Lightspeed Foundation Announces 2015 Pilot’s Choice Award Winners

Lightspeed Aviation president Allan Schrader knows there is nothing in the world quite as satisfying as seeing good causes rewarded. Each year Schrader gets to bask for a few moments in the thrill of watching his company’s nonprofit Lightspeed Foundation award grants of $2,000 to as much as $10,000 to causes that use aviation as a means to do good around the world. This year’s winners are Pilot N Paws, awarded $10,000; The Ninety-Nines, $8,000; Civil Air Patrol, $6,000; New Tribes Mission Aviation, $4,000; and JAARS, $2,000. All are cash grants designed to help the organizations fulfill their missions.

Interestingly, it isn’t the Lightspeed Foundation that chooses which outfit gets an award. “I think there were a couple of things we wanted to accomplish. First of all, we didn’t want to be the people who decided who got the money,” Schrader told AIN. “We wanted to engage the pilot community and make them feel that they were awarding the grants. We wanted to give them a vote.”

The program started in 2010 as a way for Lightspeed (Booth C6925) to give back to the general aviation community, Schrader explained. “What we have learned is that nonprofits in general are very good at their mission, but they are not always good at telling their story, and even more so, at marketing their story so that they can raise the funds they need. That first year of the awards we saw these little NGOs struggle to tell their story, so we decided to help them, mostly by engaging social media, and helping them create short videos that more clearly express their goals. Today a lot of organizations that participate in the Lightspeed Foundation Pilots’ Choice award program tell us that, even if they don’t win a prize, the process helped them to organize and energize their outreach efforts, and that made it worth participating.”

For example, the Ninety-Nines quickly figured out that they could use iPads loaded with the Lightspeed Foundation web page at their booth, and even roaming the crowded aisles of trade shows and air shows to encourage people to vote for their cause on-site. Pilots N Paws used the video function in a compelling pitch for their cause, relocating shelter-dogs to eager new owners around the U.S., saving them from destruction.

“What I am pleased to see is that this year, two of our award winners were rewarded for reaching out to the next generation of aviators,” said Schrader, referring to the Civil Air Patrol and the Ninety-Nines. “It’s six years we’ve been giving these awards out, and $500,000 has been distributed. But best of all, more than 50 organizations have benefited from being finalists,” said Schrader. “What I’m proud of is that we’ve equipped them all with the skills and social media savvy they need to help them further their diverse missions. Just look at the Ninety-Nines. Once they were a quiet group that had a proud history. Now they are growing again, and reach out to the crowd in new ways to show they are a great organization worth supporting and being a part of. I like to think we helped with that,” he smiled.

Lightspeed is at NBAA 2015 and exhibiting its ANR headsets, topped off by the popular Zulu PFX. The company is also showcasing a new line of premium leather pilot flight bags, custom-designed and sized for the modern pilot and his or her accouterments.