Dr. Hodgkinson has been very active in both education and philanthropy. This award stands tribute to Dr. Hodgkinson's many achievements and celebrates the ideals her work embodies. For years she has advocated joint dialogue between practitioners and scholars, and she has encouraged many young researchers to focus their studies on issues that shape the nonprofit sector.

As vice president for research at Independent Sector from 1983 to 1996, Dr. Hodgkinson inaugurated two groundbreaking studies, Giving and Volunteering in the United States and the Nonprofit Almanac: Dimensions of the Independent Sector. While at IS, she was also executive director of the National Center for Charitable Statistics. Prior to joining Independent Sector she was the executive director of the National Institute of Independent Colleges and Universities.

A distinguished scholar, Dr. Hodgkinson has been awarded several honors for her social and intellectual achievements. These include doctorates of Humane Letters from the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy and Hartwick College, and, in 1996, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action.  She was named in the World Who's Who in Women (12th Edition), and Who's Who in the World (1995 - 1996).

Dr. Hodgkinson is currently research professor of public policy and former director of the Center for the Study of Voluntary Organizations and Service at the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute.