Since its inaugural year, The Russell Berrie Foundation has recognized more than 300 leaders who have dedicated their lives to public service through inspiring work in the community and at nonprofit organizations, as well as inspirational individuals whose heroic actions have had a positive impact on others’ lives through the Russ Berrie Making a Difference Award program. The Foundation has built a cadre of impressive honorees and is now exploring how it might further support those honorees beyond a one-time award.
To help consider the next phase of the Making a Difference Award program, the Foundation engaged The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI) to conduct a national research scan exploring other award and fellowship programs that specifically support awardees in the areas of leadership development, capacity building, and/or network creation.
The Russell Berrie Foundation and TPI are pleased to share publicly the findings of this research scan in the following report, with the hope that it will contribute knowledge and help others in the field of philanthropy think about what makes a strong program.