By Jennifer ChenThe Daily Northwestern
Northwestern University Dance Marathon will be awarded the Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy Award by the Association of Fundraising Professionals at the organization’s 31st Annual Philanthropy Awards Luncheon on May 18.
Each year the group’s Chicago chapter – which boasts about 1,000 members – recognizes the region’s top eight philanthropists. With most of this year’s honors going to individuals in the professional world, DM is the second group ever to receive the Outstanding Youth award.
The winners exemplify leaders “who have contributed invaluable resources to the Chicago community in an effort to make our community a better place to live,” according to an Association of Fundraising Professionals Chicago press release.
This year DM raised a record amount of about $708,711, including product donations, for the March 2-4 event.
From that amount, $423,027.68 went to Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy. The local non-profit organization, which funds epilepsy research, was DM’s primary beneficiary.
DM’s secondary beneficiary was the Evanston Community Foundation, which received $47,003.
“The winning slate reflects the vision, personal dedication and endless generosity by Chicago’s most enthusiastic fundraisers and philanthropists,” the release said.
Other award recipients include individuals from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Trust, Advocate Charitable Foundation and the Art Institute of Chicago. The winners supported a number of issues, such as community development, theatre arts and medical services for the gay community, the press release said.
CURE nominated DM for the award, said Krysta Kauble, DM’s public relations co-chairwoman .
“It is really exciting to see an organization able to recognize youth in philanthropy,” the Communication junior said.
Hopefully this recognition will pave the way for more student groups to follow DM’s lead, she said.
Four-year DM veteran Andrew Bloustein said the award was extremely well-deserved.
“It’s amazing and a very good achievement for Dance Marathon,” said Bloustein, Communication ’06, who was asked to come back to DM this year to help with visual production.
Similarly, first-time dancer Lauren Parnell said it was exciting to hear about the honor.
“Clearly it’s a great example of what college kids can do if we put our minds to it,” the SESP senior said. “So it’s nice to be recognized,”
Chicago’s Association of Fundraising Professionals represents professionals who support the growth of nonprofit organizations. The group is one of 188 chapters worldwide.
Paul Takahashi, Nitesh Srivastava and Katie Ressmeyer contributed to this report.
Reach Jennifer Chen at [email protected].
