Since 2016, ACCP has celebrated corporate social impact professionals serving as beacons of excellence in their field. The Purpose Awards are the first awards program to recognize individuals helping to catalyze change within their companies.
Five ways to be recognized
Three awards honor individual professionals, and two celebrate the collaboration and innovation of teams. Open to corporate social impact professionals at companies with $300M+ in annual revenue.
The Class of 2026
Meet all 33 winners since 2016
How it works
From nomination to recognition, here’s what to expect.
Still have a question?
purposeawards@accp.org
The ACCP Purpose Awards aim to celebrate corporate social impact professionals serving as beacons of excellence in their field. ACCP’s Purpose Awards were the first awards program to recognize individuals helping to catalyze change within their companies.
To that end, we encourage corporate social impact professionals to highlight their peers or themselves as leaders and be recognized for their accomplishments.
No, there is no charge to submit a Purpose Award nomination.
Yes, you are welcome to nominate yourself.
No, corporate social impact professionals from both member and prospective member companies may apply.
No, you may submit as many different nominations as you’d like. However, we will only review one nomination per person per category.
We will review internally to determine which category is the best fit for that submission.
Visit our website for more information about our five categories – Champion for Change, Trailblazer, CSR Teams (4 or more CSR team members), Rising Star, and new this year CSR Small Teams (3 or fewer CSR team members).
Champion for Change is a C-suite executive (e.g., CEO, CFO, CMO) from a major corporation ($300M annual revenue and above) who advocates for the company’s ESG and corporate social impact work. This person does not lead corporate social impact for the company, but it can fall within their scope of responsibility.
In contrast, Trailblazer leads the company’s corporate social impact efforts.
If the person/team is a corporate social impact professional(s) from a company with over $300M in revenue, they are eligible.
Yes, nonprofits are welcome to nominate their corporate social impact partners for recognition.
- We encourage you to work directly with the nominee in completing the application, as they will have the greatest insights into relevant data and details to include, to create the most comprehensive application.
- Review the nomination form in advance and have the information and stats you need to complete the form at hand.
- Emphasize the strategies, goals, and tactics used by the nominee to achieve their success. Cite metrics including growth percentage, number of people reached by their efforts, etc. The more details on specific actions taken, challenges addressed and specific outcomes or measurable results you can provide the better.
- Submit any additional documentation or links to purposeawards@accp.org.
Nominations are reviewed internally by qualified ACCP staff, and then a committee of social impact professionals will judge the finalists in each category.
Please visit our website to learn more about previous Purpose Award winners.
All submissions must be received by 8pm ET on June 5, 2026 for consideration.
Final selections will be made and nominators will be notified of their nominee’s status mid- to late July.
We will officially announce the 2026 Purpose Award recipients at our ACCP Annual Conference in September.
Recipients are encouraged to attend the Annual Conference in Boston to receive their award in person.