The Distinguished Service Award Recipients
The Distinguished Service Award puts the spotlight on an individual or individuals who have made significant contributions to the field of philanthropy. First presented in 1984, this award celebrates those who embody the intellect, integrity, leadership, and accomplishment that define absolute excellence in the field of philanthropy.
If you have questions, please contact the Council at awards@cof.org or 202-991-2225.
Distinguished Service Award Recipients
(Affiliation is at the time of nomination.)
2024
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Darren Walker, President, Ford Foundation
Darren Walker has served as the President of the Ford Foundation since 2013, where he established the first disability rights program by a major foundation, spearheaded the first $1 billion social bond by a private foundation for critical grants to nonprofits during the pandemic, and led the effort to resolve Detroit’s bankruptcy in 2014 with a landmark $816 million deal.
2023
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Anne Kubisch, President & CEO Emeritus, The Ford Family Foundation
Anne Kubisch is recognized for over 40 years of leadership in the field of philanthropy, most recently as President and CEO of The Ford Family Foundation, where she stepped down in September 2023 after ten years of service. Anne led the transformation of the foundation from a responsive grantmaker to a nationally recognized advocate for rural communities that has provided thousands of community development grants and scholarships to students in rural Oregon and Siskiyou County in California. She’s also set up the foundation for future success, leading the development of a 10-year strategic plan for 2022-2032.
2022
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Charles Anderson, Board of Directors Chair Emeritus, San Juan Island Community Foundation
Mr. Anderson was nominated based on his work to fund and construct a critical access hospital for the community of San Juan Island, as well as other examples of his dedication to his community throughout his career of over 40 years. Charles Anderson’s nominator described his approach to philanthropy: “His commitment to thoughtful organizational development, impeccable management of donations and finances, strategic communication and outreach, and integrity in every action soon led to increased confidence among donors and larger grants for island organizations.”
2021
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Tara McKenzie Sandercock, Senior Vice President of Grants and Community Partnerships, Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro
Ms. Sandercock has devoted her career to tackling pervasive socioeconomic issues and building trusting relationships in philanthropy, having spent over 30 years in the field, including more than 25 years at the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro. She has facilitated or nurtured over a dozen funding collaboratives on topics including HIV/AIDS, capacity building for Latino-led nonprofits, increased funding for LGBTQ-serving organizations, educational attainment, workforce development, and social capital research.
2018
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Stephen Heintz, President, Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Since 2001, Heintz has served as president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, a New York-based family foundation that advances social change for a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world. He began his professional life in public service in the state of Connecticut and has devoted his career to citizen engagement in democracy and to making institutions work for people. Under his leadership, the RBF works in some of the world’s most challenging grantmaking environments.
2017
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Ronald B. Richard, President and CEO, The Cleveland Foundation
Richard has served as president and CEO of the Cleveland Foundation since 2003, and has held a variety of senior management positions in government, the private sector, and the nonprofit sector over the course of his career. He's known for initiatives that have mobilized and unified people and institutions within the community to produce tangible results to improve people’s lives and raise the capacity of others to advance the common good.
2016
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Ira Hirschfield, President and Trustee, Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund
Hirschfield has served as president and trustee of the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund for nearly 30 years, and under his leadership, the Haas, Jr. Fund has become a national leader in taking on issues of inequality and injustice.
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Carol Larson, President and CEO, The David & Lucile Packard Foundation
Larson has served the Packard Foundation for 26 years, the last twelve as its president. Under her leadership, the foundation has built collaborative philanthropic efforts with a wide variety of colleagues around some of today’s toughest challenges.
2014
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Darcy Oman, President and CEO, The Community Foundation Serving Richmond and Central Virginia
Darcy has served in the executive leadership role at The Community Foundation Serving Richmond and Central Virginia since November 1985, when Oman was hired as the Foundation’s first full-time professional staff member. Over her 29 years of service to the community, Oman has served on numerous boards and leadership advisory committees.
2013
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Vartan Gregorian, President, Carnegie Corporation of New York
Gregorian became president of the Carnegie Corporation in 1997 following a long and distinguished career in academia, and he continues to lead with integrity and innovative strategies. He is well known for his groundbreaking investment strategies, being a standard bearer for systems change, and his dedication to keeping Andrew Carnegie’s legend alive.
2012
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Michele Prichard, Director, Common Agenda, Liberty Hill Foundation
Prichard began working with the Liberty Hill Foundation as a volunteer in 1982. As executive director from 1989 to 1997, she helped create new grant programs addressing poverty, racial justice, and environmental health. Today, Liberty Hill is considered one of the most innovative public foundations in the country. Prichard serves on the board of the Venice Community Housing Corporation and the steering committee of GREEN LA. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa appointed her to the Harbor Community Benefit Foundation in 2011. She has served as a senior fellow in the UCLA School of Public Affairs since 2007.
2011
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Kathryn E. Merchant, President and CEO, Greater Cincinnati Foundation
Merchant joined the Greater Cincinnati Foundation in 1997. Before that, she was the director of The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Neighborhood Preservation Initiative and a partner in the New Haven, Connecticut-based consulting firm Holt, Wexler & Merchant. Among other leadership positions, Merchant spent six years on the board of the Council on Foundations and served as chair of its 2009 Annual Conference. She has received several awards, including the Ohio Philanthropy Award from the Ohio Grantmakers Forum, and was one of the “Top 50 Power and Influence” leaders selected in 2008 by The NonProfit Times.
2010
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Robert E. Eckardt, Senior Vice President for Programs and Evaluations, Cleveland Foundation
Eckardt has dedicated more than 25 years to overseeing the Cleveland Foundation’s grantmaking activities and has developed and led a host of collaborations—many of them nationally recognized—in economic development, the arts, education reform, neighborhood revitalization, health, human services, and youth development. He was a founding board member of both Grantmakers in Aging and Funders Concerned About AIDS. He served four terms on the board of Grantmakers in Health where he received their highest award in 2006.
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree in a Collaborative Effort: The National Fund for Workforce Solutions, a national effort designed to identify, strengthen, and expand high-impact local workforce development programs.
2009
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Robert Hohler, Executive Director, Melville Charitable Trust
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree in a Collaborative Effort: State Fiscal Analysis Initiative (SFAI), a partnership of nonpartisan, independent, nonprofit organizations.
2008
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Robert K. Ross, M.D., President and CEO, The California Endowment
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree in a Collaborative Effort: Living Cities: The National Community Development Initiative
2007
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Diane Kaplan, President and CEO of the Rasmuson Foundation
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree in a Collaborative Effort: Action Greensboro, a partnership of seven foundations including the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, the Joseph M .Bryan Foundation, the Cemala Foundation, the Tannenbaum-Sternberger Foundation, the Toleo Foundation, the Moses Cone/Wesley Long Community Health Foundation, and the Weaver Foundation.
2006
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Barry D. Gaberman, Senior Vice President, Ford Foundation
2005
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Rien van Gendt, Executive Director, Van Leer Group Foundation
2004
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Charles Benton, Board Chair and Marjorie Craig Benton, Trustee of the Benton Foundation
2003
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Steven A. Minter, President and Executive Director of The Cleveland Foundation
2002
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: William S. White, President and CEO, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
2001
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Anna Faith Jones, President and CEO, Boston Foundation
2000
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Dorothy A. ("Dottie") Johnson, CEO, Council of Michigan Foundations
1999
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Colburn Wilbur, President, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
1998
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Irene Diamond, President, Aaron Diamond Foundation
1997
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Curtis W. Meadows, Jr., Director Emeritus, Meadows Foundation
1996
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Jane Lee Eddy, Executive Director, Taconic Foundation, Inc.
1995
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Franklin A. Thomas, President and CEO, The Ford Foundation
1994
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: David and Lucile Packard, Co-Founders, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
(awarded to Dave and Lucile Packard [posthumously])
1993
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Margaret Mahoney, President, The Commonwealth Fund
1992
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Russell Mawby, Chairman and CEO, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
1991
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Irwin Miller, former Chairman, Cummins Engine Foundation
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Clementine Miller Tangeman, Chair, Irwin-Sweeney-Miller Foundation
1990
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Paul Ylvisaker, former staff member of The Ford Foundation and Trustee of numerous national and international foundations and corporations
1989
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: James Shannon, former Director, General Mills and Minneapolis Community Foundations and a Trustee of The Bush Foundation
1988
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Jean Fairfax, a donor and trustee of several foundations
1987
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Boisfeulliet Jones, President, Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, Inc.
1986
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Homer Wadsworth, former Director, The Cleveland Foundation
1985
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Ruth Chance, former Executive Director, Rosenberg Foundation
1984
Distinguished Service Award of the Year Honoree: Alan Pifer, President Emeritus, Carnegie Corporation of New York
