A new award for ‘civic bravery’ recognizes everyday people who step up

NEW YORK (AP) — United Way Worldwide and a group of foundations launched a new award Tuesday for “civic bravery,” which includes grants of up to $50,000.

The Courage Project, a partnership between United Way and funders like the Freedom Together Foundation, will grant $5 million in awards over at least a year to recognize nonprofits and individuals who stand up for their communities. The individual recipients won’t receive a monetary award but can direct funds to a nonprofit of their choice.

“They don’t do it because they want recognition. They aren’t elected officials. It’s not something where they are required to do this work. They do it out of a love of humanity,” said Angela Williams, president and CEO of United Way Worldwide, of the awardees.

The first recipients include the United Way of South Sarasota County in Florida for providing legal services to older people and the working poor and Women of Welcome, a Colorado nonprofit that mobilizes evangelical women to advocate for asylum seekers and immigrants drawing on their faith.

Bri Stensrud, the nonprofit’s director, said it is a difficult time to raise money around immigration, especially for the long-term education and advocacy work her organization does. She received $25,000 as part of the award.

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“I feel very honored to be recognized, to be known and to be invested in,” she said. “That’s another privilege to hold really humbly and I’m super thankful for it.”

Educators from an upstate New York town were also recognized for their efforts to free three students and their mother who were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in March.

“At the time, I didn’t feel like we were exhibiting courage,” said Jennifer Gaffney, the superintendent of Sackets Harbor Central School District. “We were just doing what we needed to do because it was the right thing to do.”

The school’s principal, Jaime Cook, and other teachers sprung into action when they learned of their students’ arrest and contacted government officials to advocate for their release. Community members organized a rally and their protest gained national attention.

“Coming together as a community in the face of adversity, having hope and strength, I think that’s an important message,” said Jonna St. Croix, a teacher at the school and award recipient. “I’m a social studies teacher. Civic duty’s important and I have to walk the walk.”

The three educators were given $50,000 to donate to a nonprofit of their choice and picked the Northern New York Community Foundation. They said they hope the funds will benefit students and young people in their area.

Jana Gallus, a professor at UCLA Anderson School of Management, who has studied awards, praised the decision to allow the individual recipients to decide where to give the grant funding. It creates a gift that keeps on giving with the recognition transferring from the awardee to the nonprofit, she said.

“People sometimes say recognition awards are this fluffy thing, they are soft. Recognition is not soft in that sense. It’s actually very strategic,” Gallus said. “It shapes who feels seen, who is seen, what actions then stand a chance of gaining traction.”

The Courage Project is accepting nominations from the public for future recipients, as well as from United Way. Gallus said asking for public nominations is another way the awards can help democratize who is celebrated as American heroes.

The foundations will select the recipients from the nominees.

Deepak Bhargava, president of the Freedom Together Foundation, said the group of funders were thinking ahead to the 250th anniversary of the United States ' independence and asked themselves what role they could play as philanthropic foundations. They decided to recognize the courage and civic action of people who don’t normally get attention.

“Most awards are designed for people who are occupying positions of power or to some degree are already famous,” he said. “These awards are designed to support people who do the invisible but essential work to make our communities healthy and to sustain our freedoms.”

The other funders of The Courage Project are CFLeads, The James Irvine Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Marguerite Casey Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Public Welfare Foundation, The Skillman Foundation and the Surdna Foundation.

Separately, another nonprofit, The Heritage Foundation, which organized Project 2025 and focuses on building the conservative movement, will also award prizes to encourage the celebration of the country’s independence.

The foundation usually does not make grants but started to award Innovation Prizes in 2022 in part to put its endowment to work, said Bridgett Wagner, executive director of the Edwin J. Feulner Institute at the foundation.

“We want to encourage with this. We want to spark innovation. We want people to do something that’s different,” she said of the prizes, which total around $1 million each year. She said the awards are more than grants because they communicate the foundation’s support of the organization and raise their profile with other donors.

The Heritage Foundation will announce the recipients of the America’s 250th prizes in June.

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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.