Last night Bread for the City scored an Honorable Mention prize for the 2012 Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Management. As one of five finalists — alongside Byte Back, Community of Hope, Imagination Stage and Young Playwrights Theater — it was our distinct honor to share the same stage and be recognized as one of the best managed nonprofit organizations in the DC area.

And it is our pleasure to warmly congratulate Community of Hope for winning this year’s award. You and the other finalists do exemplary work in the community. We are truly humbled to be named in your ranks.

This Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Management is designed to award management competence, recognize innovation, and promote sustainable best practices that lead to excellence in nonprofit management. To be named a finalist, for us, means that it recognizes our efforts behind-the-scenes to make Bread for the City truly a special place — for clients, donors, staff, and the community.

Being a finalist also recognizes the creativity, ingenuity and stability of our management team. Without their guidance, there’s no way we could have expanded our Northwest Center, improved our focus on nutrition, developed exciting urban agriculture projects, and addressed more client needs in terms of housing, dental care and job readiness training — all while continuing to provide our core services: food, clothing, medical care, legal assistance and social services.

It’s wonderful to get this kind of peer validation for our guidance of the organization and our efforts to better serve our clients, our staff and the community as a whole, says Bread for the City’s CEO George A. Jones.

We would like to give a special thank you to the Center for Nonprofit Advancement and The Washington Post for making this event happen each year.

Of course, our work is far from over. Keep an eye out shortly for more information about our new three-year strategic plan. We have lots of big ideas in the works and can’t wait to share them with you!