Nonprofit Mission Awards

UPDATE: The 2020 Nonprofit Mission Awards program has been suspended, as MCN refocuses our resources, capacity, and priorities to address the evolving needs of our members during this challenging time. We fully intend to bring these inspiring awards back in 2021, and hope you'll consider nominating your nonprofit at that time. Thank you for your understanding.

Nonprofit organizations make incredible contributions to Minnesota's high quality of life. The Minnesota Nonprofit Awards honor these contributions.

Since 1987, the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits has been showcasing the work of Minnesota’s outstanding nonprofits through the Nonprofit Mission Awards in the categories of:

Innovation
Anti-Racism Initiative
Advocacy
Responsive Philanthropy

Nonprofit Mission Awards recipients will receive:

Recognition in front of 900 nonprofit peers at the MCN Annual Conference
A professional video by Open Window Productions capturing the organization's work
A one-of-a-kind art glass award
A feature profile of your organization in MCN's Nonprofit News reaching 15,000 nonprofit employees
A cash award (for all recipients except for Responsive Philanthropy recipient)

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Timeline:

March 23 - May 18
Call for Nominations

June 1 - June 14
The Nonprofit Mission Awards Selection Committee will review all complete nominations in the categories of Innovation, Anti-racism Initiative, Advocacy and Responsive Philanthropy and narrow the field of nominations to three finalists in each category. Finalists, as well as all nominations not advanced, will be notified.

June 15 - June 30
MCN member organizations and their staff members will be invited to vote on the winners from the field of finalists. The finalists with the winning number of votes in each category will be selected to receive the awards.

July 1
Recipients will be notified (but will not be publicly announced until September) and award video shooting will be scheduled and begin.

September
Award recipients are announced.

October
The Nonprofit Awards ceremony will take place during the MCN’s Annual Conference in St. Paul on October 8-9.

Mission Awards Selection Process:

Staff members, board members, volunteers, program recipients, donors, or other supporters may nominate a nonprofit for a Mission Award.

The Nonprofit Mission Awards Selection Committee will then review all complete nominations in the categories of Innovation, Anti-racism Initiative, Advocacy, and Responsive Philanthropy and narrow the field of nominations to three finalists in each category.

All MCN member organizations and their staff members are invited to vote on the winners from the field of finalists. Voters can vote once in each category and must have their MCN Individual Member ID Number in order to cast their votes. The recipients of the four awards will be decided by member votes and the organizations receiving the most votes will win. Finalist organizations and their staff members are not eligible to vote within their own category.