OFE News Release
Center for Nonprofits Honors Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence
March 13, 2009
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence has been selected as one of three finalists for the 2009 Oklahoma Nonprofit Excellence (ONE) Award in the category of education. The statewide, charitable foundation founded by David L. Boren in 1985 recognizes and encourages academic excellence in Oklahoma’s public schools.
The ONE Awards Program, presented by the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits, celebrates and highlights the work of outstanding nonprofit organizations in the categories of arts and humanities, community, seniors, education, large-scale health care, community health care, self-sufficiency, sports & recreation, and youth development. The top winners in each category will be announced at the ONE Awards banquet and ceremony at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 25, at the Renaissance Hotel in Tulsa.
The foundation was nominated last fall and selected by the ONE Awards Commission as one of the three best in the education category. As a finalist, the Foundation for Excellence will receive an award of at least $5,000 and will be featured in a video at the awards ceremony. The winners of the top prizes in each category will receive $7,500 awards. One organization from the pool of finalists in all nine categories will win the overall award as the outstanding Oklahoma charity and receive a grand prize of $10,000.
“We are deeply honored to be nominated and named a finalist for this prestigious honor sponsored by the Center for Nonprofits,” said Emily Stratton, executive director of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence. “We admire the outstanding work that the Center for Nonprofits does on behalf of charitable organizations in our state, and we look forward to participating in the gala awards ceremony in April.”
The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence carries out its mission through five program areas. Through its Academic Awards Program, the foundation has provided more than $3.6 million in scholarships and cash awards to honor outstanding graduating seniors as Academic All-Staters and exceptional educators as Medal for Excellence winners. Through its Local Education Foundation Outreach Program, the foundation provides free technical support and training to local education foundations across the state and sponsors the Fall Forum for Local Education Foundations and regional meetings for education foundation volunteers, educators and public school supporters.
Among its other initiatives, the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence coordinates a program to send Oklahoma teachers to the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute each summer and provides subscriptions for schools to receive Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trips. The award-winning field trips help students to experience 18th-century colonial life through live television broadcasts, Web site activities and toll-free access to Williamsburg historians.
In 2005, the foundation launched the David and Molly Boren Mentoring Initiative to promote the growth and establishment of school-based mentoring programs throughout Oklahoma. The Foundation also administers Professional Development Grants for Teachers to attend national conferences and institutes and, in 2006, partnered with the national Fund for Teachers and the Tulsa Community Foundation to provide grants of up to $5,000 for individuals and $10,000 for teams of teachers for self-designed summer professional development opportunities in locations around the world. Thanks to generous bridge funding from the national Fund for Teachers, 439 Oklahoma educators have received grants totaling $1.4 million in the past four years.
For more information on the ONE Awards Ceremony, contact the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits at (918) 579-1910.