In honor of National Philanthropy Day, today we are congratulating the 2021 Philanthropy Ohio Award winners as well as our members who were recognized by Association of Fundraising Professionals chapters throughout the state.
In 1986, President Reagan declared November 15 National Philanthropy Day to celebrate the spirit of philanthropy – the love for humankind – and those who embody this love by giving their time, talent and treasure to make a difference in our communities.
Our four Philanthropy Awards celebrate outstanding Ohio philanthropists who have made significant contributions to philanthropy in diversity, equity and inclusion; as an emerging leader; through innovation; or a lifetime of work. Awardees are nominated by their peers, nonprofit leaders and the public and the Philanthropy Ohio Board of Trustees selects the winners.
We celebrated the 2021 winners at the Philanthropy Forward ’21 virtual conference on October 14 and are pleased to congratulate Heather Clayton Terry, CenterPoint Energy, Social Venture Partners Cleveland and Pam Howell-Beach. Watch the 2021 awards presentation with remarks from the winners below.
Emerging leader Heather Clayton Terry
The emerging philanthropist award recognizes someone, regardless of age, who has engaged in philanthropy for the first time during the last few years and shows amazing potential. They showcase leadership in advancing philanthropy, engagement beyond a single community, creativity in a philanthropic endeavor or project or significant accomplishment in a short period of time.
The 2021 Emerging Ohio Philanthropist Awardee is Heather Clayton Terry, senior philanthropy coordinator for Dominion Energy where she focuses on the
company’s charitable giving, direct giving, volunteer efforts for the state of Ohio and managing their social justice grants initiative – a $5 million program across Dominion’s 16-state footprint.
Heather also leads by example through her work in the Our Hope, Our Future Giving Circle administered through the Cleveland Foundation, as a member of Dominion’s Women’s Employee Resource Group leadership team and through her service on Philanthropy Ohio’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee as well as an advisory group member for corporate funders, equity and women’s funding.
Philanthropy innovator CenterPoint Energy
The Innovation Award recognizes a funder whose approach to problem-solving explores new and
sometimes disruptive paths in their philanthropic work. Such innovations often include public-private partnerships, leveraging resources, new collaborations and grantmaking strategies.
This year, CenterPoint Energy is receiving the Philanthropy Innovation award for its recent investment in a redevelopment project in downtown Dayton that will serve as an innovation hub and community catalyst. The Dayton Arcade, a historic building shuttered for 30 years, was recently given new life as a multi-use innovative space, housing retail, restaurants, a commercial kitchen, affordable market rate housing and offices. Leading urban redevelopment expert Bruce Katz has called the Dayton Arcade, “the most transformative project in America.”
CenterPoint Energy’s investment in this innovative and collaborative community hub that serves as an intersection for partners and individuals from all walks of life fits the foundation’s vision of contributing to quality of place and building vibrant, thriving communities.
Michael G. Shinn Award for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI): Social Venture Partners Cleveland
The Michael G. Shinn Award for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Philanthropy recognizes an organization that has demonstrated a significant contribution
to DEI in philanthropy. Nominees have made outstanding contributions to the field by building bridges; championing the acceptance, respect and inclusion of all; are dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion; and promote justice and fairness.
Social Venture Partners (SVP) Cleveland is this year’s award winner based on their deep internal journey, commitment and community work on DEI. Not only is SVP working to engage more diverse partners, but they also convene partners to discuss topics surrounding white privilege, dimensions of diversity, accumulated advantage, levels of racism and more.
In 2019, SVP launched a new initiative that implemented diversity, equity and inclusive practices in their grantmaking. Using nonprofit partner feedback and an equity lens, SVP created a streamlined application process that eliminated unnecessary paperwork and created a more transparent, relational and collaborative second round that was more equitable and forged genuine partnerships with more grassroots organizations that are closer to the problems and the solutions.
SVP is also promoting justice, impartiality and fairness by working with an equity consultant to examine the organization through a DEI lens and lead the staff and partners through training, facilitation and coaching to determine organizational values and center equity as their North Star.
Ohio Philanthropy Awardee Pam Howell-Beach
This year marks the 19th year presenting the award for lifetime achievement – the Ohio Philanthropy Award. Nominees for the award should demonstrate three broad areas of achievement: long-standing leadership in advancing philanthropy, creativity in responding to problems and significant positive impact on philanthropy.
This year’s winner is Pam Howell-Beach, executive director at the Stranahan Foundation. Pam’s career in philanthropy has spanned more than 34 years, and as president of the Toledo Community Foundation from 1990 to 2003 and executive director of Stranahan Foundation from 2004 to today, she has overseen the disbursement of more than $130 million in charitable grants to support a multitude of programs throughout the Toledo region and beyond.
In addition to successfully running two foundations over 34 years, in 1999, while serving as the board chair for the Donors Forum of Ohio, Pam helped to facilitate its merger with the Grantmakers Forum of Cleveland. The merger created the Ohio Grantmakers Forum, which is now known as Philanthropy Ohio. Philanthropy Ohio’s current prominence might not have been realized had it not been for the vision and commitment of people like Pam who were involved with the organization during this critical phase in its history.
National Philanthropy Day awardees
Here in Ohio, chapters of the Association of Fundraising Professionals celebrate philanthropy in their local communities throughout the month, honoring local companies, nonprofits and individuals for their charitable contributions to their local communities. We also congratulate our members who won philanthropy awards this year.
AFP Greater Cleveland – Corporate Leadership Award: Huntington National Bank
AFP Northeast Ohio – Foundation Leadership Award: Nordson Corporation Foundation
AFP Dayton – Charles D. Berry Foundation
Congratulations to all of this year’s philanthropy awardees.
Jessica Howard
Director, Communications & Membership
Philanthropy Ohio