Folly #53: Awards
The cost of recognition.
I know a nonprofit that hosts training workshops during the year at sites across the country. They have an application process and select participants. For those who are selected, their travel and accommodation expenses are paid by the nonprofit host.
Makes sense, right?
Evidently not when the award is given by a funder to recognize a nonprofit (or its leader) for excellence. Two nationally renowned, multimillion dollar organizations that have annual awards do it like this.
“Honoring” Nonprofits
Hooray for you! You are now among the rare nonprofit organizations that have been honored with our prestigious award. In order to receive it, you must:
Pay for your flight to come to us and receive your award.
And, if you’d like your partner to see you honored, you pay for their flight too. And also for any of your nonprofit team members who helped make this award possible.
Pay for your hotel room after our evening awards ceremony in a city far from your home.
Presumably your partner is sharing your room, but any staff who have joined the celebration of your success? Well, they’re on their own to pay for a hotel room in the big, expensive city where we’re hosting our awards event.
And my personal favorite…
Pay for your tickets to attend the event where we will honor you.
OK, maybe they give you one ticket for a rubber-chicken dinner, but anyone else who might like to sit at the table with you is on their own for the $75-$200 price tag.
So, if you applied for the award because it came with some nominal prize money, now you know that every dollar you receive (and then some) will go towards paying your expenses to attend the event. And most awards don’t have cash, despite the fact that the awarding organization manages to pay for some fancy bauble that you can’t even display because you’re all working remotely and no longer have an office.
If these highly regarded national awards treat their recipients like this, it’s the norm, not the exception. They “honor” a nonprofit for its leadership, and then slap them with a bunch of expenses to receive the recognition.
That is insane.
Paying your awardee’s expenses to attend your event is part of how you honor them.
Most of you are funders. Many of these events are fundraisers for the awarding organization. You are the one with the resources and reputation. Don’t ask resource-strapped nonprofits to dig into their general operating funds to subsidize the event that you host to “honor” them.
The honored recipient of your award shouldn’t suffer financially to receive it.