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Applications for the Barry & Marie Lipman Family Prize 2025 are now open. The Barry & Marie Lipman Family Prize at the University of Pennsylvania is an annual global prize that celebrates leadership and innovation in the social sector with an emphasis on impact and transferability of practices.
Opportunity Details
The Barry & Marie Lipman Family Prize at the University of Pennsylvania is an annual global prize that celebrates leadership and innovation in the social sector with an emphasis on impact and transferability of practices.
The Lipman Family Prize recognizes and supports these organizations — providing a service to the broader social sector by connecting organizations across service areas to the broader Penn community. The University of Pennsylvania is home to a dynamic, diverse community of faculty, staff, administration, students and alumni committed to drawing on their knowledge and expertise to partner across disciplines and geographies to improve the world.
They value building relationships and are passionate about getting to know change-makers around the world. We champion innovative practices and people to accelerate smart solutions across places and problems. The more we can shed light on solutions that work, the more effective we’ll be at creating a better world.
Winners of the Lipman Family Prize are models for the good that they achieve as well as for their approach and implementation. They each tackle a universal problem within local settings and offer adaptable models or innovations that can be scaled to create positive impacts globally. The application process emphasizes four key qualities: Leadership, Impact, Innovation, and Transferability.
Lipman Family Prize winners are organizations that achieve good through sustainable approaches. Their models are exemplary and provide solutions for tackling universal problems that can be adapted around the world.
Lipman Family Prize winners have exhibited proof of concept for their model and/or specific project. They are poised to scale and see the Lipman Prize as the catalyst for growth.
Lipman Family Prize winners offer innovation and/or an innovative approach to solving a pressing world problem. They are addressing a social challenge in a way that is differentiated in some way from how others have addressed the same problem.
Lipman Family Prize winners embrace the importance of knowledge transfer within the social sector. A core element of their business model has the potential to transfer across geography and/or need, thus offering valuable knowledge assets for the social impact community. Lipman winners seek to not only achieve significant impact within their own operations but also actively contribute to the advancement of the entire social impact field.
Each year, the Lipman Family Prize selects three winners. The grand prize winning organization receives a $250,000 unrestricted cash award, and the two additional winning organizations each receive a $150,000 unrestricted cash award.
In addition, all three winners receive the same non-monetary benefits including:
1.An ongoing partnership with the University dedicated to knowledge sharing and support of the organization, including opportunities for resources and relationships to help scale the work or improve organizational sustainability.
2. Promotion of their work and accomplishments to a large audience, and network development within the Lipman Prize community of winners, and the broader Penn network.
3.Access to tuition-free executive education programs at the Wharton Executive Educationand the Center for Social Impact Strategy, valued at approximately $15,000.
4.The exclusive Lipman Nonprofit Leadership Scholarship, given in partnership with the University’s School of Public Policy and Practice, valued at approximately $10,000.
The Lipman Family Prize is targeted toward organizations addressing globally relevant issues that are usually addressed by the Nonprofit/NGO/Civil Society sector. As a result, the majority of organizations that apply are considered “nonprofit” organizations. We expect that applicant organizations meet the following criteria in order to apply for the Prize:
*The budget size eligibility criterion has been updated for the 2024 Prize. Please see the FAQ page for additional information.
Please note: Lipman Family Prize funds cannot be redistributed by our winners to other organizations and/or individuals.
Please see below for a detailed breakdown of each of these phases.
PHASE 1: Open Application Round
Timeframe: July – September
This first phase of the application is open to any organization that meets the eligibility criteria outlined above. This first round includes essay questions across the 5 themes listed below, basic organizational profile information, and the submission of existing financial statements that demonstrate the eligibility criteria has been met.
Applicant Requirements
Applicants submit an online application during this open application period, which typically opens on July 1 each year for one month. The current cycle’s specific dates can be found in the “Important Dates” tab.
Review Process
Each year, we typically receive around 100 applications in the open submission period. We invite a team of trained reviewers from our Lipman Prize community to review the applications using a quantitative assessment framework that focuses on the 4 evaluation criteria of leadership, impact, innovation, and transferability.
Essay Questions
Phase 1 essay questions are intended to give applicants the opportunity to tell their story. Every organization has a story, and we want to learn about yours. The essay questions are organized into 5 themes:
End Result
A subset of 24-40 organizations are invited to advance to Phase 2 of our application process. All applicants are notified in September as to whether they are chosen for further review in Phase 2.
Timeframe: September – December
Applicant Requirements
A subset of applicants will be selected in September to advance to Phase 2 of the application process. In this phase, applicants are asked to submit existing documentation for the Prize’s review and due diligence work. This material includes but is not limited to: financial information, data evaluation tools, strategic plans, business plans, and information on staff leadership and board of directors.
Applicants in this Phase will be notified in early September and will be asked to submit the Phase 2 application within approximately 3 weeks (date to be specified in the notification).
Throughout October and November, there may be follow-up communication as needed for clarification on any material submitted. We commit to providing as much advance notice, clear timeline, and context as possible to any such follow-up outreach, and invite organizations to ask their own clarifying questions as needed.
Review Process
During this Phase, the Lipman staff work with the Lipman Prize Fellows, a selective group of interdisciplinary graduate students from across Wharton and the University of Pennsylvania who are engaged in a year-long fellowship program that includes supporting the diligence review process. Under the guidance and supervision of the Lipman staff, the Lipman Fellows consult with industry experts and faculty and use the information submitted to better understand the organizations under consideration on dimensions such as organizational sustainability, differentiation, and transferability, among others.
Additionally, the Lipman team partners with financial advisors at Boylston Hoffman, LLC to review and understand the financial information provided by the organizations.
End Result
Twelve organizations are selected as semi-finalist organizations and invited to advance to the next Phase 3 of our application process. All applicants are notified in December as to whether they are selected as a semi-finalist.
Timeframe: December – February
Applicant Requirements
Semi-finalist organizations are notified in December and asked to submit a final round of additional information including a low-production (ie. phone camera recording) 2-3 minute recorded video by the organization’s executive leader.
Applicants in this Phase will be notified in December and will be asked to submit the Phase 3 application response within approximately 3-4 weeks (date to be specified in the notification).
In January / early February, there may be follow-up communication as needed for clarification on any material submitted. As with the previous phases, we commit to providing as much advance notice, clear timeline, and context as possible to any such follow-up outreach, and invite organizations to ask their own clarifying questions as needed.
Review Process
In February, the Lipman staff and Lipman Fellows teams present the semi-finalist organizations to the Prize Committee which includes Lipman family members, Wharton and University of Pennsylvania faculty members, and experienced external social impact professionals.
End Result
Three winning organizations are chosen by the Prize Committee. All semi-finalist organizations are notified of the decision in late February. The winners will each receive an unrestricted monetary prize, as well as non-monetary benefits. The winning organizations are invited to participate in Phase 4 for the final round of our application process to select the grand prize winner.
Timeline: March – Ongoing
Applicant Requirements
In March, winning organizations’ executive leader and board chair (or member) participate in a virtual video interview with the Prize Committee, who will select the grand prize winning organization from among the winners.
The winning organizations also begin working with the Lipman staff for marketing and press release purposes, and for implementing the monetary and non-monetary benefits of the Prize.
The winning organizations are also required to have their executive leader attend the annual Lipman Family Prize Award Ceremony and daytime programming in or around Penn’s campus in Philadelphia. The Prize will pay for travel and hotel stay for one organizational representative and work with the organizations to arrange transportation and accommodation.
Review Process
In March, the Prize Committee conducts interviews with each of the winning organizations, then deliberates and selects the grand prize winner.
End Result
The Lipman winning organizations are confidentially notified of the Prize Committee’s decision in late March / early April. The grand prize winning organization is publicly announced at the Award Ceremony in April in Philadelphia.
All three winning organizations receive the benefits of their partnership with the University of Pennsylvania and The Wharton School, as well as join the Lipman Family Prize network and winner community.
Apply for Barry & Marie Lipman Family Prize