The Barry & Marie Lipman Family Prize is well into its second year. It seems like only yesterday that we were reporting on the Lipman Prize’s successful first year.
For the 2013 prize, 115 organizations submitted applications. Their focus on global causes ranged from disaster recovery to economic development, education to environmental sustainability, gender equality to poverty alleviation, health care to housing. It makes for tough choices when narrowing down the field.
But the Lipman Prize’s staff and selection committee—made up of faculty, students and staff from across the University of Pennsylvania—have made their selections, and recently announced this year’s finalists. These organizations were chosen for their work creating sustainable solutions to significant social and economic challenges
d.light Designs: Through breakthroughs in design, distribution and market engagement, d.light is transforming the solar-powered lighting market, helping more than 8 million off-grid customers in 40 countries light their lives without dangerous kerosene.
Microclinic International: Healthy behaviors can spread through pre-existing social networks of friends and family more effectively than through traditional physician/patient relationships, as demonstrated by Microclinic International’s work. It is nothing short of a revolution in how chronic diseases are prevented and managed worldwide.
READ Global: With an emphasis on empowerment, community investment and local for-profit rural enterprises, READ Global has established 62 rural education and development centers across Bhutan, India and Nepal.
The winner of the Lipman Family Prize will be announced in the early spring and will receive a cash award of $100,000. But what makes the Lipman Family Prize unique is its two-fold benefit-and-award approach. The prize not only awards substantial funding to support the winner’s operations, it establishes lasting relationships between the University and all three finalists, who receive free Wharton Executive Education coursework and access to Penn’s extensive research and network of schools and centers.
All were made possible by a generous gift from Barry Lipman, W’70, and his wife, Marie.
For more about the Lipman family and the inspiration behind the prize, read “The Many Roads to the Lipman Prize” from the summer 2012 issue.
