The Massachusetts Nonprofit Network has announced that MassEquality, the leading statewide LGBT advocacy organization based in Boston, has been selected as a finalist for the 2012 Nonprofit Excellence Awards. The Excellence Awards are given each year to outstanding nonprofit organizations and professionals in the Commonwealth as part of MNN’s Nonprofit Awareness Day, a statewide holiday recognizing the nonprofit sector in Massachusetts.
MassEquality has been selected as a finalist for the Nonprofit Excellence Award in Advocacy for its work on the passage of the Transgender Equal Rights Bill, marking the first time in approximately two decades that state lawmakers proactively passed civil rights legislation. Until passage of this law, transgender people in Massachusetts had no legal protections in housing, employment, schools, or credit, and anti-bias crimes were limited in how they could be prosecuted. MassEquality led the advocacy efforts of a broad-based coalition of groups working for its passage by organizing hundreds of meetings with legislators; recruiting testimony from key public officials, organizations and individuals; generating over 100,000 phone calls from voters to lawmakers in support of the bill; pitching placement of more than 100 supportive media pieces; and helping stage more than 20 events at the State House focusing attention on the Bill. MassEquality works to ensure that every lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender person in Massachusetts is protected from cradle to grave—with equal rights and opportunities in school, in marriage and family life, at work and in retirement.
“Our communities would not be the same without the work of the extraordinary nonprofits in Greater Boston, said Ruth Bramson, CEO of Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts. “Finalists like MassEquality represent the best of an exceptional group of individuals and organizations serving the Commonwealth.”
Excellence Award finalists and winners are nominated by community members and their peers and are selected by an independent panel of nonprofit leaders. This year, MNN received 122 Nonprofit Excellence Award nominations.
“Nonprofit Awareness Day was created to recognize the essential role that over 25,000 statewide nonprofits, with nearly a half million employees, play in our lives,” said Rick Jakious, CEO of the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network. “These finalists represent the very best of this critical sector.”
‘The law we worked to pass includes essential protections for transgender youth, adults, and families and is a life-changing piece of legislation,” said MassEquality Executive Director Kara Suffredini. “It’s an honor to do this work, to be recognized for it, and to be included among other such accomplished finalists.
Nonprofit Excellence Award Finalists and winners will be celebrated at the 2012 Nonprofit Awareness Day celebration on the morning of June 11 at the Massachusetts State House. Governor Deval Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray, and Speaker Robert DeLeo will all serve as Honorary Co-Chairs of the event and the event will be emceed by NECN Anchor Kristy Lee. For more information about Nonprofit Awareness Day and to register to attend, visit bit.ly/NPAD2012.
About the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network
The Massachusetts Nonprofit Network (MNN) is the voice of the entire nonprofit sector in Massachusetts. MNN was launched in 2007 to strengthen communities by serving nonprofit organizations through advocacy, public awareness and capacity building. MNN includes nearly 500 members, representing nonprofits in every part of Massachusetts, from the Berkshires to the Cape and Islands. For more information, visit www.massnonprofitnet.org.
About MassEquality
MassEquality works to ensure that every lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender person in Massachusetts is protected from cradle to grave—with equal rights and opportunities in school, in marriage and family life, at work and in retirement.
