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"And the winner is..." Capturing the promise of philanthropic prizes
Publication Date:
01/01/2009
Prize-giving is hardly a new tool for sparking technological innovation and recognizing exemplary achievement. In 1714, the British Parliament established the Longitude Prize, which inspired the clockmaker John Harrison to develop the marine chronometer, thus greatly improving high-seas navigation. The Food Preservation Prize established by Napoleon resulted in the invention of the canning techniques that are still used today. And the Nobel Prizes have long set the standard for scholarly and humanitarian excellence.
What has changed, according to a newly published report, "And the winner is…": Capturing the promise of philanthropic prizes, by McKinsey & Company’s Social Sector Office, is the breadth and ambition of the international prize-giving sector. The "use of this powerful instrument is undergoing a renaissance," write the authors of the report, which was funded by the Templeton Foundation.
Today there are 219 prizes worth more than $100,000, with a total purse of some $375 million. More than a quarter of them have been created since 2000, in part because of the rise of younger philanthropists who made their fortunes during the high-tech boom and tend to be more entrepreneurial in their giving. "Prizes have been a major growth area for the social sector over the last decade," said Tony Goland, the McKinsey partner who oversaw the report, "but important questions remain regarding how best to achieve significant positive impact from them. We were enthusiastic about conducting this research and codifying some frameworks and best practices that we hope will be useful for prize sponsors."