Council on Foundations Celebrates 2024 Award Winners, Darren Walker and Tiffany Benjamin

Press Release

Council on Foundations Celebrates 2024 Award Winners, Darren Walker and Tiffany Benjamin

Wednesday, December 18, 2024

WASHINGTON - The Council on Foundations today announced the winners of the 2024 Council Awards, including Darren Walker, Ford Foundation President, for the Distinguished Service Award, and Tiffany Benjamin, Humana Foundation Chief Executive Officer, for the Outstanding Corporate Philanthropy Leadership Award.

In its 40th year, the Distinguished Service Award is presented to an individual recognized for demonstrating trust, integrity, and courage consistently throughout a career in philanthropy. The Outstanding Corporate Philanthropy Leadership Award, now in its third year, is presented to an individual at a corporate foundation or giving program who excels in building partnerships and pursuing corporate social responsibility.

Distinguished Service Award

Darren Walker has served as the President of the Ford Foundation since 2013, where he established the first disability rights program by a major foundation, spearheaded the first $1 billion social bond by a private foundation for critical grants to nonprofits during the pandemic, and led the effort to resolve Detroit's bankruptcy in 2014 with a landmark $816 million deal.

Walker established and co-chaired the Families and Workers Fund, a coalition of 25 philanthropies granting short- and long-term financial support to boost access to jobs and public benefits, and increased the number of general support grants through the Ford Foundation's BUILD initiative.

Walker previously oversaw global and domestic programs at the Rockefeller Foundation, including the Rebuild New Orleans initiative after Hurricane Katrina. In 2022, he was awarded France's highest cultural honor, the Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, for his leadership in the arts. In 2023 he was also appointed by Queen Elizabeth II to the Order of the British Empire for services to UK/US relations.

"I am profoundly grateful and incredibly honored to be recognized with this award," said Ford Foundation president Darren Walker. "This recognition is a testament to the many dedicated colleagues, peers, and mentors who have supported and inspired me throughout my career and here at the Ford Foundation, where we strive to uphold the values of trust, integrity, and courage in all that we do, as these principles are essential to achieve meaningful, lasting impact."

"We're proud to award Darren with one of the highest honors in philanthropy," said Council on Foundations President and CEO Kathleen Enright. "His tremendous legacy at the Ford Foundation is marked by ingenuity and the relentless pursuit of a world where people have the power to shape their lives and achieve their full potential. In doing so, Darren has enabled efforts that transformed communities in the United States and around the world."

Outstanding Corporate Philanthropy Leadership Award

Tiffany Benjamin has served as the CEO of the Humana Foundation since 2022, where she built a new strategic plan centered on eliminating barriers in health and revamped the foundation's grantmaking strategy to include multi-year grants and new ways of connecting with potential grantees and the communities they serve. She helped the foundation co-found Face the Fight, an initiative of USAA and its foundation to reduce veteran suicides that is now supported by a coalition of 200 organizations.

Benjamin has built trust among partners by redesigning the foundation's grant application process to include an initial short-form that is quickly assessed before a longer-form application is needed.

As president of the corporate foundation of Eli Lilly and Company during the pandemic, she led efforts to partner with philanthropic initiatives to deliver COVID-19 therapeutics to low- and middle-income nations. Benjamin also worked with the state of Indiana to establish vaccine clinics and testing sites and launched educational and outreach efforts to increase COVID-19 vaccinations among African Americans in Indianapolis. In addition to her work at the Humana Foundation, she serves as Board Chair of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP).

"I am deeply honored and overwhelmed with gratitude to receive this recognition," said Humana Foundation CEO Tiffany Benjamin. "At the Humana Foundation, we strive to advance health equity through transparency and accountability for underserved and marginalized communities, and this award reflects our unwavering commitment to fostering positive change. This journey with our partners and communities is about more than the grants we award - it's about the lives we touch and the trust we build along the way."

"Tiffany has demonstrated bold leadership at a crucial time for our society," said Council on Foundations President and CEO Kathleen Enright. "Her work to build trust with partners and communities during the pandemic and beyond has led to meaningful and enduring positive health outcomes."

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About the Council on Foundations

The Council on Foundations is a nonprofit membership association that serves as a guide for philanthropies as they advance the greater good. Building on our 75-year history, the Council supports over 900 member organizations in the United States and around the world to build trust in philanthropy, expand pathways to giving, engage broader perspectives, and co-create solutions that will lead to a better future for all. Learn more about the Council and become a member by visiting cof.org.

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