JOYCE FOUNDATION WINS COUNCIL ON FOUNDATIONS GOLD AWARD
Count Me In Census Collaboration Recognized with Wilmer Shields Rich Award for Excellence in Communications

The Joyce Foundation – and a coalition of nine other leading Illinois philanthropies – has been named a Gold Award winner for excellence in communications by the 2010 Wilmer Shields Rich Awards Program. Sponsored by the Council on Foundations, the awards program recognizes effective communications efforts to increase public awareness of foundations and corporate giving programs.

The foundations received the award for their public information campaign titled Count Me In, a $1.2 million endeavor to increase census participation in 37 targeted communities in Chicago and throughout Illinois. The effort combined innovative public education campaigns, community outreach, new media, trainings, special events and other grassroots activities designed to increase the mail-back rate of census forms from hard-to-count Illinois communities.

Entries to the awards program included annual or biennial reports, electronic publications, magazines/periodicals, special reports, public information campaigns, and websites. This year, 166 entries were submitted to the awards program.