Friday, November 9, was a gathering of the area non-profits to celebrate their own thanks to the Center for Nonprofit Management. Held at the Hilton Anatole, the 12th annual A Night of Light was no fancy black tie dinner, silent auctions and keynote speaker. It simply focused on six categories in which nominees had been placed, vetted and finalists chosen over the past months. Those categories and finalists included:
- NONPROFIT BOARD LEADER OF THE YEAR (presented by Deloitte, Ernst & Young and Pricewaterhouse Coopers): Mark Guickian of Mi Escuelita Preschool Inc., Brenda Mahon of Involved for Life Inc. and Charmaine Solomon of My Possibilities
- NONPROFIT COMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR, IN HONOR OF ROBERT MILLER (presented by The Dallas Morning News and Communities Foundation of Texas): Girls Scouts of Northeast Texas, Human Rights Initiative of North Texas and The Senior Source
- CORPORATION OF THE YEAR (presented by Chase): Jersey Mike’s Subs nominated by Wipe Out Kids Cancer, Kroger nominated by North Texas Food Bank and Pioneer Natural Resources nominated by Dallas Habitat for Humanity
- NONPROFIT CEO OF THE YEAR (presented by Citi): Becca Crowell of Nexus Recovery Center, Heather Reynolds of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Fort Worth Inc. and Lisa Oglesby Rocha of AVANCE – Dallas Inc.
- NONPROFIT OF THE YEAR (presented by AT&T): Dallas AfterSchool Network, Meals on Wheels Inc. of Tarrant County and The Family Place
And then there was the Community Choice Award which was based on voting. Presented by Bank of America, each dollar donated to CNM earned a vote for the donor’s favorite nonprofit
But before the winners in the categories were announced, there was a lot of people on both sides of the nonprofit road comparing notes on the economy, the recent election and what the future
held. From the philanthropic side, there were A Night of Life Honorary Chair Brent Christopher and his posse from Communities Foundation of Texas, Charlene Howell, Microsoft’s Jeri
Johnson, Bank of America’s Gillian Breidenbach, Kroger’s Gary Huddleston, Texas Instrument’s Andy Smith and Event Co-chair/AT&T’s Rick Felts.
Following the cocktail reception in the lobby, CNM Board Chair George Baldwin, Rick and Event Co-chair Beth McGaw welcomed the group and dinner was on.
Before coffee was even served, Dallas Morning News columnist Steve Blow was at the podium taking charge of the evening. And he should know how to do it. After all he’s done this event for 10 years: “Goes back to when I had hair and when people still read newspapers.” Speaking of newspapers, Steve’s DMN co-worker Bob Miller was MIA because he was feeling a bit under the weather.
But back to the program. After the raffle winners were announced, the six winners from 136 nominations were revealed. And the winners were: [Follow the jump]:
- Nonprofit Board Leader of the Year: Mark Guckian of Mi Escuelita Preschool
- Nonprofit Communicator of the Year, In Honor of Robert Miller: The Senior Source
- Corporation of the Year: Kroger
- Nonprofit CEO of the Year: Heather Reynolds of Catholic Charities Diocese of Fort Worth
- Nonprofit of the Year: The Family Place
And winning the popularity contest was DCET.
Gillian Breidenbach says
Thanks for all you to for the nonprofit community!!! We have some of the most generous donors, amazing volunteers and stellar leadership for our organizations. Thanks for always reocognizing excellence!!!