French Banking Giant Honours Outstanding Philanthropists

Tom Burroughes

11 October 2013

French banking group honoured two leading philanthropists and their organisations at a gala awards ceremony in Paris last night, putting a spotlight on the work this French banking giant says it is doing to help guide clients in the philanthropy area.

In its sixth year, the Paris-listed bank’s wealth management arm, the world’s seventh-biggest private bank by assets (€272 billion) recognised what a panel of judges regard as outstanding achievement. (To view an entirely separate story about high-level Asia appointments at the bank announced today, click here.)

"Our commitment as members of the jury is to identify and honour philanthropists who are identifying and working in ways to change the world for the better," Suzanne Berger, president of the jury and Dorman-Starbuck professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told attendees at the presentation in BNP's Paris offices.

Winner of the 2013 “Grand Prix” award was Shiv Nadar, the founder and driving force behind the Shiv Nadar Foundation, while the 2013 Jury’s Special Prize was awarded to Charles Slaughter, founder and president of Living Goods.

The winners were chosen by an independent jury made up of major figures from business and charitable organisations, along with experts from the arts, humanitarian and public sectors. The jury is chaired by Suzanne Berger, who is professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. In studying the profiles of all the nominees, the jury made their decisions based on various criteria, such as the social impact of their philanthropic initiatives, the philanthropists' personal and financial investment, and the professionalism, viability and transparency of the projects, BNP Paribas said in a statement.

Describing both award winners, the bank said that Shiv Nadar set up his eponymous Shiv Nadar Foundation in 1994, creating institutions such as a highly rated engineering college; the organisation drives education programmes through which more than 13,000 students have been affected over the past 17 years.

In the case of Slaughter, the California-based entrepreneur started his Living Goods organisation in 2007, an organisation that “empowers micro entrepreneurs to deliver life-changing products to the doorsteps of people in need”, BNP Paribas said.

Besides Berger, judges on the BNP Paribas Awards for Individual Philanthropy were:

Yann Arthus-Bertrand, photographer and Chairman of the Good Planet Foundation; Bernard Faivre d’Arcier, president of the Lyon Biennial Contemporary Arts festival and of the Metz en scène concert organisation; Michael Golden, vice-president of the New York Times Company; Lorenz von Habsburg, banker and board director of several listed companies; Leena Labroo, entrepreneur and director of the Mahindra & Mahindra Educational Trust; Maria Nowak, founder and president of the Association pour le droit à l'initiative économique; Louis Schweitzer, former Chairman and CEO of Renault Automobile Group, former chair of the Haute Autorité de Lutte contre les Discriminations et pour l'Égalité; Amartya Sen, Professor of Economics and Philosophy at the University of Harvard, winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Economics.

In addition, the 2012 winners of the BNP Paribas Awards for Individual Philanthropy were invited to sit on the jury for the 2013 Awards:

Vivianne Senna da Silva Lalli, founder and president of the Instituto Ayrton Senna in Brazil (Grand Prix winner 2012), and Michael de Giorgio, co-founder of the Greenhouse Charity (Jury’s Special Prize winner 2012).

The Grand Prix honours an individual or family for their overall philanthropic activity, recognising the exemplary ethical nature of their actions as well as impact and their long-term commitment. BNP Paribas publishes a book on behalf the winner as a means of highlighting their dedicated initiatives and the book on this year’s winner will be added to the catalogue of publications promoting past winners. .

The Jury's Special Prize recognises a committed philanthropist who has initiated an original project and has been working on the ground to implement it. The project must have been running for at least three years but still be in its development phase or at a critical stage. The Special Prize confers €50,000 (around $80,000) for the furtherance of the philanthropist’s project.