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ASAE & The Center Announce 2008 Better World Award Winners
May 13, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC—ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership are pleased to announce the winners of the 2008 Associations Make a Better World Awards.

Introduced in 2002, Associations Make a Better World Awards recognize associations that engage in compelling programs and activities that benefit communities in the United States and internationally in two categories: U.S./Developed Nations and Developing Nations.

The Associations Make a Better World Awards recognize outstanding association programs, projects and activities that make a significant contribution to societies and economies around the world. These awards are presented annually to recognize associations making an impact outside the United States.

Representatives from each of the overall award-winning associations will receive their award at ASAE & The Center’s 2008 Annual Meeting & Exposition, August 16-19 in San Diego, CA.

“We are proud to recognize associations that share ASAE & The Center’s vision to make the world a better place,” said ASAE President and CEO John H. Graham IV, CAE. “This is an outstanding group of associations that strive to improve the health of our communities, both in the United States as well as abroad. These associations prove that our greater association community can be successful in answering the challenges we face on a local, regional and global scale.”

The Associations Make a Better World Awards are supported by The Canadian Tourism Commission, Travel Alberta, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Tourisme Montreal and Tourism Toronto, ASAE & The Center’s Strategic Partners.

U.S. Association/ Developed Nation Category

Overall winner
American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society
Rosemont, IL
Program: AOFAS Overseas Outreach Project to Vietnam
 
AOFAS members work in clinics and operating rooms in Vietnam. AOFAS doctors work side by side with their Vietnamese counterparts, who once served as military surgeons on opposite sides during the war, sharing knowledge and building relationships. Since the project began in 2001, more than 350 Vietnamese patients, mostly children with disabilities, have received surgery and medical care free of charge.

Overall winner
RTA Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection
Los Angeles, California
Program: RTA “Restricted To Adults” Web site Label

The Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP) is a non-profit organization that works with the adult entertainment industry to ensure the content they create is by adults and for adults only. RTA is a unique string of “meta data” that can easily be inserted into the computer code of any website. Internationally, RTA has been adopted by companies in Canada, Australia, Spain, United Kingdom and the Netherlands and by U.S. companies with offices in more than 45 countries.

Honorable Mention
Jhpiego
Baltimore, Maryland
Program: Human Capacity Development – Midwifery

Developing Nation Category

Overall Winner
Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia & the Pacific
Manila, Philippines
Program: DFIs for Corporate Governance

ADFIAP’s program is the association's response to the growing need of development finance institutions for the implementation of good corporate governance policies and practices in Asia and the Pacific region. The program resulted in nearly all member banks developing board-approved corporate governance codes and appointing a corporate governance officer.

Honorable Mention
Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia & the Pacific
Manila, Philippines
Program: Environmental Governance Standards

Honorable Mention
Bali International Women's Association
Bali, Indonesia
Program: Various, including social welfare, HIV/AIDS and environmental awareness 

For more information about the Associations Make a Better World awards program, visit www.asaecenter.org/betterworld.

MEDIA CONTACT: Jakub M. Konysz, 202-626-2831, jkonysz@asaecenter.org  

About ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership
ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership are two organizations linked together by a common belief and passion. We believe that associations have the power to transform society for the better. Our passion is to help associations and association professionals achieve previously unimaginable levels of performance and reach even higher goals. We accomplish this by fostering a learning community of association professionals, industry partners, outside thought leaders, and other stakeholders who embrace this vision.

The American Society of Association Executives is an individual membership organization of more than 22,000 association executives and industry partners representing more than 11,000 organizations. Its members manage leading trade associations, individual membership societies, and voluntary organizations across the United States and in 50 countries around the globe. Our members’ organizations represent such essential industries and professions as health care, manufacturing, banking, law, energy, insurance, and the list goes on. We are also a leading voice for the nonprofit sector, advocating for voluntary organizations so that they may continue to improve the quality of life in the United States.

The Center for Association Leadership is the premier provider of learning, knowledge, and future-oriented research for the association profession. The Center delivers innovative learning experiences, performance-enhancing resources, new thinking and models for the profession, opportunities for peer-to-peer collaboration, and strategic tools and data designed to advance the association profession. Offerings include nearly 100 professional development programs through Center University, environmental scanning and other future focused research, a peer –reviewed journal, and more than 5,000 online articles, models, and case studies. Together, ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership provide resources, education, ideas and advocacy to enhance the power and performance of the association community.

ASAE Services Inc.—ASAE’s wholly owned subsidiary—is the association community’s trusted source of business products and services. ASAE Services creates strategic alliances with companies to design and deliver these top-quality products and services in four areas: ASAE-endorsed programs; CareerHQ.org—ASAE’s online gateway to the most jobs in the association industry; the ASAE Insurance Company—a captive-management facility; and insurance consulting services.