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WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Many groups and activists from across the country have ramped up their fight against injustice, inequities and hate in our communities. Four outstanding grantmakers, including a foundation based in Baton Rouge, are being honored for their leadership in supporting these efforts.

The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) will honor Foundation for Louisiana, Groundswell Fund, Meyer Memorial Trust and Solutions Project, recipients of the 2017 NCRP Impact Awards, at a reception in New Orleans this month.

"These grantmakers are an inspiration in their commitment to securing a just, equitable and sustainable future for our communities, especially those who have been marginalized," said Aaron Dorfman, president and CEO of NCRP. "I encourage other funders to look at the impact the awardees are having on the communities and issues they care about, and imagine what they, too, can accomplish through their own bold giving."

In its 5^th year, the NCRP Impact Awards honors the "best of the best" grantmakers that practice high-impact philanthropy by seeking to solve our country's toughest problems, committing to diversity and inclusion, and empowering and strengthening marginalized communities.

Foundation for Louisiana, for the "Mover and Shaker" Award

Foundation for Louisiana, a community foundation, is being honored for using its influence and expertise to address critical issues in the state.

It played a key leadership role in the removal of Confederate monuments in Louisiana between May and June of this year. It was also the only grantmaker in the Louisiana Justice Reinvestment Task Force, which was able to pass historic state legislation to slash the prison population and reinvest $154 million into programs to reduce crime and recidivism.

"Foundation for Louisiana is humbled and excited to receive the first-of-its-kind "Mover and Shaker" Award for Bold Peer Organizing," said Flozell Daniels Jr., chief executive of Foundation for Louisiana. "This work is powered by our incredible grantee partners, talented staff and board, our public sector partners and, most important, the wisdom of community in the pursuit of greater equity outcomes. Considering the task at hand, this is just the beginning."

Other 2017 NCRP Impact Awardees

• Groundswell Fund, for the "Smashing Silos" Award
  This Oakland, California-based public grantmaking charity is the largest funder of the reproductive justice movement in the U.S. It is being honored for its intersectional approach to race and gender in its reproductive justice grantmaking.
• Meyer Memorial Trust, for the "Changing Course" Award
  In 2012, this large private foundation in Portland, Oregon, began a self-examination of the ways it was and wasn't making an impact. Then it took a year to listen to constituents on how to better align its programming with an explicit focus on equity. Last year, Meyer reflected this explicit focus by identifying the four issue areas where it might have the greatest impact using an equity lens given the state's pressing needs: housing, education, environment and Oregon's diverse communities.
• Solutions Project, for the "Get Up, Stand Up" Award
  This grantmaking public charity co-founded by celebrity activist Mark Ruffalo is being honored for providing some of the first rapid-response funding to indigenous efforts against the Dakota Access Pipeline in Standing Rock. It also helped other donors to provide funding in ways that respected indigenous leadership.

Profiles on the 2017 NCRP Impact Awardees, including their full statements are available on NCRP's website.

2017 NCRP Impact Award Reception

WHAT
2017 NCRP Impact Awards
Honoring Foundation for Louisiana, Groundswell Fund,
Meyer Memorial Trust and Solutions Project

WHO
Philanthropists, foundation and nonprofit leaders, with:
Vanessa Daniel, Executive Director, Groundswell Fund
Flozell Daniels, Jr., President and CEO, Foundation for Louisiana
Aaron Dorfman, President and CEO, NCRP
Sarah Shanley Hope, Executive Director, Solutions Project
Saket Soni, Executive Director, New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice
Doug Stamm, President and CEO, Meyer Memorial Trust
Sherece West-Scantlebury, President and CEO, Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation
and NCRP Board Chair

With guest artist:
Mwende "FreeQuency" Katwiwa
Kenyan, Immigrant, Queer Womyn Speaker and Performer

WHERE
New Orleans Marriott
555 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70130

WHEN
September 18, 2017
6:30 – 8:30 pm
In Conjunction with CHANGE Unity Summit

This event is open to the media.

About NCRP

The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy amplifies the voice of nonprofits and the communities they serve in the philanthropic sector. Through research and advocacy, it works to ensure that grantmakers and donors contribute to the creation of a fair, just and equitable world.

Since 2013, NCRP has awarded 19 Impact Awards to grantmakers in recognition of support, leadership and partnership with grassroots organizations and community leaders around LTGBTQ rights, minimum wage, environmental justice, health equity and other critical issues. A full list of past NCRP Impact Awardees are available on www.ncrp.org.

SOURCE National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy