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Osage Casinos nears $500K in donations to Osage Nation Foundation

Launched in 2022, the guest-driven Round-Up Program has fueled over $413,000 in funding, aiding the Foundation’s grant-making power and supporting dozens of community programs across the Osage Nation.

Osage Casinos announced it is nearing a half-million-dollar milestone in donations to the Osage Nation Foundation. 

Since the program’s launch in 2022, at the urging of ON Congresswoman Jodie Revard, the Osage Casino Round-Up Program has quietly contributed $413,000 – an average of $14,500 each month – to support Osage communities through the ON Foundation.

Casino guests contribute to the program at the teller machines, food and beverage, and the hotels. While the gesture may feel small to donate change at the checkout counter, the collective impact is anything but.

According to a prepared release, the Osage Nation Foundation has tripled its grant-making abilities, now averaging 80 grants per year, each averaging $1,750. The grants directly support programs that promote the well-being of Osage Nation communities through cultural, educational, health, historical, and community initiatives.

Executive Director of the Osage Nation Foundation Bill Webb said, “The Round-Up Program has become one of the Foundation’s most important and consistent sources of funding – helping make projects possible that otherwise might never get off the ground.”

According to the Foundation’s 2024 tax filings, in 2023 the Foundation’s total revenue was more than $697,000. Charitable contributions to the Foundation totaled $545,715. That year, they gave $50,000 in scholarships to Osage citizens majoring in creative content or STEM-related fields of study. They gave over $19,000 for summer youth camps, $123,980 in charitable grants for community organizations. The total amount given in 2023 was $193,581.

Osage Casinos CEO Kimberly Pearson emphasized the program’s alignment with the casino’s primary goal: “Giving back to our Nation is part of who we are. The ‘Round Up’ program makes it easy for our guests to be part of that mission in a meaningful way.”

The Osage Nation Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) public charity, and all donations are tax-deductible. To explore more about its work and impact, visit www.osagefoundation.org.

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Shannon Shaw Duty
Shannon Shaw Dutyhttps://osagenews.org

Title: Editor
Email: sshaw20@gmail.com
Twitter: @dutyshaw
Topic Expertise: Columnist, Culture, Community
Languages spoken: English, Osage (intermediate), Spanish (beginner)

Shannon Shaw Duty, Osage from the Grayhorse District, is the editor of the award-winning Osage News, the official independent media of the Osage Nation. She is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a master’s degree in Legal Studies with an emphasis in Indigenous Peoples Law. She currently sits on the Freedom of Information Committee for the Society of Professional Journalists. She has served as a board member for LION Publishers, as Vice President for the Pawhuska Public Schools Board of Education, on the Board of Directors for the Native American Journalists Association (now Indigenous Journalists Association) and served as a board member and Chairwoman for the Pawhuska Johnson O’Malley Parent Committee. She is a Chips Quinn Scholar, a former instructor for the Freedom Forum’s Native American Journalism Career Conference and the Freedom Forum’s American Indian Journalism Institute. She is a former reporter for The Santa Fe New Mexican. She is a 2012 recipient of the Native American 40 Under 40 from the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. In 2014 she helped lead the Osage News to receive NAJA's Elias Boudinot Free Press Award. The Osage News won Best Newspaper from the SPJ-Oklahoma Chapter in their division 2018-2022. Her award-winning work has been published in Indian Country Today, The Washington Post, the Center for Public Integrity, NPR, the Associated Press, Tulsa World and others. She currently resides in Pawhuska, Okla., with her husband and together they share six children, two dogs and two cats.

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