The Council on Foundations in Washington, D.C., has announced the recipients of its 2005 Distinguished Grantmaker, Robert W. Scrivner, and Paul Ylvisaker awards.

Rien van Gendt, executive director of the Van Leer Group Foundation and former executive director of the Bernard van Leer Foundation, both headquartered in the Hague, was named the recipient of the 2005 Distinguished Grantmakers Award, which recognizes lifetime achievement in philanthropy. As the first chairman of the international committee of the European Foundation Centre, chairman of the council's international committee and co-chair of its Disaster Response Initiative, and a board member for several foundations, van Gendt has spent much of his career working to strengthen understanding and cooperation between U.S. and European foundations.

"Rien van Gendt has demonstrated a lifelong commitment and vision in addressing the importance of being a participant in the global arena, and he is truly a global citizen," said COF president and CEO Dorothy S. Ridings. "His contributions are a source of inspiration to others in the field and are well deserving of this year's Distinguished Grantmaker Award."

Nancy Latimer, senior program officer in the children and families program of the Minneapolis-based McKnight Foundation, was named the recipient of the 2005 Robert W. Scrivner Award for Creative Grantmaking, which honors grantmakers who possess a combination of vision, principle, and personal commitment to making a difference in a creative way through grantmaking. Through Latimer's "alternative response" program for addressing child abuse and neglect in Minnesota, families that were considered at risk for abuse but did not meet the criteria for child protection involvement were offered a range of community supports on a voluntary basis. The program, which was launched as a McKnight-funded pilot, was eventually incorporated into state legislation and is now available in every county in the state.

"The McKnight Foundation's 'Alternative Response' program is a remarkable success," said Ridings. "It demonstrates Nancy Latimer's dedication to children's welfare and to the inspired use of grantmaking to solve social wrongs."

The 2005 Paul Ylvisaker Award for Public Policy Engagement, which honors a foundation that demonstrates excellence in affecting public policy by using creative and effective strategies, was awarded to the Toronto-based Maytree Foundation for its efforts to reform immigration policy in Canada. As a result of the foundation's initiatives and a public-awareness campaign it sponsored, legislation was enacted in Canada to allow refugees who had not yet received permanent resident status to apply for and receive student loans for post-secondary education. Maytree's leadership, advocacy, and coalition-building also resulted in the creation of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council, a broad-based regional public-private council that works to enable full workforce participation by skilled immigrants.