Just Announced! 2016 Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership Award Winners

Mission, KS (April 4, 2016) – Support Kansas City (SKC), a local nonprofit providing business and development support services to other nonprofits, announces the winners of the 2016 Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership Award. Mattie Rhodes Center has won the award for an agency with a budget greater than $1 million, and HappyBottoms has been granted the award for an agency with a budget of $1 million or less. The Kansas City Rose Society has been granted the award for an agency comprised of all volunteers, a new category introduced this year. The awards ceremony will be on April 25 from 4-6p.m. at the Kauffman Foundation Conference Center at 4801 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, MO. The event will begin with a panel discussion: Building Community Through Storytelling: Nonprofits and the Evolving Media Landscape, moderated by Beth Radtke, Vice President & Foundation Office Director, Commerce Bank, with panelists Chris Hernandez, City of Kansas City, Mo.; Cheptoo Kositany-Buckner, American Jazz Museum; Ciara O’Brien Murray, American Heart Association, Midwest Affiliate; Mary Sanchez, Tribune and The Kansas City Star, and Casey Waugh, Wayside Waifs. The panel discussion will be followed by the awards presentation and a cocktail reception. More information on this free event can be found at www.2016ENLA.eventbrite.com.

Mattie Rhodes Center is the only fully bilingual/bicultural, nationally accredited, and state-certified behavioral health care provider in the Greater Kansas City region; and is state-certified in intensive outpatient substance abuse therapy. Operating from five locations in the Greater Kansas City area, Mattie Rhodes Center annually reaches over 11,000 individuals through behavioral health resources, youth development programming and cultural arts. “Mattie Rhodes Center is thrilled to be selected by Support KC for this year’s Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership Award, it is a tremendous honor,” said John Fierro, President/CEO. “We strive to build positive, engaging relationships within the organization, with our Board, committees, volunteers and neighbors, and by holding the agency and its leadership to the highest standards, we are able to come together to provide top quality services to our participants and fulfill our mission in the community. There can be no more meaningful recognition than when your peers acknowledge what you have been trying to accomplish.”

As the only diaper bank in Kansas City, HappyBottoms works with 35 social service agency partners at 47 locations to distribute over 1.6 million diapers per year to 7,800 babies. “HappyBottoms began in 2010 as a very small, grassroots organization, storing diapers in our founder’s garage,” said John Teasdale, Executive Director. “Our board focused on building us up into the sustainable and responsible organization we are today, and now we are a national model for other diaper banks. HappyBottoms is honored to be recognized by Support KC for the Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership Award. Our mission is singular – providing diapers to KC’s babies and toddlers while raising awareness of diaper need in our community. The HappyBottoms family – our Board, staff, donors, volunteers, and the parents and babies we serve – are thrilled to be selected by Support KC as demonstrating Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership. It is very humbling to be held in regard with such amazing agencies as the past recipients.”

As stewards of the Rose Garden the Rose Society has sought to preserve and promote this historic civic treasure. The Rose Garden, an integral part of Loose Park, plays an important role in impacting not only the neighborhood, but the public at large. “The Kansas City Rose Society is honored to be recognized with an Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership Award,” said Cyndy Price, Vice President, and Sandy Campuzano, Past President. “Our 100% volunteer Board and Membership have worked diligently to raise over a million dollars for our recent Pillars & Pergolas campaign, just completed last summer. We partnered with the Parks & Recreation Department to hire top landscape architects and excellent stone and wood craftsmen to research, repair and restore the Laura Conyers Smith Municipal Rose Garden in Loose Park to original splendor. We credit guidance from Support KC in being certain we have a stable financial and operational foundation for our organization.”

“It is part of our mission at SKC to increase awareness of the great work that’s being done in our sector,” said Debra Box, Executive Director of Support Kansas City. “By spotlighting the successes of these three wonderful organizations, our hope is that we create a better understanding of how nonprofits strengthen our community. It’s tremendous validation for both the board and staff of these organizations to recognize their excellence in accountability, transparency and leadership. Equally important is recognition of the need to support nonprofit work both financially and by volunteering. Kansas City should be proud to have these organizations and so many others providing services to make our community a better place to live.”