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INTRODUCING THE 2nd annual

Virtuous Responsive Awards

Celebrating leaders and organizations redefining generosity through responsiveness, data, and innovation.

The Responsive Nonprofit Awards honor organizations and individuals who exemplify what it means to be responsive — listening first, connecting deeply, and innovating boldly.

Some awards are selected directly from Virtuous data, recognizing measurable excellence among our customers. Others are open to all nonprofits, celebrating creativity, generosity, and impact across the broader sector.

Attendance at the Respond Conference is encouraged but not required to win.

Open-Application awards

The 2026 Responsive Awards are now open to all nonprofit fundraisers—not just Virtuous customers! And yes, you can apply for more than one!

How to Apply for Open Submission Awards:

Nominate Your Organization

Campaign Innovation award

Honors a creative, multi-channel fundraising campaign that demonstrates responsiveness to donor behavior and mission needs.

Submission should include at least 3 items of the below:

Description of the campaign goal, audience, and creative strategy.
Visuals or messaging examples that showcase the campaign’s uniqueness.
Metrics that demonstrate campaign success (e.g., opens, clicks, funds raised).
Timeline of campaign rollout (pre-launch, launch, follow-up).
Any A/B testing or iteration insights.
Donor or community response (qualitative or anecdotal).

Donor Journey Excellence award

Celebrates organizations designing thoughtful, human-centered giving experiences that inspire lasting generosity.

Submission should include at least 3 items of the below:

Description of how you’ve used automation to create personal donor experiences across the giving lifecycle—not just for major donors.
Specific journeys and how they’re adapted by persona or channel
Metrics that demonstrate success (e.g., donor retention, second gift conversion, recurring giving rates, average donor lifetime value, etc.)
Description of how the donor journey spans departments
How your donor journey reflects the four pillars of Responsive Fundraising: Listen, Connect, Suggest, and Learn

Emerging Nonprofit award

Celebrates smaller or newer nonprofits demonstrating bold innovation, growth, and responsiveness.
Eligibility: Open to nonprofits under $2M in annual revenue.

Submission should include at least 3 items of the below:

Evidence of growth in revenue, donor base size, recurring donor growth, or volunteer mobilization
1-2 specific innovative strategies your organization has pioneered (e.g., donor experiences, program models, etc.)
How you’ve applied the Responsive Framework: Listen, Connect, Suggest, Learn
Description of how you’ve maximized output despite limited capacity
Description of any non-traditional models of fundraising, governance, or service delivery that set your organization apart
A high-level 12-24 month vision for growth

Innovation in AI award

Recognizes a nonprofit leveraging AI to grow generosity and deepen engagement.

Submission should include at least 3 items of the below:

Description of how your organization is using AI in service of fundraising, marketing, supporter engagement, or mission delivery.
The strategic intent behind your AI initiative(s)
How your AI use and strategy align with the Responsive Fundraising approach: Listen, Connect, Suggest, and Learn
Metric-based outcomes of AI implementation, such as donor retention, conversion, lifetime value, recurring giving, average gift size, scalability, etc.
How you fostered a culture of curiosity, experimentation, and iteration to adopt AI
How you overcame fears around AI

Outstanding Storytelling award

Highlights the most compelling submission narrative that shares impact, inspires donors and drives generosity.

Submission should include at least 3 items of the below:

Brief narrative context that explains why this story was chosen, how it aligns with your mission, and what action or emotion you intended to evoke.
How you enter the voice and dignity of individuals featured
Evidence that this story drove increased giving, retention, or engagement, or moved donors to action
How sharing this story reflected the key elements of Responsive Fundraising: Listen, Connect, Suggest, Learn
What narrative techniques were used (e.g., first person POV, arc of conflict-resolution, visual metaphors)
How this story was used across multiple touchpoints

Rising Star award

Spotlights a young nonprofit leader showing exceptional growth and potential in responsiveness, innovation, or donor engagement.
Eligibility: Open to all nonprofit leaders under the age of 35.

Submission should include at least 3 items of the below:

Description of your leadership journey
At least one example of how you’ve improved donor engagement, launched a new giving program, or scaled personalization
How you lead with Responsive Fundraising
What your vision of the future of generosity looks like and how you hope to shape it
Thought leadership you provide that elevates the sector
How you led digital transformation, cross-functional collaboration, or storytelling that inspired giving

Lifetime Impact award

Recognizes a nonprofit leader with a long-standing commitment to advancing generosity and responsive fundraising.
Eligibility: Open to all nonprofit leaders.

Submission should include at least 3 items of the below:

Description of your leadership journey
At least one example of how you’ve improved donor engagement, launched a new giving program, or scaled personalization
How you lead with Responsive Fundraising
Your most significant contributions to advancing generosity, equity, or impact in the nonprofit space
Long-term legacy you’ve created, like mentoring emerging leaders, building responsive teams, leading sector alliances, roundtables, or education efforts, or creating replicable models that have been adopted widely
3 highlights from your career like capital campaigns completed, donor base or revenue growth over time, thought leadership moments, or major system or strategy shifts successfully implemented

Virtuous-selected awards (Virtuous customers only)

In addition to the Open Application award categories, Virtuous will recognize eight additional winners based on platform data:

Responsive Nonprofit of the Year

Honors a Virtuous customer achieving exceptional donor growth, retention, and responsiveness across every aspect of their fundraising.

Responsive Fundraiser of the Year

Celebrates an individual fundraiser using data and technology to inspire greater generosity and deepen donor relationships.

Automation Excellence Award

Recognizes the customer achieving outstanding impact through innovative, automated, and responsive workflows in Virtuous.

Data-Driven Impact Award

Honors the nonprofit leveraging Virtuous data and BI tools to make smarter, more mission-driven decisions.

Giving Experience Award

Recognizes the customer delivering exceptional online giving results — optimizing donation form performance, conversion rates, and donor satisfaction through Virtuous tools.

Virtuous Innovator Award

Recognizes the customer who submitted the most valuable feedback and product ideas—helping shape the future of Virtuous through their collaboration and innovation.

AI-Powered Donor Engagement Award

Honors a customer using AI-powered tools (like smart outreach, predictive recommendations, or donor plan automation) to strengthen donor relationships and scale personalized connections.

Volunteer Engagement Award

Recognizes the customer organization achieving outstanding volunteer participation and engagement, measured by total hours served or year-over-year growth.

Why Apply?

Submit Your Nomination

Are you ready to be celebrated for your innovation, strategy, and impact? Winners will also receive a $500 donation to their organization!

Please select an award category to nominate your organization (you may apply for more than one category). Submit your entry by March 31, 2026.

Campaign Innovation Award

Donor Journey Excellence Award

Emerging Nonprofit Award

Innovation in AI Award

Outstanding Storytelling Award

Rising Star Award

Lifetime Impact Award

2025 Responsive Award winners

Discover how nonprofits are transforming generosity with responsive fundraising.

2025 Award Winners

Frequently Asked Questions

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants are open to any nonprofit fundraiser (you do not need to be a Virtuous customer).
Work submitted must have execution dates anytime in the calendar year of 2025.

Submission Deadline

Submissions close March 31, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET

Please select an award category to nominate your organization (you may apply for more than one category). For each selected category, please submit the following:

A 2-minute or less video describing your work. Video should not be professionally ‘produced’, but please provide a well-lit video of you speaking about your submitted work, and screenshots where applicable. Audio needs to be clearly heard as well.
A short written summary (200–300 words) that includes:
- An overview of the project or initiative you’re submitting.
- The results or outcomes you’ve seen so far.
- Why this work matters to your mission and donor community.

Grow generosity with Virtuous

Virtuous is the responsive fundraising software platform proven to help nonprofit organizations increase generosity by serving all donors personally, no matter their gift size.

“Virtuous truly understands nonprofits and the importance of our mission. And their open access to data and built-in custom reports gave us access to the data we need.”

Todd Shinabarger

Chief Information Officer