Recognizing & rewarding excellence

The Donner Canadian Foundation Awards for Excellence in the Delivery of Social Services (Donner Awards) encourage the spirit of initiative and independence, and represent an important step forward in the development of an objective, quantifiable system of measuring non-profit performance.

Social Service Categories
The annual $70,000 in awards makes the Donner Awards Canada’s largest non-profit recognition program. Awards worth $5,000 each are presented to Canada’s top non-profit in each of nine social service categories.
View eligibility details on the Donner Awards website.

Of these nine award recipients, one organization is granted the prestigious William H. Donner Award for Excellence in the Delivery of Social Services, valued at $20,000. In addition, the Peter F. Drucker Award for Non-Profit Management, valued at $5,000, is presented to a non-profit organization with a consistent record of excellence and innovation in management and service delivery.

Award Recipients 
The Donner Awards have recognized excellence in non-profit social service delivery since 1998. See a complete list of award recipients 1998-2006 on the Donner Awards website.

Public Awareness & Education
Donner Award finalists, selected from hundreds of applicants from across Canada each year, are publicly recognized for their success at an annual awards luncheon held in Toronto, Ontario.

This celebratory event is attended by non-profit sector peers, philanthropic foundations, business supporters, representatives from government, and the media. It helps raise public awareness about the important contribution non-profit social service agencies make to Canadian society.

The Donner Awards Program helps Canadians make wise giving decisions by establishing clear and objective criteria for measuring the performance of non-profit social service agencies relative to their peers in the sector. Finalists are showcased in our annual Profiles in Excellence Profiles in Excellence booklet and are permitted to use the Donner Awards logo to communicate their accountability and success to donors, members, and volunteers.

Promoting Best Practices
In addition to the valuable cash awards and public recognition, non-profit organizations benefit from the unique performance evaluation service provided free to every Donner Award applicant.

The evaluation protocol, which considers 10 key performance criteria, is detailed in the annual Non-Profit Performance Report  published and distributed each year by The Fraser Institute.

The Non-Profit Performance Report provides an important reference for non-profit organizations seeking to improve their performance and efficiency. For corporations, foundations, and individuals, the report is a useful tool for evaluating the effectiveness of organizations competing for their charitable dollars.

All applicants also receive agency-specific Confidential Performance Reports comparing their performance relative to their peers in the sector.

How to Apply
Application details are available on the Donner Awards website: www.donnerawards.org.