OUR VISION

The Long Island Imagine Awards was created as a way to showcase the nonprofit sector and all the good work that it does, as well as provide opportunities for deeper collaboration within the sector. The event acts as an opportunity to meet new people, discover new organizations doing business on Long Island, develop new relationships, and learn from the organizations that are being honored.

The nonprofit sector continues to be challenged, with increased demand for services, reductions in government funding, increases in audits and regulations, and an uptick in consolidation in the sector. And through it all, the sector continues to persevere, touching all of us and making a difference in each of our lives. It is the nonprofit spirit we applaud and reward with the Imagine Awards.

The Imagine Awards is an award program that
was designed for 3 reasons:

1

To shine a spotlight on those nonprofits that are truly unique those with strong leadership, who are innovative in their actions and operations, who are impactful on both a micro and macro perspective, who are significantly advancing programs and the sector on a regular basis, who think out of the box, and who understand the need to effectively collaborate to leverage results.

2

To foster relationships having the ability for nonprofit leadership to come together and communicate, to see what each other are doing, to share ideas, and to find ways to effectively work and collaborate with each other creates a more integrated and stronger sector for all of us.

3

To provide education it’s a little bit of a cliché, but we don’t know what we don’t know. Nonprofit leadership is often focused on the day to day needs of their organization and don’t always have a place to turn or an avenue to bounce questions off of. The Imagine Awards offers this through idea sharing, access to winners (Let’s Imagine Event), and more.

The Imagine Awards not only provides a $5,000 check to the winner in each category, it provides a professionally developed video to each finalist, it provides an avenue to collaborate and explore, it provides exposure and recognition to the finalists and the sector, and it provides a night where the light is shine in on the sector to spotlight all the amazing things that are happening in the nonprofit community. Imagine Awards participants have developed new partnerships and collaborations, have made corporate connections which has resulted in new board members and contributions, have gain strategic insight into what other organizations are doing, and have developed new friendships and relationships that have proven essential in the growth and development of their organizations.

OUR 12TH ANNUAL COMMITTEE

Kenneth R. Cerini, Cerini & Associates, LLP – Founder & Chair

Sung Moo Cho, Kuttin Wealth Management

Tommy DiMisa, Vanguard Benefits & Philanthropy in Phocus

Dawn Feniello Bressingham, Priority Pension Services, Inc. & The Pinnacle Financial Group

Rachel A. Fernbach, Moritt Hock & Hamroff LLP

Nanette Gerson, Bethpage Federal Credit Union

Andrea Kantor, Webster Bank

Joanne Krush, SterlingRisk

Annette Marinaccio, Northwell Health

Lauren Marzo, The Viscardi Center

Noel Raab, Fivestar Advertising

James Rocker, Nerds That Care

Ray Schwetz, Jovia Financial

Glenn Tyranski

Interested in joining our Committee for the Annual Long Island Imagine Awards? Please contact Hillary Needle at:

(516) 993-4056 | [email protected]

MARKETING TEAM

Kelli-Anne Cerini

Kristina Laino

MEET THE FOUNDER

Ken Cerini, CPA, CFP, FABFA
Managing Partner, Cerini & Associates, LLP

Ken Cerini is the founder and managing partner of Cerini & Associates, LLP. Like many of the nonprofits he serves, Ken is passionate about making a difference, believing that it is important to be deeply invested in every client relationship and providing real value to each of his clients. He is one of the top accountants/consultants in the State of New York working with special education providers, is well versed in nonprofit issues, and also is heavily involved in the healthcare industry.