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Philanthropist of the Year Third National Contest: Still More Fair

The Philanthropist of the Year Third National Contest has been officially launched. Its start was announced September 3, 2009, at a press conference. The event, held at InterMedia Consulting premises, was attended by People’s Artist of Ukraine, Head of the Supervisory Board of the competition Bohdan Stupka, President of Children’s World ACF, Head of the Organizing Committee Serhiy Letenko, Head of the Philanthropy Information and Analysis Center, Head of the Panel Svitlana Kuts, members of the Organizing Committee Head of the Board of Directors of Ukraine 3000 Foundation Oleksandr Maksymchuk, Director of the Ukrainian Philanthropists’ Forum Anna Hulevska-Chernysh, Director of Public Space IAC Pavlo Shamray, and members of the Supervisory Board Mariya Burmaka, Stella Zakharova, and Andriy Kulykov.

In the words of Mr. Letenko, the Philanthropist 2009 competition will be more transparent compared to the previous years. To this end a series of measures have been taken, the main of them being the creation of the Supervisory Board of the competition. This year its members were elected VV rock group’s frontman Oleh Skrypka, Olympic Champion in artistic gymnastics Stella Zakharova, People’s Artiste of Ukraine Mariya Burmaka, writers and publishers Vitaly and Dmytro Kapranovs. People’s Artiste of Ukraine Bohdan Stupka was elected the Head of the Supervisory Board.

To secure open and unbiased competition, the organizers are planning to invite an independent audit company to supervise the process.

A hot line will operate during the competition for contacting the Organizing Committee. Its number is (044) 481-0949. There one can discuss any issues related to the competition’s organization and process. The hot line will work on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Another novelty in this year’s competition is the possibility to register online at its official website www.blagodijnyk.org.ua.

“The procedure and criteria of selection the winners are aimed at public recognition of philanthropy,” Ms. Kuts said. “The panel, representing various groups of the society and being non-commercial and not politically loaded, will be guided by precisely these approach and criteria. It has been proven that a winner can be a small rural community as well as a big corporation or man of property.”

The Philanthropist of the Year competition was founded in 2007. Its goal is furthering the development of charity in Ukraine and promoting it through public celebration  of charitable initiatives aimed at solving urgent problems of our time.

The competition co-organizers are the Children’s World ACF, Ukraine 3000 ACF, Ukrainian Philanthropists’ Forum, and Center for Philanthropy. The Public Space IAC and Institute of Professional Fundraising were also involved in organizing the competition. Legal and physical entities having rendered single or multiple charitable aid for solving social problems in 2009 can apply for the competition. The nominees can be proposed by public organizations, charitable foundations, educational, cultural, or health care institutions, any recipients of charitable aid, and philanthropists themselves. On the competition’s panel are experts on social development and charity, having proper experience for selecting best examples of charitable activities. The competition’s permanent partners are Gestalt Consulting Group company and InterMedia Consulting IA.