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MDRT Foundation Wins ASAE Social Achievement Award

Park Ridge, Illinois (January 13, 2005) – The Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) Foundation received a 2004 Associations Make a Better World Award from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).

The award is part of ASAE’s Associations Make a Better World Campaign, which promotes the idea that associations can significantly contribute to societies and economies worldwide. In its third year, the Associations Make a Better World Awards recognize outstanding examples of association programs, projects and activities in three categories: economic achievement, social achievement and advocacy/policy achievement. The MDRT Foundation received the award in the social achievement category for the MDRT Foundation’s Seeds of Life Program.

"ASAE is proud to recognize the social, economic and advocacy contributions of associations like the Million Dollar Round Table Foundation working internationally," said ASAE president and CEO John H. Graham IV, CAE. "The profession of association management is expanding, as is the role associations play in many cultures. The winners of these Associations Make a Better World Awards promote the value of our profession worldwide and illustrate perfectly the role associations play in the betterment of society."

The MDRT Foundation’s Seeds of Life Grant Program was established in 2001 to enhance the efforts of young, start-up charities. Seeds of Life grants provide an opportunity for the MDRT Foundation to partner with other organizations and offer hands-on volunteer opportunities to MDRT members.

During the last four years, the MDRT Foundation’s Seeds of Life Program has provided playgrounds for children in Trinidad and Tobago, California and China through grants to Kids Around the World, a charity based in Rockford, Illinois. For each build, MDRT members traveled to the playground site and volunteered their time and physical effort to offer needy children a chance to laugh and play.

“The MDRT Foundation is honored to receive a 2004 Associations Make a Better World Award from the American Society of Association Executives,” said MDRT Foundation Executive Director Nick M. Falco, CFRE. “Through the Seeds of Life program, many MDRT members have donated their time, talent and resources to build playgrounds for children around the world, and it’s nice to know members’ efforts have not gone unnoticed.”

The American Society of Association Executives is an individual membership organization made up of more than 23,000 association executives and industry partners. Its members manage leading trade associations, individual membership societies and voluntary organizations across the United States and in 50 countries around the globe. It also represents suppliers of products and services to the association community.

The MDRT Foundation was created in 1959 to provide Round Table members with a means to give back to their communities. Since its inception, the Foundation has donated nearly $11 million to more than 1,500 worthy charities around the world. The majority of these funds were raised by MDRT members from MDRT members. Some of the organizations that have benefited from MDRT Foundation grants are: Make-A-Wish Foundation, Habitat for Humanity and the American Paralysis Association.

The MDRT Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Million Dollar Round Table, The Premier Association of Financial Professionals. Founded in 1927, MDRT is an international, independent association of more than 29,000, or the top 1 percent, of the world’s best life insurance and financial services professionals. With membership from 77 nations and territories, MDRT members demonstrate exceptional professional knowledge, strict ethical conduct and outstanding client service. MDRT membership is recognized internationally as the standard of sales excellence in the life insurance and financial services business.

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