Deadline Under Two Weeks Away for Applications for $100,000 Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation

The application deadline for the 2009 Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation is quickly approaching with submissions due July 1 at 3pm EDT. The Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University is encouraging interested nonprofits to complete their applications ASAP. All U.S.-based nonprofits are eligible for the award.

The first-place prize is $100,000. That's up from the $35,000 awarded in previous years, thanks to a generous grant from The Coca-Cola Foundation. The second-place award is $7,500, and the third-place prize is $5,000.

The award application is available on the Drucker Institute website (http://www.druckerinstitute.com/).

Administered annually since 1991, the Drucker Award is granted to a social-sector organization that demonstrates Drucker's definition of innovation--change that creates a new dimension of performance. In addition, the judges look for programs that are highly effective and that have made a difference in the lives of the people they serve.

"Peter told us that the purpose of this prize is to find the innovators, whether small or large; to celebrate their example; and to inspire others," said Rick Wartzman, director of the Drucker Institute. "This is especially important this year as our flagging economy has left many nonprofits struggling financially while the needs that they're trying to meet are greater than ever."

The winners of this year's competition will be recognized at a gala dinner in Los Angeles later this fall. The dinner has been designated an official activity of the Drucker Centennial, which marks Peter Drucker's 100th birthday. (For more on the Centennial, please visit www.drucker100.com.)

Widely considered the father of modern management, Drucker not only consulted for major corporations, he advised the Girl Scouts of the USA, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and countless other social-sector organizations. He called the nonprofit "America's most distinctive institution."

The 2008 first-place Drucker Award winner, selected from more than 500 nonprofits that applied for the award, was KickStart International, a San Francisco-based organization. KickStart fights poverty in Africa by creating and selling simple tools that help poor entrepreneurs increase their income. Among its innovations is the MoneyMaker irrigation pump, which allows small-scale growers to produce high-value crops year-round and make the transition from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture.