King Khalid Award for Development Partners

The King Khalid Award for Development Partners is an award presented by the King Khalid Charitable Foundation to support social initiatives and projects that have contributed solutions to social or economic issues and challenges in the Saudi Society. The award recognizes efforts that have a sustainable social impact. It is one of the branches of the King Khalid Award, which also includes the Non-Profit Organizations Excellence branch and the Sustainability branch.

The King Khalid Award for Development Partners seeks to promote initiatives and programs with sustainable social impact, targeting various categories, including: Social Entrepreneurship Initiatives (Social Enterprises), Voluntary Social Initiatives (for individuals or groups), and Non-Profit Initiatives (Endowment Institutions).

The award gives priority for acceptance into the Social Entrepreneurship Project for outstanding initiatives, subject to meeting eligibility and criteria. Participants are invited to attend sustainability workshops offered by the foundation to increase partnership opportunities and enhance the sustainability of social initiatives.

The award allows distinguished initiative owners to attend the awards ceremony under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. Participants are also invited to attend a capacity-building workshop organized by the award in coordination with the relevant evaluation consultancy.

Participants receive performance scorecards to increase opportunities for development, improvement, and raising the quality and sustainability of works. The award also issues regular publication of newsletters on social media accounts featuring winning initiatives and top-performing ones, aimed at raising awareness about voluntary initiatives and social entrepreneurship.

The winners receive financial prizes, where the first-place winner receives a golden shield and a cash prize of SAR250,000, the second-place winner receives a silver shield and a cash prize of SAR150,000, and the third-place winner receives a bronze shield and a cash prize of SAR100,000.

The King Khalid Award for Development Partners stipulates that the individual founding or leading the initiative must be a citizen or resident of the Kingdom and at least eighteen years old. The initiative founder or leader is allowed to be nominated for up to two initiatives only.

Nominations are accepted from initiative founders or leaders, and requests from official entities, whether governmental, non-profit organizations, or private sector entities, will be excluded, with exceptions for social entrepreneurship and endowment companies or institutions.

The award requires that the initiative founder or leader (individual or group) have a good reputation, they should not have a legal ruling against them that compromises honor and integrity, unless their reputation has been restored. They should not be involved in rioting, violence, terrorism, or incitement to these actions. Nominations for the award are evaluated based on specific criteria, including: positive impact, sustainability, creativity and innovation, scalability, and expansion.