FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact:
Jason Sanders
Tides Foundation
415.561.6400
[email][email protected]

TIDES FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES FIRST-EVER
MAJOR ANNUAL PRIZE FOR PUBLIC INTEREST COMPUTING
The Antonio Pizzigati Prize, starting this summer, will award $10,000 to a software developer whose work reflects open source values — and helps nonprofits succeed

San Francisco, CA — April 13, 2005 — The unsung heroes of public interest computing may soon receive much more of the recognition they deserve, thanks to a new annual competition launched by the Florence and Frances Family Fund, a donor-advised fund at Tides Foundation.

The new Antonio Pizzigati Prize for Software in the Public Interest will honor individuals who, in the spirit of open source computing, develop outstanding applications that help nonprofits become more effective in their ongoing efforts for social change.

”Within the world of public interest computing, no significant prize has up to now existed,” said Tides Foundation Director of Philanthropic Services Tod Hill. “The Pizzigati Prize aims to honor people working in the field and help create real solutions for activists working for positive social change.”

Applications for the first Pizzigati Prize competition must be submitted to Tides Foundation by May 4, 2006. The inaugural winner will be named in June 2006 and receive a $10,000 cash award.

Judging the applications will be three widely respected leaders in public interest computing:
§ Activist, philanthropist, and writer Allison Fine currently works from the Hudson Valley community of Irvington, New York. She is the founder of Innovation Network, Inc., a national project that has been providing consulting, training, and Web-based tools for nonprofits and funders since 1992. In 2004-2005, she served, as the CEO of the E-Volve Foundation. Her new book, Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age (Wiley & Sons, September, 2006), explores the intersection of passionate activism and the digital age.

§ Joseph Mouzon recently initiated and completed the merger of Network for Good and Groundspring to form the largest nonprofit technology service provider in the United States, a “TSP” that’s helping over 6,000 nonprofits generate $42 million in online donations. He is currently serving as the executive director of nonprofit services for this newly merged organization and oversees all sales, service, business development, strategic planning, and financial management activities.

§ Katrin Verclas is the managing director of the Innovation Funder Network, an affinity group of funders exploring the use of information and communications technology for social change. She also runs the Secretariat of MobileActive (www.mobileactive.org), a global community of activists and nonprofits using mobile phones in civic engagement and advocacy.

The Pizzigati Prize honors the brief life of Tony Pizzigati, an early advocate of open source computing. Born in 1971, Pizzigati spent his college years at MIT, where he worked at the world-famous MIT Media Lab and later the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science. Pizzigati moved to California in 1994, to work as a software consultant, and died the following spring in an auto accident on his way into Silicon Valley.

More information about the Pizzigati Prize, including the judging criteria, timeline and the online application form, can be found at the prize Web site: www.pizzigatiprize.org

Questions about this initiative can be directed, through this Web site, to the prize administrator, Jason Sanders, Philanthropic Advisor at Tides Foundation.

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