Crain's - 2024 Notable Nonprofit Board Leaders

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Crain's Chicago Business is proud to announce Crain's 2024 Notable Nonprofit Board Leaders, a special editorial feature within Crain's Dec. 2 print issue and online that will profile top nonprofit board leaders in Chicago.

Your company and its executives are invited to submit a nomination that will help us determine this year's honorees. The special section will recognize individuals for their success and accomplishments during the last 18 months.

The deadline to nominate an individual for this feature is Oct. 4, at 11:59 p.m. CST.

Ready to submit your nomination? Start here

Important criteria for consideration:

Notable Nonprofit Board Leaders must...

Must have at least 5 years of experience serving on the board of a charitable organization that serves the public and has active fundraising campaigns. (Not included: professional associations, chambers of commerce, membership groups and private, non-fundraising family foundations).
Must have advanced the cause of a nonprofit organization and raised its profile in the community.
Contributed regularly and assisted in fundraising in a meaningful way.
Helped the organization operate more efficiently.
Mentored other board members.
Organization founders, co-founders and their spouses, children or siblings won’t be considered. Nominees cannot be paid employees of the nonprofit, they must be volunteers.

Nominee location:

Chicago area (Cook County, DuPage County, DeKalb County, Grundy County, Kane County, Kendall County, Lake County, McHenry County, Will County in IL, Lake County in Indiana, and Kenosha County in WI).

Full time/hybrid nominees: Nominee works full-time or hybrid from a Chicago area office to qualify.
Fully remote nominees:
- If the nominee works for a company/team that is not based in Chicago, the nominee must live in the Chicago area listed above to qualify.
- If the nominee is fully remote and works with a team in Chicago but does not live in the area listed above, they do not qualify.

Ready to submit your nomination? Start here

Nomination requirements:

You will be asked to complete a nomination form that includes:

Nominator/ nominee contact information
Short descriptions about the nominee’s success and impact in their career, community, and industry. This includes their education, current scope of work, significant projects and board memberships.
A headshot and current resume/bio are required for nomination

How to nominate:

To get started, click the application link and sign into your account. If you do not have an account, you will be asked to create one before you can proceed with the nomination form. We recommend using Chrome or Firefox web browsers to complete your application.
All required sections of the form must be completed for consideration. The required sections on the form are marked with a red asterisk. Please note incomplete answers may result in disqualification. Incomplete answers include, “please contact the nominee for more information,” or 1 sentence responses.
Only one nomination is necessary per nominee. Multiple nominations do not increase the nominee's chances of being recognized. Self-nominations are accepted.

Honoree notification:

Individuals chosen to be featured in the section will be notified by Crain's Chicago Business Notable team approximately three weeks prior to publication.

Important information:

Honoree profiles in the published section will be created using the information supplied in the nomination form. We will not accept revised nomination forms, so take care that what you provide is accurate. Honoree profiles will not be provided for review before the section publishes. Crain's editorial staff holds full rights to edit information provided to meet style and editorial standards as well as space limitations. Do not submit information that is subject to change by the publishing date. Do not submit information you consider to be confidential.

By submitting a nomination for this feature, you have consented to receive marketing, editorial and event related emails from Crain's and our program sponsors. You may unsubscribe or change your email preferences through links in emails you receive.

Contact us:

If you experience any issues while submitting a nomination or have questions regarding the nomination criteria, please email Crain's Chicago Business Notable team at ChicagoRecognitions@crain.com.

Submit your nomination here.