The Adoption Coalition of Texas is the $150,000 Grandprize Winner of the 2011 Collaboration Prize

Selected out of more than 800 applicants, the Adoption Coalition of Texas has been recognized for its outstanding nonprofit collaboration activities

 PHOENIX, Ariz., April 11, 2011 – The Lodestar Foundation, an organization dedicated to maximizing the growth and impact of philanthropy, today announced the Adoption Coalition of Texas, an entity created to focus on increasing the number of adoptions among hard to place children, was selected as the grandprize winner of the 2011 Collaboration Prize. This is the second installment of the $250,000 Collaboration Prize, a national award designed to identify and showcase models of collaboration among nonprofit organizations.

 After receiving a record-breaking 800 applications, the Final Selection Panel, composed of philanthropists and heads of major philanthropic foundations that actively support and utilize collaboration, identified eight finalists to each receive $12,500.  The Adoption Coalition of Texas, which was founded by five nonprofit organizations and the State of Texas, was the finalist ultimately identified as the grandprize winner and received this honor, and an additional $150,000, at an Award Luncheon held in New York City on Friday, April 8, 2011. 

“The Collaboration Prize was established to celebrate nonprofit organizations that join forces to deliver substantive community or field impact – showcasing how collaboration is a strategy that can lead to greater social good,” said Jerry Hirsch, The Lodestar Foundation Chairman.  “The Adoption Coalition of Texas has demonstrated that agencies working together, instead of competing, can effectively advance a shared goal, and in this case, help hard to place children and teens find permanent homes.”

“We work with one mission – to help kids of all ages and ethnicities get adopted,” said Bruce Thompson, Executive Director, Adoption Coalition of Texas.  “It is an honor to be named the grandprize winner of the 2011 Collaboration Prize and we hope our example encourages others in the nonprofit sector to create new partnerships, share resources and establish joint programs, as collaboration has been extremely successful in our efforts to provide assistance to more kids, teens and families throughout the state of Texas, while also establishing our organization as a national expert on teen adoption.”

About Adoption Coalition of Texas

The Adoption Coalition of Texas was formed when nonprofit child placing agencies joined together to create a central nonprofit organization with the sole mission of finding forever families for children languishing in the foster care system.  In order to increase the number of adoptions – especially among hard to place teens, sibling groups, and minority children – the partner agencies pooled their efforts through the coalition to create a seamless, child-centered system for families interested in adoption.  As a result of these efforts the number of annual adoptions has increased from 370 to well over 700.  Five well-respected child serving agencies and the Texas Department of Child Protective Services formed the Adoption Coalition.  Agency executives sit on an Advisory Board of Directors and the Austin Community Foundation provides financial accounting, grants management, human resources, and other back office support. 

About The 2011 Collaboration Prize

The collaboration must have involved two or more nonprofit organizations.  Each collaboration was judged on the extent to which it demonstrated improved effectiveness in achieving social good; more effectively used human and financial resources; represented an innovative response to a specific challenge or opportunity; and exhibited characteristics that would demonstrate that the collaboration is a model for the field, sector, or community.

Out of the eight finalists, the Selection Panel – a group chaired by Sterling Speirn, president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and comprised of elite philanthropists and leaders of major philanthropic foundations – chose The Adoption Coalition of Texas as the grand prizewinner.  For more information, please visit www.thecollaborationprize.org. 

The success stories of the finalists, along with other submissions received as part of the 2011 Collaboration Prize, will be added to the Nonprofit Collaboration Database, an interactive resource comprised of real-life examples of exceptional collaboration.  The Database is housed on the website of the Foundation Center, a national nonprofit service organization that connects nonprofits and grantmakers to tools, resources and information.  Learn more at http://foundationcenter.org/gainknowledge/collaboration/.

The Lodestar Foundation

The Lodestar Foundation is a grantmaking organization devoted to maximizing the growth and impact of philanthropy and provides funds nationally and internationally to organizations that support its mission.  In support of this mission, Lodestar created the Collaboration Prize in 2009 to identify achievements in collaboration as models for inspiration and replication.  True to the spirit of collaboration, the Lodestar Foundation has partnered with AIM Alliance, the Foundation Center, La Piana Consulting and other foundation and nonprofit leaders to support the 2011 Prize.  Please visit www.lodestarfoundation.org for more information.