Who Funds OPSRC, and Why Do They Do It?
Our executive director explains our funders and why they support our mission.
March 30, 2016
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Our executive director explains our funders and why they support our mission.
**This post has been updated to reflect our current board members (10-16-18)
As I travel the state and meet with school leaders, I am often asked a variation of the question “who funds you and why do they do it?” I am always happy to answer this question and would like to take a moment to share my answer on our blog. As you can see on our website here, the OPSRC receives financial support from the following organizations:
These four foundations provided the funding to start the organization, and they each nominate a representative on the OPSRC’s board. These board members can be found our website here, but I’ll list them out in the blog as well:
Robert J. Ross Chair
President and CEO | Inasmuch Foundation and Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation
Ben Stewart
Senior Program Officer | George Kaiser Family Foundation
Scott Smith
Executive Director | Arkansas Public School Resource Center
Tracy McDaniel
School Leader | KIPP Reach College Prep
Tyler Norvell
Executive Director | Oklahoma Youth Expo
Lee Denney
State Director for USDA Rural Development in Oklahoma | United States Department of Agriculture
Adrian Beverage Treasurer
Government Relations Director, Chief Lobbyist | Oklahoma Bankers Association
Jay Chapman
President | Digimedia
As the executive director of the OPSRC, I report to the board, and we meet on a quarterly basis. Perhaps the most common question I get after highlighting the foundations and board members of the OPSRC is a variation of “why do these foundations and individuals support the OPSRC?” or put another way, “what’s the ulterior motive behind the OPSRC?” I think that this is a completely fair question to ask, and it’s one that I asked three years ago when I applied to be the executive director. This is the answer that I was told then and that I provide today: the four foundations supporting the OPSRC advocate for many different topics and issues, but they have a few common threads:
Many folks point out that the different foundations have varying agendas and approaches to improving public education in the state of Oklahoma, and I don’t disagree—if you visit the websites for the four foundations, you can see that each has its own distinct mission, but they all share a goal of improving public education in the state of Oklahoma.
I hope this helps shed light on the OPSRC. In future posts, I plan to elaborate on our mission and how we’re working to provide resources and support for public schools across our great state. Thanks for your interest!
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