Engage for Good Announces 2026 Halo Award Winners, Honoring Corporate–Nonprofit Partnerships That Prove Purpose and Business Go Hand in Hand

Last night, Engage for Good announced the winners of the 2026 Halo Awards, recognizing 28 gold and silver recipients across 14 categories for outstanding corporate–nonprofit partnerships that delivered measurable social impact in 2025. The winners were honored at the Halo Awards Gala, held during the Engage for Good Conference.

Leading this year’s class as Best of the Best is FedEx and Orbis International for Delivering Sight Worldwide. The long-running global health logistics partnership restored and protected sight for patients in underserved communities around the world.

This year’s conference theme, Purpose with Precision, was on full display across the 2026 Halo Award class. From a Barbie doll designed with type 1 diabetes to a nationwide resource distribution tour deployed during federal SNAP benefit cuts, to a brand relaunch for Black Girls Code built to resist DEI rollbacks, the winning initiatives reflected a field that is making an impact with intention, rigor, and resilience.

“The campaigns in this year’s Halo Award class didn’t happen in a vacuum,” said Engage for Good CEO Muneer Panjwani. “They happened during a year of real pressure, budget cuts, political headwinds, and a lot of noise about whether this kind of work still has a place at the table. And these gold and silver Halo winners proved that this work is still impactful and transformative for communities and businesses. What strikes me every year, and this year more than most, is that the best partnerships aren’t just rigorous. They’re also joyful. There’s something genuinely alive in the work when a company and a nonprofit find each other and decide to build something real together. We are so proud to celebrate their work.” 

2026 Halo Award Winners

Best of the Best: Delivering Sight Worldwide  (FedEx + Orbis International)

FedEx’s global logistics expertise has been put in service of a singular mission: getting surgeons, equipment, and life-changing care to patients facing blindness in underserved communities around the world — a partnership that has scaled and deepened over many years.

Best Advocacy or Policy Initiative

Gold: GAMUT Seal of Approval  (Gamut Management + Runway of Dreams)

Gamut Management and Runway of Dreams created an industry certification that recognizes fashion and entertainment companies for authentically employing and representing people with disabilities, driving systemic change through marketplace incentives.

Silver: The Health in Action Collaborative  (Sanofi + National Association of Community Health Workers + NationSwell)

A multi-sector coalition produced a national report on sustainable Community Health Worker funding models, reaching a potential audience of 170 million through press coverage and directly informing legislation in multiple states.

Best Cause Marketing Initiative

Gold: American Airlines Raises $5 Million for Stand Up To Cancer  (American Airlines + Stand Up To Cancer)

American Airlines turned its passenger network into a fundraising engine, raising a record-breaking $5 million for cancer research through an integrated campaign spanning in-flight, digital, and loyalty program channels.

Silver: ON HOLD  (Meals On Wheels America + Public INC)

Set against a looming government shutdown and federal funding threats, this campaign used the universally relatable frustration of being put on hold to rally millions of Americans to contact Congress in defense of senior nutrition programs, generating the highest donation totals in Meals On Wheels America’s history.

Best Cause Product Initiative

Gold: Barbie’s First Barbie Doll with Type 1 Diabetes  (Mattel + Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF))

Mattel and Breakthrough T1D co-developed the first Barbie doll with type 1 diabetes — complete with an insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor — expanding representation for millions of children and families living with the condition.

Silver: Get a Glove, Give a Glove  (Wilson Sporting Goods + Pitch In For Baseball & Softball)

Wilson Sporting Goods embedded giving directly into its product line, donating a baseball glove to a child in need for every glove purchased — connecting consumers to a cause through the simplest possible act.

Best DEIB Initiative

Gold: Black Girls Code Reimagined  (Pastilla Inc. + Black Girls Code)

Creative agency Pastilla partnered with Black Girls Code to reimagine the organization’s entire brand identity.  They co-created a visual system inspired by quilting traditions with input from more than 230 students, families, and community members, resulting in a 477 percent increase in social engagement and a platform that positions Black Girls Code as a national movement.

Silver: Black Joy  (UGG + The Loveland Foundation)

Launched as Black women entered 2025 facing political tension and documented spikes in burnout, UGG and The Loveland Foundation deployed creator-led storytelling throughout the year to interrupt doomscrolling with narratives of joy, resilience, and community — reaching hundreds of thousands across social platforms.

Best Direct Service Initiative

Gold: Angel Foundation’s Financial Care Program  (Ameriprise Financial + Angel Foundation)

Ameriprise Financial partnered with Angel Foundation to provide direct financial navigation and assistance to cancer patients, helping families facing treatment costs avoid the financial crisis that too often accompanies a diagnosis.

Silver: Crisis and Connectivity  (Cisco Systems + USA for UNHCR)

Cisco deployed its networking technology and engineering expertise to bring reliable connectivity to refugee communities served by UNHCR, addressing the critical but often overlooked role that internet access plays in safety, education, and economic opportunity.

Best Education Initiative

Gold: Building Bridges: Restoring Futures in Ukraine  (Infosys + Street Child US)

Infosys and Street Child US built and sustained educational pathways for children displaced by the war in Ukraine, combining technology investment with on-the-ground program delivery to reach students whose schooling had been catastrophically disrupted.

Silver: Impact360  (ScanSource, Inc. + Public Education Partners + Greenville County Schools)

ScanSource embedded itself as a long-term partner in Greenville County’s public school system, using its technology expertise and philanthropic resources to build a measurable pipeline from classroom to career for underserved students.

Best Emergency/Disaster Response Initiative

Gold: LA Wildfire Relief  (PayPal/Venmo + LA Fire Department Foundation + World Central Kitchen + GoFundMe.org)

When wildfires devastated Los Angeles communities, PayPal and Venmo activated their payments infrastructure within hours — coordinating across four nonprofit partners to channel donations rapidly to food relief, firefighter support, and direct community aid.

Silver: Good Leads the Way  (United Airlines + Airlink)

United Airlines partnered with Airlink to provide free cargo and passenger flights for disaster relief organizations responding to crises around the world, turning unused airline capacity into a critical logistics resource for humanitarian response.

Best Employee Engagement Initiative

Gold: SERVING WITH LOVE® Resource Rally Tour  (Popeyes Foundation + Feed the Children)

The Popeyes Foundation and Feed the Children took their partnership on the road — deploying a 15-city, coast-to-coast resource distribution tour that served more than 6,100 families and 156,000 meals while engaging 650-plus Popeyes employees as volunteers, many for the first time, during a period of federal SNAP benefit cuts.

Silver: Dream It Real  (Coach Foundation + The Opportunity Network + Bottom Line)

The Coach Foundation built a three-organization partnership that connected employees directly with first-generation college students, creating mentorship and career exposure experiences that advanced both employee purpose and youth economic mobility.

Best Food Insecurity Initiative

Gold: Food As Medicine 3.0  (Elevance Health Foundation + Feeding America)

Now in its third iteration, this initiative has built one of the most rigorous evidence bases in the field for food-as-healthcare — connecting medically tailored nutrition to measurable health outcomes for patients managing chronic conditions.

Silver: A Million Meals and Beyond  (Once Upon a Farm + Save the Children)

Mission-aligned baby and toddler food brand Once Upon a Farm deepened its partnership with Save the Children and surpassed one million meals delivered to children facing food insecurity.

Best Gender & LGBTQ Equality Initiative

Gold: Mattress Firm and the National Women’s Shelter Network’s Safe Shelter Saves Lives  (Mattress Firm + National Women’s Shelter Network)

Mattress Firm leveraged its product, retail footprint, and employee network to address one of the most urgent and underrecognized needs in domestic violence shelters — providing beds, bedding, and supplies to women and families seeking safety.

Silver: Stand Up Against Street Harassment  (L’Oréal Paris + Right To Be)

Since 2020, L’Oréal Paris and Right To Be have trained nearly 4.8 million people across 47 countries in bystander intervention — with 76 percent of participants reporting they used those skills within six months to de-escalate real incidents of harassment.

Best Local-Impact Initiative

Gold: Full Futures: A School Nutrition Partnership  (The Campbell’s Company + Alliance for a Healthier Generation)

The Campbell’s Company and Alliance for a Healthier Generation partnered to improve access to nutritious school meals in underserved communities, integrating product expertise, funding, and on-the-ground program support into a model built around local school needs.

Silver: Partner-Inspired Giving: The Starbucks Foundation’s Neighborhood Grants  (Starbucks Coffee Company)

The Starbucks Foundation turned its nearly 400,000 employees into a community intelligence network — receiving more than 56,000 nominations in a single three-week window and directing more than $25 million in hyperlocal grants to nonprofits that partners know and trust in their own neighborhoods.

Best Mental or Physical Health Initiative

Gold: Body Appreciation Badges  (Flamingo (Mammoth Brands) + Girl Scouts of the USA)

Flamingo and Girl Scouts of the USA co-developed a body appreciation badge curriculum that gives troops a structured, evidence-informed way to help the next generation of girls build a healthier relationship with their bodies — embedding the program into the Girl Scout experience itself.

Silver: Delivering Sight Worldwide  (FedEx + Orbis International)

See Best of the Best above.

Best Point of Sale Initiative

Gold: One Curly Fry at a Time  (Jack in the Box + No Kid Hungry)

Jack in the Box and No Kid Hungry’s point-of-sale partnership raised more than $1.3 million for childhood hunger relief in a single month, with 100 percent of Jack in the Box restaurants participating. 

Silver: Lyft Round Up & Donate for Goodwill  (Lyft + Goodwill Industries International)

Lyft integrated a round-up donation option directly into the ride experience, enabling millions of passengers to support Goodwill’s workforce development programs through micro-donations that collectively drive economic mobility at scale.

Best Sustainability or Conservation Initiative

Gold: Bring Coral into Focus  (Samsung + Seatrees)

Samsung partnered with Seatrees to use its camera and display technology to bring coral reef conservation to life for consumers — combining underwater imaging, retail activations, and direct reef restoration funding to connect audiences with an ecosystem most will never see.

Silver: Take Back  (Stanley 1913 + Ocean Conservancy)

Stanley 1913 launched the only known product take-back program in any consumer goods category that links a charitable donation to each item returned — pairing a lifecycle-assessment-informed recycling model with direct contributions to Ocean Conservancy for every stainless-steel Stanley that comes back.

Best Technology for Good Initiative

Gold: Global Cleft Care  (Dentsply Sirona + Smile Train + FDI World Dental Federation)

Dentsply Sirona brought its dental technology and clinical expertise to a three-organization partnership with Smile Train and the FDI World Dental Federation to expand access to quality cleft care in low-resource settings through digital education and remote clinical support.

Silver: Secure it Forward  (Yubico + Defending Digital Campaigns + Civil Rights Defenders + Article 19)

As federal funding cuts left NGOs more vulnerable than ever, Yubico donated nearly 25,000 YubiKeys to 280-plus organizations across 62 countries — providing journalists, human rights defenders, and civil society groups with phishing-resistant security at no cost, growing program participation by 286 percent in a single year.

Additional 2026 Honorees

Earlier this month Mattel, Inc. was named Corporation of the Year and Keep America Beautiful was named Nonprofit of the Year. 

For the first time, Engage for Good also recognized three individual leaders this year,  honorees who span generations of leadership: a pioneer who helped define corporate purpose, a leader advancing how partnerships operate today, and a rising voice reimagining what comes next.

• Lifetime Achievement Award: Carol Cone
• Impact Leader of the Year: Karen Little, PayPal
• Emerging Leader of the Year: Jorge Alvarez, Active Minds

About The Halo Awards

Now in its 24th year, The Halo Awards are the social impact sector’s longest-running recognition of excellence in corporate–nonprofit partnerships. This year’s Halo Awards sponsors include: TikTok, Goodstack, Upworthy, and Submittable. Past awardees include Google, Procter & Gamble, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Macy’s, The Trevor Project, and more.