Donor Alliance honored for best practices in Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award categories

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross recognized Donor Alliance, the federally designated not-for-profit organization that facilitates organ and tissue donation in Colorado and most of Wyoming, for best practices within the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award categories of Measurement, Analysis and Knowledge Management (category 4) and Operations (category 6).

Donor Alliance’s 2017 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award application resulted in recognition in the areas of knowledge and process management.

Today’s announcement of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award winners included acknowledgement for best practices in the Baldrige Criteria categories by organizations that are candidates for the award but were not selected as winners.

“This is a culmination of seven years of concentrated effort to improve our organization’s overall effectiveness in maximizing donation and transplantation. We are thrilled with the recognition and plan to continue striving for operational and organizational success, which is crucial to the lifesaving work we do,” said Sue Dunn, president and CEO of Donor Alliance. “We are mission-driven, and our employees and relationships with partners are at the center of all our interactions, helping us to achieve this great accomplishment.”

The 2017 Baldrige Awards will be presented at an April 2018 ceremony during the Baldrige Program’s 30th annual Quest for Excellence® conference, which will be held in Baltimore, MD.

The Baldrige Program raises awareness about the importance of performance excellence in driving the U.S. and global economies; provides organizational assessments, training, tools and criteria; educates leaders in businesses, schools, health care organizations and government and nonprofit organizations; shares the best practices of national role models; and recognizes those role models with the Baldrige Award. The Baldrige Program is a public-private partnership managed by NIST and funded in part through user fees, with some support from the Baldrige Foundation.

The Baldrige Award was established by Congress in 1987 and is not given for specific products or services. Since the first group was recognized in 1988, 118 awards have been presented to 110 organizations (including eight repeat winners).