First Comprehensive Awards Program for DV Movement

Theresa’s Fund through its popular website DomesticShelters.org announced today that it is launching the new, annual Purple Ribbon Awards, the first comprehensive awards program honoring the countless heroes of the domestic violence movement, including advocates, programs, shelters, survivors, and members of the community support system.

“People at all levels and throughout the domestic violence movement are just incredible. It’s not easy work and much of it goes unacknowledged. We felt it is time for a program that highlights the efforts, the innovations, the struggles, the achievements, and the countless successful outcomes,” said Rita Smith, international domestic violence expert and Theresa’s Fund’s Vice President of External Relations.

The awards program will start accepting entries on January 1, 2021. Three Purple Ribbon Awards will be given in each of more than 30 categories and all entries will be acknowledged as honorees. Select entries will receive grants totaling up to $30,000. People and organizations interested in entering can sign up here to receive a notification at the turn of the year about the entry window officially opening.

A national panel of respected professionals from the domestic violence field has been recruited to serve as judges. Each entry will be scored by three judges and each judge will score each entry on a 1-25 scale across four factors: 1) Challenge & Impact (the scope of the challenge faced and overcome, and the entry outcomes), 2) Creativity & Originality (the inventiveness of the nominee in their endeavor), 3) Submission Excellence (the caliber of the materials accompanying the entry) and 4) Overall (the overall performance of the entry relative to other entries). The scores for an entry will be averaged and the three highest scores in a given category will receive a Purple Ribbon Award.

To ensure parity, each entry will be classified into one of three groups based on the size of a nominee’s organization: 1) Less than $500,000, 2) Between $500,001 and $2,000,000 and 3) Greater than $2,000,000. Entries in a category and size will be judged, scored, and awarded separately from entries in the same category and different sizes. In other words, there will be three separate competitions within each category to provide organizations the opportunity to be reviewed among their peers.

There are multiple options for learning more about the awards program and how to get involved, including visiting www.purpleribbonawards.com, reading the FAQ, and watching this video.

About Theresa’s Fund

Theresa’s Fund is an Arizona-based 501(c)3 non-profit charity started in 1992 by Preston V. McMurry, Jr. At a time when domestic violence wasn’t yet a headline, Theresa’s Fund focused on changing the landscape of domestic violence services in its home state through grantmaking, board development and fundraising for Arizona-based organizations like East Valley Child Crisis Center, Sojourner Center, Florence Crittenden, Emerge, UMOM, and West Valley Child Crisis Center. In 2014, it developed the DomesticShelters.org concept as a way to expand its reach to people across the U.S. and Canada. DomesticShelters.org is the first online and mobile searchable database of programs and shelters in the U.S./Canada, and a leading source of helpful tools and information for people experiencing and working to end domestic violence.