Muskegon, MI - March 3 , 2005 << Return to Press Release Page For More Information, Call: Bob Chapla, Vice-President, Development Arn Boezaart, Vice-President, Grant Programs Community Foundation for Muskegon County Tel: (231) 722-4538 Community Foundation for Muskegon County Receives Award for Outstanding Communications The Community Foundation for Muskegon County has been named a Gold award winner in the community foundation category for excellence in communications by the 2005 Wilmer Shields Rich Awards Program. Sponsored by the National Council on Foundations, the awards program recognizes effective communications efforts to increase public awareness of foundations and corporate giving programs. The award will be presented at the 56th Annual Conference of the Council on Foundations in San Diego on Monday, April 11, 2005 The Community Foundation for Muskegon County received the award for its 2003 Annual Report “Building Tomorrow’s Community.” The award letter notes that the work submitted by the Community Foundation for Muskegon County demonstrates its commitment to public accountability and effective communications with both donors and potential recipients of grants awarded by the Foundation.  Chris McGuigan, President of the Community Foundation notes that “this award represents a truly collaborative effort on the part of many Community Foundation staff as well as those outside of the Foundation who make a project of this scope and caliber possible.” McGuigan went on to say that “In particular, the Foundation wishes to recognize the contributions made by Patti Eddington, contributing writer and operator of WordStudio. as well as Amy Atkinson and other staff at R.C. Productions Inc. who designed and managed production of the report”. One of the key deciding factors by the judges in presenting this Gold award to the Community Foundation was the distribution of the Annual Report as an insert in the Muskegon Chronicle to virtually the entire lakeshore readership of the paper. Entries to the awards program included annual or biennial reports, newsletters, special reports, public policy campaigns and websites. This year 247 entries were submitted to the awards program and 5 gold awards were given in the Community Foundation category. The Community Foundation for Muskegon County was created in 1961 to improve the quality of life for Muskegon County residents. As a publicly-supported community endowment, the Foundation receives and manages contributions from community citizens and organizations who are committed to the future of Muskegon County. << Return to Press Release Page