media Coverage of the Nonprofit Sector

  • What are the articles, videos, radio programs or other media that make this media organization a good nominee for this award? Where can they be found via public access?

  • What about these articles, videos, etc. is inaccurate, misleading or otherwise inappropriate?

  • Did you observe any negative impact that resulted from this media coverage? For example, was inaccurate or misleading information picked up by other press? Did misleading information end up unfairly hurting a good nonprofit?

  • Is there anything that would give this newspaper, website, radio program or other nonprofit “extra points” towards their winning this “award”?
     

Selection Process

  • Independent evidence will be obtained by the co-sponsors of the Just Awards, Blue Avocado and Nonprofit Online News. The identities of nominees will be kept confidential until confirmed and officially accepted for consideration.

  • Nominations for which there is appropriate back-up will be given to the panel of judges, which will make the final choices.

  • Before being finalized, the winning foundation and media organization will be contacted by the sponsors for fact-checking and to provide them with a forum for a response.
     

Announcements

  • The winners will be announced in April, just prior to the annual Council of Foundations conference.

  • The winners will be announced here on the Just Awards website as well as through Blue Avocado and Nonprofit Online News. Responses from the winners will be published as well.