On 13 November Alliance magazine announced the launch of the Third Olga Alexeeva Memorial Prize. This prize was established in memory of Olga Alexeeva, founder of Philanthropy Bridge Foundation (PBF), by former PFB trustees in honour of her memory and beliefs. The prize is awarded annually.

The prize of £5,000 will be awarded to an individual who has demonstrated remarkable leadership, creativity and results in developing philanthropy for progressive social change in an emerging market country or countries. The prize will be for the individual winner to use at their discretion.

This year, for the first time, Alliance will be organizing the prize in association with WINGS, CIVICUS and the Global Fund for Community Foundations. The aim of this collaboration is to broaden the reach of the prize. Working through their members and networks, we hope they will be able to help us to identify a more diverse group of candidates from a greater range of countries.

A shortlist of up to six finalists will be developed by the three founders of the prize:

• Maria Chertok CAF Russia, a former PBF trustee
• Caroline Hartnell Alliance, former PBF chair
• Jenny Hodgson Global Fund for Community Foundations, a former PBF adviser

The shortlist will be reviewed and a final winner selected by six judges, all of whom possess a rich knowledge of social change philanthropy, particularly in developing and emerging contexts:

• Akwasi Aidoo Humanity United, formerly with TrustAfrica
• Andre Degenszajn GIFE, Brazil
• Christopher Harris Working Group on Philanthropy for Social Justice and Peace, USA
• Alice Lau Guangdong Harmony Community Foundation, China
• Kavita Ramdas Ford Foundation, India
• Larisa Zelkova Vladimir Potanin Foundation, Russia

The winner will be invited to deliver a keynote speech at a global philanthropy conference in 2015 – details to be announced. In addition, all shortlisted candidates will be invited to the conference as special guests, and profiled in a supplement accompanying the June 2015 issue of Alliance.

Now all we need is good nominations!

The closing date for applications is 28 February 2015.

For more information and to download the nomination form

http://www.alliancemagazine.org/olga-alexeeva-memorial-prize

olgaalexeevaprize@alliancemagazine.org

Previous prize winners

Jane Weru

Kingsley Mucheke

In 2013, the First Olga Alexeeva Memorial Prize was awarded to Jane Weru and Kingsley Mucheke of the Akiba Mashinani Trust, Kenya ‘for their innovative work to build assets among the most marginalized community in Kenya – landless slum dwellers – and for the way they have developed a philanthropic mechanism to support transformational efforts by that community’.

‘Winning the award came as a pleasant shock that strengthened my resolve to reach deeper, go further, work harder and give more of myself  to help the over 700,000 poor people living in Nairobi’s Mukuru slums. The global recognition helped tremendously at the local level as it gave us credibility, especially with government officials and policymakers, who became more responsive towards the allocation of resources to provide land, housing, water and sanitation in slums.’

Kingsley Mucheke

The prize was presented at the International Forum on Emerging Markets, Emerging Philanthropies in Peterhof, Russia in July 2013.

Click here for more information about the winners and the runners-up.

He Daofeng

In 2014, the Second Olga Alexeeva Memorial Prize was awarded to He Daofeng, CEO of the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA) and chair of the board of the China Foundation Center, for his ‘significant, creative, far-reaching and, at times, courageous contributions to expanding the field of Chinese philanthropy and putting it on a trajectory to support progressive social change’.