The Accokeek Foundation was recognized last week by the Center for Nonprofit Advancement as a 2011 honorable mention recipient of the Board Leadership Award. The Accokeek Foundation will receive communication exposure and training and development opportunities for the board and CEO from the Center’s Learning & Leadership Institute.
Wilton Corkern, who recently retired after more than 20 years’ service as the Accokeek Foundation’s President, nominated the Accokeek Foundation’s Board of Trustees for the Center for Nonprofit Advancement’s 2011 Board Leadership Award. Corkern cited the board’s steady leadership, fiscal responsibility, support for the hard-working staff, and its commitment to maintaining and expanding service to the public during the challenging economic times of the past five years.
Since its creation more than a half-century ago, the Accokeek Foundation has enjoyed a stellar volunteer Board of Trustees. Founders Robert Ware Straus, Henry Ferguson, and Charles Wagner, and the Foundation’s first president and benefactor, Congresswoman Frances Payne Bolton, were visionary thinkers who instilled in the trustees a sense of aiming for and achieving the highest goals.
Accokeek Foundation President Lisa Hayes notes, “Our institution today – the oldest land trust in the Tidewater Potomac region, with a unique public/private partnership with the National Park Service and an array of innovative educational programs, as well as a first-rate professional staff – is testimony to the early vision of the founders and to the tradition of excellence being continued by our current trustees.”
“The Board Leadership Award acknowledges boards that have exerted their leadership in an exemplary way and motivates those that have not with clear and tangible best practices each organization can adopt,” said Center CEO Glen O’Gilvie. “We are pleased to acknowledge the Accokeek Foundation as a stellar example that other organizations should follow, and share the best practices from each of our 2011 honorees with the community.”
The Center for Nonprofit Advancement, in partnership with Reznick Group and BoardSource, launched the Board Leadership Award in 2011 to recognize and spotlight outstanding leadership from Boards of Directors of Washington-area nonprofit organizations. The award recognizes the role that boards play in building and sustaining successful organizations—assuring that they are well led, well supported, and responsive to the people and communities they serve.