SKC Announces 2015 Award Winners

Support Kansas City, a local nonprofit providing business and development support services to other nonprofits, announces the winners of the 2015 Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership Award. Community LINC has won the award for an agency with a budget greater than $1 million and Girls on the Run of Greater Kansas City has been granted the award for an agency with a budget of $1 million or less. Awards will be presented on April 28, following a 4:00 pm panel discussion, Private, Public and Government Sectors: A Conversation About Collaboration, moderated by Mary Anne Murray Simons, with panelists Dr. David Chao, Stowers Institute for Medical Research; Laura Loyacono, KC STEM Alliance; Tim Moormeier, U.S. Engineering; John A. Wood, Neighborhoods & Housing Services, City of Kansas City, Missouri; and Melissa Wood, Burns & McDonnell. The awards will be presented at 5:15 pm followed by a cocktail reception. The event will be held at the Kauffman Foundation Conference Center at 4801 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, MO.

“Community LINC is honored to be recognized with the Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership Award,” said Greg Porter, Community LINC Board Chair. “As an organization, our board of directors, along with our professional leadership staff, strives to maintain and build upon the highest level of governance and accountability to ensure that we meet our mission: To end homelessness, impact poverty and remove barriers to self-sufficiency for the families we serve. It is important to Community LINC to practice these high standards as an example to the community and families we serve.” In the past 25 years, Community LINC has provided temporary housing or programming to 11,320 individuals in 3,791 families, including 8,205 children.

“Girls on the Run of Greater Kansas City is so honored to be selected for this year’s Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership Award,” said Lisa Pickard, Executive Director. “This award recognizes the dedication of our staff, board, committees, donors, coaches and other volunteers who believe investing in girls now will enable them to better define and pursue their own healthy futures as women. The team has worked hard over the past three years to create a stable financial and operational foundation for Girls on the Run. We credit our partners, including Support KC, for giving us the tools that enable us to plan for the long term.” Girls on the Run of Greater Kansas City is a physical activity-based positive youth development program designed to develop and enhance girls’ social, psychological, and physical competencies to successfully navigate life experiences. Their mission is to inspire girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running. In 2014-2015, they will engage more than 3,700 girls and 1,500 volunteers locally.

“Kansas City would be a very different community if not for the tireless efforts and commitment of nonprofit staff and volunteers,” said Debra Box, Executive Director of Support Kansas City. “This award recognizes what nonprofit leaders do behind the scenes of their organizations to support good governance, innovative practices and exemplary leadership.”

Support Kansas City is based in Mission, Kansas, and provides nonprofit organizations in Kansas and Missouri with business and development expertise, empowering them to focus on their missions.