Several recognizable Jewish communal family names are among the most recent recipients of the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy. The award, presented in a NYC ceremony today, recognizes individuals and families with exceptional and sustained levels of giving, as well as the important and lasting impact their philanthropy has had on a field, nation, or on the international community.

Given every two years, the 2011 recipients are the Crown Family; the Danforth Family; Fiona and Stanley Druckenmiller; Li Ka-shing; Fred Kavli; the Lauder Family: Evelyn and Leonard Lauder, Jo Carole and Ronald Lauder; Pamela and Pierre Omidyar; the Pew Family; and the Pritzker Family.

about: The Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy was established in 2001 to mark the centennial of Andrew Carnegie’s retirement from business and the beginning, in earnest, of his efforts to distribute his fortune in a manner that would, in his words, “do real and permanent good in this world.”