Dolly Parton among Carnegie Medal winners for Philanthropy

Country superstar Dolly Parton, who has made a significant donation to fund coronavirus vaccine research in 2020, is among this year’s Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy recipients.

Also honored were Dallas businesswoman Lida Hill, Kenyan industrialist Manu Chandaria and Lynn and Stacey Shusterman, a family of Oklahoma investors.

The award, presented by the international family of Carnegie Institutions to honor innovative philanthropists, debuted in 2001 and is generally presented every two years. It did not air in 2021 due to the pandemic.

The 2022 honorees will receive their medals in a private ceremony on October 13 in New York. The ceremony’s priority is to facilitate face-to-face meetings to foster the exchange of ideas and foster potential collaborations, something this year’s honorees have already done, said Eric Isaacs. President of the Carnegie Institution of Science and member of the Medal Selection Committee.

Parton’s $1 million donation to Vanderbilt University Medical Center drew a lot of attention. But her compatriot Hill, through her philanthropies Lyda Hill, was also an early donor to the work that developed Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.

“I invested before anything else,” Hill told the Associated Press. “One of the things Warren Buffett said that stuck with me was, ‘Don’t do what other people can and will do.’ Do what other people can’t and won’t. And risk. I had to apply this to my charitable investments. “

Hill, who focuses her funding on advancing science and conservation as well as supporting women in those careers, said Moderna never beat her.

“Unfortunately,” Hill said, “when I went to get vaccinated, I raised my hands and said, ‘What do you have?’ And he said, “Pfizer.” I said, “Okay.”

Parton said in a statement that she was honored to receive the Carnegie Medal for Philanthropy.

“I’ve always believed that if you can help, you should, and I really hope I can be an inspiration to others to create those around you,” said Parton, who will be inducted into The Rock. and Rolle into the Hall of Fame in November and makes the majority of its donations through its Dollywood Foundation. “Whether it’s through my Imagination Library or for COVID-19 research, I’m trying to support something that is really important to me. I hope everyone finds something they are passionate about that can help make this world a better place.”

Given the intense need created by COVID-19, the pandemic was paramount before the selection committee made its decisions, Isaacs said.

“It’s obviously a very difficult time with the pandemic,” he said. “But we think environmental issues are likely just as, if not more so, in the sense that pandemics like COVID-19 are likely to become more frequent as the atmosphere warms. I think we have a long-term view in terms of our selection. “

The Shustermans profile philanthropists whose donations have had a big impact, as well as making timely donations to meet current needs.

The Charles and Lynn Shusterman Family Foundation was created in 1987 to invest in systemic change for justice and equality in the United States and Israel. When Charles died in 2000, Lynn Shusterman took over the foundation, expanding her work and becoming an open advocate for inclusion, especially for the LGBTQ community. In 2018, her daughter Stacey Shusterman took over the foundation, which changed its name last year to Shusterman Family Philanthropy and now also includes work on reproductive equality, voting rights and criminal justice issues, all hot topics this summer.

“I hope work like this inspires others to give more now,” Stacey Shusterman told the AP. “It is important that people donate a significant percentage of their family assets. And I think the partnership that can exist between philanthropy and the communities that we’re trying to help is vital. The government cannot solve all problems.”

She said she is excited about what her parents are doing and that she is celebrating with her mother.

“I am very excited that we are being honored together,” he said. “It’s fun to see it happen as a mother-daughter team.”

The Chandaria Foundation started out as a family business in the 1950s, but it took some convincing from the Indian-born Kenyan industrialist before he could get started.

When he first brought it up, Chandaria remembers asking his father if something was wrong and if he had lived in the United States for a long time. “We are not the Rockefellers,” Chandaria’s father told him. You better get to work. There’s a big hole there.”

But in 1956, they established a charity offering scholarships in Kenya, and decades later their work expanded to build education and health infrastructure in Africa.

“It’s a basic tenet of Gandhi’s philosophy: if you have wealth, you don’t own the wealth,” said Chandaria, who also attributes his generosity to being a follower of the Indian religion of Jainism. “You really have to go out there and help others who can’t help themselves.”

Isaacs said the Carnegie Medal for Philanthropy is intended to recognize the work of honorees in their various fields and locations. This year, Carnegie Institutions will also launch the Carnegie Catalyst Award for “Celebrating the Transformative Power of Human Kindness”, presented to World Central Kitchen, a non-profit founded by chef José Andrés.

The award was inspired by the late Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York and co-founder of the Carnegie Medal for Philanthropy, who passed away in 2021.

“The World Central Kitchen is an excellent model of how humanity can respond in times of dire need by activating the innate goodness of others, an ideal realized through the life and work of Vartan Grigorian,” said Thomas H. Keane, president of Carnegie Corporation. The New York Board of Trustees and the former governor of New Jersey said in a statement.