2016 Spirit of North Carolina
Campaigning for Excellence Awards
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Submission Deadline:
Noon – WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2017
Sponsored by the
Spirit of North Carolina Committee of
United Way of North Carolina
For additional information visit www.unitedwaync.org
General Information
Spirit of North Carolina Awards
The Spirit of North Carolina Awards for Campaign Excellence are sponsored annually by the United Way of North Carolina. The awards program provides statewide recognition for exceptional commitment and support to communities through local United Way involvement. Competitive awards are presented to honor corporate and nonprofit organizations that demonstrate excellence in their United Way campaigns and have a strong philanthropic culture and community partnership.
Eligibility
All organizations that run United Way campaigns in North Carolina are eligible and are encouraged to enter the Spirit of North Carolina Campaign for Excellence Awards competition.
(SECC & CFC campaigns are not eligible).
Award Recognition
Recipients of Spirit of North Carolina Campaign for Excellence Awards will be recognized and honored at the United Way of North Carolina Annual Meeting Luncheon at noon on Friday, February 17, 2017 in Greensboro, NC at the Koury Center. Winning organizations must be present to receive their award. By submitting an application, each organization agrees to have their application details shared with other United Ways and their corporate partners as a resource and best practice reference for future campaigns.
In addition, several select award recipients will be asked to participate in the Spirit of North Carolina Best Practices Showcase beginning at 9:30am on Friday, February 17, 2017. This event provides an opportunity for up to 6 award-winning companies to highlight their strategies and best practices which led to greater engagement, increased philanthropic culture, and monetary success. Award-winning companies selected to present a best practice will be notified following the competition judging.
Standards of Excellence
The Spirit Award recognizes an organization’s overall commitment to their community through the United Way campaign and other philanthropic efforts. Through the Seven Standards of Excellence, companies describe their volunteer culture, engagement of leadership and employees, highlight their campaign coordination and execution, and provide data on how they have increased their participation and giving.
Campaign/Application Time Frame
This application is intended to provide recognition for the United Way campaigns taking place for the 2016 campaign cycle. If the campaign is completed before the application deadline of January 18, submission must be made during this award cycle. The Spirit Committee is aware that not all campaigns will take place in the traditional fall timeframe and will not be finalized by the application due date. In order to be more responsive to company and organizational timelines, these Spirit Awards will acknowledge campaigns that took place from January 17, 2016 through January 18, 2017. Campaigns completed after January 18, 2017 may be submitted for consideration in the 2017 awards cycle.
Competition Information
· Applicants are judged in categories with similar types of organizations and numbers of employees.
· Applicants earn points based on the Seven Standards of Excellence. Point values are explained with each Standard description in the application. It is beneficial to provide full and complete information on as many of the Standards as possible.
· Applicants must complete the electronic application form in its entirety. Please do not reformat any pages, add borders, make color changes, etc. to the application. It is important that every application look the same to ensure fairness. The application is judged on content rather on the attractiveness of the paper.
· Do not add pictures in the text boxes under each Standard. Instead, attach pictures to the application, labeling the corresponding standard. You may also submit video links or provided a DVD of no more than three minutes in length.
· To familiarize the judges with your company/organization, an organizational overview (no more than one page) is required. On the Organizational Overview page, include the mission, vision and philanthropic culture of your company/organization. In addition, describe ONE outstanding event or activity that ignited the success of your campaign and community engagement for problem solving. List 3 bullet-points highlighting numeric campaign successes or ways in which the community responded to impact goals for long-term solutions.
· All submissions become the property of the United Way of North Carolina and may be used for publication and/or training purposes.
Judging and Notification Process
Judges for the Spirit of North Carolina Campaign Awards consist of professionals from various areas of expertise representing United Ways both large and small. Each judge knows the importance of United Way’s community partners and the powerful and lasting impact that is made through their contributions in support of their communities.
Scoring Information will remain confidential and cannot be shared.
The local United Way will notify each Spirit of NC applicant of their award status on January 30, 2017.
How to submit an application
The electronic application must be saved to your computer to complete.
Once you have completed all necessary information, email the application with the words “Spirit Application” in the subject line of the email, to Anita Barker at . A confirmation email will be sent once the application is received. If you do not receive a confirmation email receipt, then your application was not received.
All applications must be received no later than noon on January 18, 2017. Applications submitted after that date will not be accepted. Questions should be directed to Anita Barker, Director of Education and Engagement, United Way of North Carolina at 919.834.5200.