September 16, 2008 10:00 ET

Superstar Foundation Opens Call for Nominations for the Best Social Service Professionals

$10,000 in Cash Grants to Be Awarded

BALTIMORE, MD--(Marketwire - September 16, 2008) - The Superstar Foundation, a new nonprofit organization aimed at attracting and retaining talent to the field of social services, announced today an open call for the first-ever grants awarded to the highest-performing social service professionals. The grants will be awarded across five categories to high-performing social service professionals who have demonstrated a substantial impact on social change. Each grant will be worth $2,000 and awarded on December 15, 2008.

The Superstar Foundation, launched in June by Steve Butz, founder and president of Social Solutions, is an effort to celebrate and invigorate social service professionals who are the best in their fields through public recognition and financial rewards. It is the first nonprofit organization to call attention to and respond to the need to better compensate individual, high-performing social service staff. Through the Veronica Grants, named in the spirit of Steve's mother, who was dedicated to the idea of helping others, the Foundation hopes to help the industry retain key talent.

Submissions will be judged in the following categories:

--  Youth development, including early childhood learning
--  After-school/out-of-school youth services
--  Adult men's services
--  Adult women's services
--  Family services
    

A panel of leaders from the nonprofit sector will judge all entries and grants will be awarded to individuals who can demonstrate that they have outperformed their peers. Statistics and information proving the workers' quality of service is required.

"We are excited to provide an opportunity where social service professionals are challenged to be the best and the brightest," said Steve Butz, Founder of the Superstar Foundation. "Our plans to grow the program to reward up to 20-30 superstars each year is crucial to providing the incentives that will keep these talented professionals in the sector, to continue to deliver the services that are vital to our communities."

The deadline for submission is October 31st. For more details and to download the application please visit: www.superstarfoundation.org.

About the Superstar Foundation™:

The Superstar Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to celebrating and rewarding top performing social service professionals. It was developed and launched in 2008 by Steve Butz, founder and president of Social Solutions. Committed to improving the social services industry, Steve's vision is to empower organizations to make sure they are making a difference and help them to retain top talent so that they can grow and further benefit the people they service.

The Superstar Foundation: Great Pay for Great Social Service Workers Doing Great Work

About Social Solutions and ETO Software®

Social Solutions challenges and equips social service providers and their funders to turn good intent into measurable change by relating efforts to outcomes. Social Solutions' industry leading performance management solution, ETO Software, is used by thousands of organizations to clearly assess which of their efforts is having the greatest impact on the social issues they strive to address. With this knowledge, organizations can optimize their performance by reinforcing what works, adjusting what doesn't work, and more easily reporting quantified successes to key stakeholders.