ECBOR Good Neighbor Program

Anyone can nominate a Good Neighbor—common examples include the nominee’s broker, a colleague, a spouse, or a representative from the non-profit or a ECBOR Board member. Many candidates nominate themselves. The nominee, however, must be a REALTOR® or Affiliate who holds primary membership with ECBOR and is currently a member in good standing. Affiliate members must hold primary membership with ECBOR.

Yes, in fact, you are encouraged to do so since you are uniquely qualified to share the details of your experience and volunteer work. If you do nominate yourself, you are encouraged to provide testimonial letters from people who are familiar with your volunteer work and from the organization where you volunteer.

Many groups do great volunteer work, but this award is specifically designed to recognize individual efforts. The only exception would be if two members; husband & wife or mother & daughter—work together equally on a project and cannot be separated.  In that case, they can be nominated together, assuming both are REALTORS® or Affiliates… Keep in mind,  the Selection Panel will be comparing this nomination with individual nominees. Generally, it is best to nominate one person.

For this award;  including multiple organizations on one nomination form would not work. Members are welcome to submit more than one nomination form for each organization where you volunteer your time.

The essay and the testimonial letters are often the most valuable parts of the nomination form.  The Tips below are intended to help with completing a nomination form:

1. Be specific! For example, give a close estimate of the number of hours volunteered, the number of people the nominee has helped, the number of dollars raised, etc. Vague words like “countless” “incalculable” or even “thousands” will not help the judges.
2. Don’t rely on adjectives. Superlatives like “kindest”, “most dedicated”, “most generous”—though certainly true—don’t help the judges evaluate a nominee’s achievements.  Instead, describe something the nominee did that illustrates how kind or dedicated he or she is.
3. Don’t be modest. If you are uncomfortable talking about your achievements, have someone else write the essay portion for you and/or provide detailed testimonials. Testimonials from someone you’ve helped are particularly valuable.
4. The best way to illustrate the impact you made is to describe the results. What happened as a result of your volunteer work? How is the community, or the people you helped, better off because you were there? What did you do for the nonprofit that was different, new, or better than what existed before?
5. Focus on your accomplishments, not the organization’s in general. The judges need to evaluate the impact the nominee made. Don’t only emphasize how much good the organization has done; instead, focus on what the nominee has done for the organization.
6. Leadership is part of the judging criteria. What did you do to lead others or set an example? Did you create a new program? Motivate more people to volunteer? Find a new way to raise money? Persuade your nonprofit to do something new or different that turned out well?

Testimonial letters should be from people who have knowledge about your volunteer work. The most effective letters are usually from someone you (or your nonprofit) helped, even if they do not know you personally. Other examples of people who could submit letters can include fellow volunteers, someone from the non-profit (or partner non-profits), friends and family, members of the community, or community leaders.

The Winners (1 Realtor and 1 Affiliate) will be selected in June and will be notified in July. The announcement date has not yet been determined. The REALTOR® Winner will be submitted as a nominee to the IAR GNA program once it opens.

The winner’s non-profit will receive a check for $1,500. ECBOR will set a date and time to recognize the winning organizations in the near future. The winners will be notified soon after the Selection Committee chooses the winners. Winners will be recognized through social media and other online publications. ECBOR will pay travel expenses to the IAR Conference if the ECBOR REALTOR® Winner is chosen by IAR.

Nominations must be submitted through ECBOR.com.