You can’t just nominate people. MF reaches out to ppl they select with one of two types of requests: (a) suggest names or (b) evaluate names already suggested. MF also insists on anonymity. It’s not true that friends can band together and nominate someone.
My sense from having received such solicitations in the past is that MF has absolutely no taste in evaluating sociologists. I’ve never expressed any enthusiasm for the people they’ve asked me to assess. (Which may explain why they stopped asking me several years ago).
In short, it means absolutely nothing. They have some money to give out. They have a great PR machine. And away we go.