The following is the selection process for The Purpose Prize^TM. The multi-stage process is designed to objectively evaluate all candidates fairly. At every stage, individuals reviewing nominees are required to disclose any relationship with the candidates.

Reviewers, staff, judges or Board members whose relationship to any candidate appears to pose a possible conflict of interest must recuse themselves from scoring or voting on the candidate.
 
A summary of our seven-step process includes:

1. Nominations and self-nominations for The Purpose Prize are accepted through the annual deadline (March 1, 2008 for the 2008 Prize). To get an idea of the information required to complete a nomination, peruse the 2008 Purpose Prize Application Form [PDF] (Note: The 2008 nomination period is over; view this form only for informational purposes, however it will be very similar for The 2009 Purpose Prize. Please sign up for the E-Newsletter to recieve important updates and news about about the Purpose Prize.)
2. An internal team of Civic Ventures staff reviews and evaluates all nominations received by the deadline and identifies those candidates who most closely met the criteria for The Purpose Prize. Based on a predetermined rating system, 50-70 semifinalists are selected and asked to provide additional information to Civic Ventures.
3. Three members of a larger independent review panel of recognized leaders in social entrepreneurship, nonprofit leadership or grant-making are assigned to score each of the semi-finalists.
4. An independent national selection panel of recognized leaders in social innovation selects 15 of the top-scoring candidates to become finalists for The Purpose Prize. All 15 finalists will become Purpose Prize winners, receiving either $100,000 prizes or $10,000 prizes.
5. The Prize jury uses a confidential, rank-ordered system to vote for their top choice for the five $100,000 winners and two alternates.
6. Votes are returned to Civic Ventures, tabulated and delivered to the Chair of the Panel of Judges to resolves ties or conflicts. The Chair presents the recommended slate of $100,000 and $10,000 winners to the Board of Civic Ventures.
7. The Civic Ventures Board of Directors approves the slate recommended by the judges and retains the right to substitute one or more of the alternates.

Winners and a larger group of Purpose Prize candidates, The Purpose Prize Fellows, will be invited to participate in a face-to-face meeting of a new network of social innovators, the Purpose Prize Innovation Summit. The Summit combines group-directed discussions on issues of importance to the Fellows with skill-building sessions; opportunities to meet grantmakers; panels and interviews with celebrities from politics, entertainment, and academia; and cultural performances.

In addition to cash prizes, all fifteen finalists will receive substantive assistance in developing their personal and organizational capacity to move their work to the next level.