Nonprofit Professionals of the Year Awards

The Nonprofit Professionals of the Year Awards are an annual celebration from NonProfit PRO honoring some of the nonprofit sector’s best and brightest.

You can nominate a peer, colleague, co-worker, employee, staff member, volunteer, client or agency partner. Just look around you. There’s no doubt you know someone who deserves to be recognized for their efforts — and we’re looking forward to reading all about them!

The categories for 2024 are:

  • Nonprofit Professional of the Year. While there aren’t title limitations, typically this person is a leader or senior member of an organization who took the nonprofit to new heights. Though they didn’t do it alone, their leadership was key to the nonprofit’s recent success.
  • Fundraiser of the Year. We’re not necessarily looking for who raised the most money, we’re looking for nominations of the fundraiser who made the biggest impact for your nonprofit.
  • Unsung Heroes. Everyone at your nonprofit could fall into this category, but who does so much for the organization, but gets little to no recognition? A board member? A marketer? Someone else who does it all? Let’s change that and acknowledge their important contributions.
  • Rising Stars. We don’t want to put an age limit or title requirement on this award, but nominate someone who is an up-and-comer in the nonprofit sector. It could be someone new to the sector or new to nonprofit management — and anywhere in between.
  • Lifetime Achievement. Unlike the other categories, highlight the nominee’s decades-long devotion to nonprofit causes and all the accomplishments along the way. We want to review their overall career commitment to nonprofits and be amazed.

There’s no fee to submit a nomination. The winners are announced annually on NonProfit PRO’s website and in its e-newsletter in December.

The submission window for 2024 is now closed. Check back in the summer of 2025 for the submission window.

Check out past Nonprofit Professionals of the Year Awards winners:

2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 20192018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007