Volunteers are the Foundation of Hospice Awards

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The Volunteers are the Foundation of Hospice Awards recognize hospice volunteers who best reflect the universal concept of volunteerism in its truest sense – serving as inspiration to others. Recipients of these awards have demonstrated considerable commitment in terms of time, amount of responsibility assumed, and longevity; have made a notable impact by significantly strengthening a hospice program or the lives of patients/families served; and have undergone substantial personal growth as hospice volunteers.

The call for volunteer nominees for the 2024 Volunteers Are The Foundation Of Hospice Awards are now open from March 20 to April 30, 2024.

Please go here to nominate your star volunteer nominee(s)
(An active NHPCO Member log-in is required)

The awards will be presented during NHPCO’s 2024 Annual Leadership Conference, September 16 – 18, 2024 at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel in Denver, CO. It is hoped that the honorees will be able to accept the award in person. We will begin notifying award winners in late July. We will begin notifying award winners in late July.

Furst Group and NuBrick Partners are proud to sponsor the Volunteers are the Foundation of Hospice Awards with NHPCO and the MyNHPCO Awards Committee.

The awards are given annually in five categories:

- - Patient/Family Service, for volunteers working directly with patients, their families, and loved ones. Note:  We understand this has been a unique year.  Be creative!
  - Organizational Support, for volunteers whose work supports the organization as a whole; may include fundraising, board service, outreach and/or administrative support. Note: while we realize these organizational support volunteers may also be serving in patient support roles, this award focuses on non-patient support related contributions.
  - Specialized Volunteer Service, for volunteers who have supported hospice and palliative care patients and families primarily through a specialized volunteer program (or combination of programs) such as professional roles, pediatric care, pet therapy, bereavement support, spiritual support, massage and other complementary therapies, etc. NOTE:  There is a new, separate category for We Honor Veterans Program Volunteers
  - Young Leader, for high school and college students whose volunteer contributions have made a significant impact on the hospice and palliative care organization. Nominees for this category must be between the ages of 14 and 22. Because this category is for volunteers who may be with the hospice for a limited amount of time, the criteria for longevity of service is taken into consideration.
  - We Honor Veterans Volunteer Service, for volunteers serving their organization primarily in the We Honor Veterans Program. The Nominee’s organization must be at least a Level 1 We Honor Veterans partner and the nominee must be a Veteran of or currently enlisted in a branch of the US Military.

The MyNHPCO Awards Committee reviews the nominations and selects the honorees.

Please read about our past awardees:

2023 Volunteer Honorees
2022 Volunteer Honorees
2021 Volunteer Honorees

Evaluation Criteria

Nominees are evaluated on the following criteria:

- - Commitment of time, responsibility assumed and longevity of service.
  - Impact the volunteer has had on patients and families or the hospice and/or palliative care organization.
  - Personal growth the volunteer has realized through his/her service.
  - How the volunteer has served as an inspiration to fellow volunteers, the hospice and/or palliative care organization and his/her community.

Please note, the volunteer awards are generally intended to honor the outstanding efforts of an individual volunteer as opposed to a group.

NHPCO MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENT: The nominator must be an employee of a NHPCO member hospice and/or palliative care program in good standing and volunteer nominee must be a volunteer at that same member hospice and/or palliative care organization as the nominator. To nominate, your organization must be an active current NHPCO member now and for your nominee to be awarded your organization must be renewed for 2024. To access the forms to submit a nominee, the nominator must log-in with their email and password. If you have questions about your organization’s member status or log-in for member access, please contact  solutions@nhpco.org.

WE HONOR VETERANS VOLUNTEER SERVICE MILITARY SERVICE AND WHV LEVEL ONE STATUS REQUIREMENT: Nominees to the We Honor Veterans Volunteer Service category must be a Veteran of or currently enlisted in a branch of the US Military AND the nominee’s organization must be at least a Level 1 We Honor Veterans (WHV) partner to participate. If you have a question about your organization’s WHV status, please contact solutions@nhpco.org.

If you have questions about the Volunteer Awards itself, please contact Donald Cook, dcook@nhpco.org.