YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas
Nonprofit Organization of the Year: Large Organization
It’s hard to top the impact of the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas, which aims to “strengthen communities” from McKinney to Waxahachie with Christian values and programs that “build a healthy spirit, mind, and body for all.” The organization annually provides programming for more than 200,000 North Texans at 19 branches, two camps, 78 after-school locations, and 200 program locations. The nonprofit, which serves all North Texans regardless of their ability to pay, last year distributed more than 65,400 financial-aid scholarships and offered free programs for the likes of drowning- and diabetes-prevention and STEM learning for low-income students.
Recording a budget surplus the last five years, the group is led by Curt Hazelbaker, who took over as president and CEO in 2017 after serving as president and CEO of the Y operation in Northwest North Carolina. Hazelbaker says he’ll stress two main initiatives over the next year: the Y’s new Summer Learning Academies—focused on providing elementary-school students with a five- to six-week summer-camp learning experience—and a purposeful “growth strategy” for the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas. That strategy, Hazelbaker says, could result in as many as 18 new or renovated locations over the next five years.
Organization of the Year
The Family Place
Midsize Organization
20: Number of beds for men and their children provided by The Family Place, which in 2017 opened the first shelter in Texas dedicated specifically for male victims of domestic violence.
Finalists: Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden, Girls Scouts of Northeast Texas, Make-A-Wish Foundation of North Texas
Texas Trees Foundation
Small Organization
90,913: Number of trees the foundation has planted in North Texas since 2015.
Finalists: Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas, Friends of the Dallas Public Library, Genesis Women’s Shelter & Support, Operation Kindness, ScholarShot
Angel Flight South Central
Micro Organization
32K+: Number of missions logged since 1991 by Angel Flight, whose volunteer pilots donate their own time and money to fly people for medical and humanitarian purposes.
Finalists: Foundation for C.H.O.I.C.E., In My Shoes
Leadership Excellence
Steven Pace
Access and Information Network
47.5K+: Number of people living with HIV and AIDS in North Texas served by AIN, where Pace has been executive director and now CEO for 18 years.
Finalists: Jennifer Bartkowski, Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas; Trey Bowles, The DEC; Terry Flowers, St. Philip’s School and Community Center; Florencia Velasco Fortner, The Concilio; Madeline McClure, TexProtects; Patti Niles, Southwest Transplant Alliance; Kimberly Williams, Interfaith Family Services; Todd Williams, The Commit Partnership
Most Successful Fundraising Campaign
North Texas Food Bank
$55.6M+: Amount raised from 505 donors over three years in NTFB’s Stop Hunger Build Hope campaign, which was co-chaired by Pamela and John Beckert.
Finalists: Cristo Rey Dallas High School, My Possibilities, Parkinson Voice Project
Social Enterprise
ScholarShot
97%: Percentage of at-risk students helped by ScholarShot who earn vocational, associate, or undergraduate degrees in 1, 3, or 5 years.
Finalists: Goodwill Industries of Fort Worth, Project Unity
Team of the Year
Genesis Women’s Shelter & Support
Client Legal Assistance Team
40: Number of families that were provided full and affordable civil legal representation in 2017 by the Genesis team, which consists of two staff attorneys and a bilingual legal assistant.
Finalists: Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden, Horticulture Team; Sharing Life Community Outreach, The Hub; The Real Estate Council Organization, Community Fund
Toyota Motor North America
Corporate Partner of the Year
Since the 1930s, the Visiting Nurse Association of Texas has been helping seniors age at home with dignity and independence. One of the nonprofit’s best-known programs is Meals on Wheels, which provides the homebound with hot, freshly prepared meals five days a week. Last year, Plano-based Toyota Motor North America teamed up with VNA in North Texas and Meals on Wheels Collin County to bolster the nonprofit’s management and internal practices, including in volunteer recruitment and meal production and delivery.
As part of its focus on global mobility, Toyota is investing about $650,000 in VNA/MOW efforts and calling on personnel from a variety of the automaker’s departments to help out, including as MOW volunteers. Along with assessing all the nonprofit’s technology needs, the carmaker is overseeing development of a new mobile app and web platform aimed at collecting healthcare data and making the daily meal distributions more efficient, with fewer returned as “undeliverable.”
The long-term goal, says Colleen Casey, personal mobility manager in Toyota’s Social Innovation division, is scaling up what’s learned across the MOW network within Texas and nationwide. While the North Texas initiative could take 18 to 24 months to complete, “I don’t see our partnership ending there,” Casey says. “We’re really excited about this project.”
Volunteer of the Year
Kern Wildenthal
The Dallas Opera
6: Number of months Wildenthal served without compensation as interim general director and CEO supervising day-to-operations for TDO.
Finalists: Jon Hetzel, Deep Ellum Foundation; Mary Bess Jackson, Manna House; Jennifer Kuncl, Holy Sews; Colleen Taylor, Literacy Achieves
Corporate Social Responsibility
Capital One
Large Company
49K: Number of hours Capital One’s DFW associates volunteered in North Texas in 2017.
Texas Capital Bank
Midsize Company
2K+: Number of low-income children attending after-school enrichment programs in DFW in 2017 thanks to Texas Capital philanthropy.
Finalists: Hillwood Communities, McCarthy Building Cos.
Norma’s Cafe
Small Company
100+: Number of organizations receiving donations from Norma’s each year.
In-Kind Services Supporter
The Beck Group
640: Number of hours Beck’s team spent in 2017 helping build a new training center for the Dallas Police Department.
Finalists: Deloitte, DPR Construction, Texas Health Resources
Leadership Excellence
Steve Waldman,
IMA Texas
$65M+: Amount Waldman helped raise for a capital campaign for the new Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum.
Finalists: Barclay Berdan, Texas Health Resources; Jim Dunn, ORIX USA Corp./ORIX Foundation; Ed Murph, Norma’s Café; Steve Van Amburgh, KDC
Project Collaboration
NorthPark Center
70K+: Number of annual visitors to the Trains at NorthPark exhibit, a holiday fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald House of Dallas that NorthPark has hosted for two decades.
Finalists: Ericsson North America, KDC, PNC
