Cy Pres Awards

Cy Pres Awards

Cy pres awards are final surplus funds in class action cases, and sometimes others types of court proceedings, that for any number of reasons cannot be distributed to class members or beneficiaries who were the intended recipients. Cy pres distribution of surplus funds is utilized when it has become difficult or impossible to identify those to whom damages should be assigned or distributed. In these instances the court may authorize a cy pres distribution to appropriate charitable organizations. The trust doctrine of cy pres and the courts’ broad equitable powers permit use of such funds for public interest purposes by educational, charitable, and other public service organizations. Cy pres funds may be used to support current programs or, where appropriate, to constitute an endowment and source of future income for long-range programs that can be used in conjunction with other contemporaneously raised funds.

Cy Pres Awards + our mission = big impact

In recent years, the Oklahoma Bar Foundation has received generous cy pres awards. This enabled us to create the Court Grant Fund to improve the administration of justice for district and appellate courts throughout the state. Through this program we have given grants to over 50 district courts to improve courtroom technology. Click here for full list: Court Grants.

Our comprehensive grant award process contains applicants and a panel of diverse individuals with a wide range of interests and expertise. When these two come together to strategically and objectively allocate resources we make a big impact in the state. We have the flexibility to use cy pres awards to expand our comprehensive programs and to target funds for new access to justice projects and initiatives.

Our mission to promote justice, fund critical legal services and advance public awareness of the law makes us a perfect match for cy pres awards. For more information please contact the Oklahoma Bar Foundation.