Tulsa Child Services Organization The Little Light House Named Oklahoma’s Top Nonprofit
TULSA, Okla.–The Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits announced that a Tulsa organization serving children with special needs, The Little Light House, has won the 2013 Charles Schusterman Award for Excellence. The Center held its sixth annual Oklahoma Nonprofit Excellence (ONE) Awards on Saturday, honoring 24 nonprofits from throughout the state for superior leadership and exceptional service to their constituents and communities.
The Little Light House was chosen from the group of 24 based upon its long history of serving hundreds of children with physical and developmental disabilities. The organization also won the category of Health Services, sponsored by the Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation and the Herman Kaiser Foundation.
Phil Lakin, Jr., a ONE Awards Selection Commissioner and CEO of the Tulsa Community Foundation, said the award for The Little Light House was well deserved.
“This organization does so much to help Oklahoma’s most precious and vulnerable children,” Lakin said. “I am honored that The Little Light House is the winner of the Charles Schusterman Award for Excellence, and I know their staff and board will be proud of this special distinction.”
The ONE Awards honors 24 organizations in eight categories: arts and humanities, community, education, health services, self-sufficiency, seniors, sports and recreation and youth development. Additionally, the Center names an overall winner of the event named after Charles Schusterman. All 24 nonprofits receive at least a $5,000 prize, and category winners receive $7,500. The overall winner receives a grand prize of $10,000.
This is the sixth year for the ONE Awards. Past overall winners have included the Oklahoma FFA Foundation, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Mental Health Association in Tulsa, Oklahoma Blood Institute and the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. Nonprofits may use the prize money much like a grant, in order to bolster programs or make transformational changes for their organizations.
Last year’s winner of the Charles Schusterman Award for Excellence, the Oklahoma FFA Foundation, reported that the ONE prize from 2012 will permanently endow a scholarship for a student to attend their national leadership conference every year in Washington, D.C.
2013 ONE Awards Winners
Arts and Humanities
Chisholm Trail Heritage Center Association, Winner
Allied Arts, Finalist
Tulsa Town Hall, Finalist
Community
Panhandle Services for Children, Winner
Big Five Community Services, Finalist
Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice (OCCJ), Finalist
Education
Tulsa Educare, Winner
Junior Achievement of Oklahoma, Inc., Finalist
Oklahoma Heritage Association, Finalist
Health Services
The Little Light House, Winner
Neighborhood Services Organization (NSO), Finalist
Oklahoma Caring Foundation, Inc., Finalist
Self-Sufficiency
A Chance to Change Foundation, Winner
The Bridges Foundation, Finalist
Wonderfully Made Foundation, Finalist
Seniors
Saint Simeon’s, Winner
Oklahoma Honor Flights, Finalist
Urban League of Greater Oklahoma City, Inc., Finalist
Sports and Recreation
Oklahoma Aquarium Foundation, Winner
Access Sports, Inc., Finalist
YWCA Tulsa, Finalist
Youth Development
Tulsa Air and Space Museum & Planetarium, Winner
Cookson Hills Christian Ministry, Finalist
Westview Boys’ Home, Finalist
Charles Schusterman Award for Excellence
The Little Light House
The ONE Awards were underwritten, in part, by The Barnett Family Foundation; The H.A. and Mary K. Chapman Charitable Trust; Chesapeake Energy Corporation; Devon Energy Corporation; George Kaiser Family Foundation; Herman Kaiser Foundation; Moran Family Foundation; Potts Family Foundation; Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation; and the Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation. Governor Frank Keating and his daughter, Carrie Keating-Leonard, were honorary co-chairs. Jennifer Loren and Alex Cameron of Griffin Communications were masters of ceremonies.