Bhayana Family Foundation Awards

2011 recipients of the Bhayana Family Foundation Awards

You can view this year’s recipients whose extraordinary contributions have been essential in advancing the common good, community and neighbourhood building, and creating a better city for all. View all nominees by reading the Award’s Programme or view photos.

Watch a video about the value of the Bhayana Family Foundation awards


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Do you have feedback?

If you took part in the nomination process or if you attended the event ceremony on December 9, 2011, we would like to hear from you. Please complete the quick and easy feedback form and help us improve next year’s Bhayana Family Foundation Awards. Any other feedback and suggestions, please contact awards@uwgt.org.

The commitment, creativity and team spirit shown by employees of member agencies funded by United Way Toronto are essential to advancing the common good and creating a better city for us all.

The Bhayana Family Foundation Awards recognize extraordinary contributions made by agency staff and are awarded by United Way Toronto. All awards are based on peer nominations, with the exception of the community partnership category, which is based on self-nomination. The six award categories are:

All award recipients were invited to a special ceremony held in early December 2011 to honour their success, where each received a plaque of recognition and a non-taxable monetary gift. The recipient’s agency also received a plaque. Learn more about this year’s recipients.

Sponsorship

The Bhayana Family Foundation Awards are made possible by a generous donation from Raksha M. Bhayana and the Bhayana Family Foundation. As a former member of United Way Toronto’s Board of Trustees, Raksha is a dedicated community volunteer and a passionate champion for the recognition of frontline workers who make a difference in the community every day. On behalf of the United Way family, we would like to express our admiration and gratitude to Raksha and the Bhayana Family Foundation.

Nominations now closed

Please visit this page in early fall 2012 to nominate a colleague for the 2012 Bhayana Family Foundation Awards. To strengthen the quality of your nomination, we encourage you to get input from multiple colleagues. Please consider reviewing previous award recipients for insight into what the selection committee is looking for.

Thank you to everyone who submitted nominations. The nominations period is now closed. If you ave any questions, please email us at awards@uwgt.org.

Categories

  • DEDICATION

    The purpose of this award is to recognize and reward employees who are dedicated to the mission and values of their agency. These individuals demonstrate unwavering loyalty and commitment to the success of a specific project or to the ongoing interests of the agency.

    Ideal candidates demonstrate:

    • Unwavering commitment to the goals of the organization
    • Excellent and consistent performance and professionalism
    • Exceptional service to external or internal customers over a sustained period
    • Extraordinary levels of team spirit
    • Solid support for colleagues
    • Readiness to participate in special projects or committees
    • Going above and beyond to make a significant contribution to their team, agency or community

  • INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY

    The purpose of this award is to recognize and reward employees who introduce ideas, services or practices in new and imaginative ways. These individuals contribute innovative solutions to their organization or make major improvements to agency operations or services provided.

    Ideal candidates:

    • Introduce ideas that increase revenue, reduce costs or improve service
    • Enhance efficiency, accuracy or productivity in innovative ways
    • Contribute creative ideas to address issues within the scope of their job, department or organization
    • Introduce changes to simplify or improve existing processes
    • Challenge existing assumptions and think outside the box
    • Take calculated risks in pursuit of continuous improvement
    • Work with others to promote, implement and adjust solutions to changing situations

  • LEADERSHIP

    The purpose of this award is to recognize and reward employees who demonstrate exemplary leadership capabilities and consistently achieve superior team-based results. These leaders play an exceptional role in helping others contribute to their organization and advance its mission.

    Ideal candidates:

    • Empower others and delegate responsibility
    • Demonstrate strong relationship building abilities
    • Foster cross-organizational teamwork
    • Promote and celebrate diversity
    • Have exceptional communications and listening skills
    • Introduce and manage change effectively
    • Inspire those around them

  • PARTNERSHIP BUILDER

    The purpose of this award is to recognize and reward employees who make outstanding contributions to their community by recognizing, engaging and maximizing the potential of relationships with key external partners, such as residents, schools, associations, other agencies, businesses, and funders.

    Ideal candidates:

    • Have developed partnerships that meet community needs and make a difference
    • Demonstrate a commitment to creating healthy and vibrant communities
    • Engage with and mobilize stakeholders to get the job done
    • Foster a sense of common purpose to address root causes of social problems
    • Effectively manage conflict and balance competing interests
    • Promote and celebrate diversity
    • Develop partnerships that are innovative, mutually beneficial and sustainable

  • TEAM ACHIEVEMENT

    The purpose of this award is to recognize and reward teams who work toward a common goal. Together, these individuals demonstrate commitment to success through excellent and consistent performance.

    What is a team?

    A team is an internal group of staff. Nominations for cross-departmental teams are encouraged. For the purpose of the award, teams must consist of two to 12 members. If you feel strongly that a team of up to a maximum of 15 members should qualify, please send us an email that explains why the selection panel should consider this exception and we will contact you with the selection panel’s decision. What is most important to the selection panel is that the nomination demonstrates the active participation of each and every team member toward the achievement of common goals.

    Ideal teams:

    • Demonstrate the basic principles of teamwork
    • Make a significant contribution to their agency or the clients they serve
    • Implement projects that increase revenue, reduce costs or improve service
    • Increase efficiency, accuracy or productivity of a department or across the agency
    • Put the team’s objective ahead of individual personal gain
    • Champion their cause at all times, both internally and externally
    • Actively support other teams and projects in the agency

  • COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP

    For the purpose of this award, a partnership is an alliance between three or more organizations that commit themselves to working together on a specific project or initiative to produce outcomes that one partner working alone could not achieve.

    Additional eligibility requirements for this category: One of the partners must be United Way funded (but it is open to funded and non-funded projects and initiatives). The United Way funded partner must be a key player in the partnership and be the one to self-nominate the partnership. Additionally, two letters from project partners endorsing the partnership are required attachments to complete the online nomination form.

    Ideal members of a successful partnership:

    • Make a significant contribution to the community they serve
    • Foster a sense of common purpose to address root causes of social problems
    • Champion their cause at all times, both internally and externally
    • Effectively manage conflict and balance competing interests
    • Actively support other team members
    • Promote and celebrate diversity
    • Demonstrate the basic principles of teamwork
    • Develop an innovative and mutually beneficial relationship

Download our brochure

Spread the word by downloading our brochure (PDF) and posting it to your organization’s bulletin board.

Questions

You can email your questions to awards@uwgt.org. Or you can call Katelyn Field at 416-777-1444, ext. 227 or Okeima Lawrence at 416-777-1444, ext. 685.

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