Laura Bailey Culp named 2026 Polsky Award recipient
Laura Bailey Culp was announced as this year's Bert A. Polsky Humanitarian Award recipient by Akron Community Foundation. She will receive the award at the annual Bert A. Polsky Humanitarian Award dinner on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2026, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Akron Fairlawn.
Culp will be the 57th recipient of the award, which Akron Community Foundation presents each year to an individual or couple who has shown selfless dedication to humanitarian causes in Akron.
Culp is regarded in the Greater Akron community as an influential philanthropic leader due to her decades of nonprofit board service and volunteerism, as well as her generous charitable contributions.
She has provided strategic counsel and service to numerous organizations across the Greater Akron area, including Akron Community Foundation, the Corbin Foundation, the GAR Foundation, the Akron Area YMCA, the Greater Akron Chamber, Leadership Akron, United Way of Summit & Medina, and many more.
Numerous awards have been bestowed upon Culp for both her professional and philanthropic achievements, including the Dr. Frank L. Simonetti Distinguished Business Alumni Award from the University of Akron College of Business in 2007, the Lieberth Community Vision Award from Leadership Akron in 2017, and the Hunsicker Family Service to Youth Award from the Akron Area YMCA in 2018.
Culp, an Akron resident for over 40 years, is a tax director, wealth advisor and former partner at Sikich, where she advises owners of privately held businesses on tax strategy, wealth management and long-term financial planning strategies.
Culp was selected to receive the Bert A. Polsky Humanitarian Award by a committee of past honorees. Recent recipients include David and Cheryl Venarge, Father Norm Douglas, Theresa Carter, and Steve and Jeannine Marks.
Corporate and individual sponsorships for the award dinner start at $2,500 and may be reserved at akroncf.org/PolskySponsor. For more information about sponsorship availability and benefits, call Laura Lederer, vice president and chief development officer, at 330-436-5611.
About the Bert A. Polsky Humanitarian Award
The Bert A. Polsky Humanitarian Award is named for the former president of Polsky's Department Store and founding trustee of Akron Community Foundation. The community foundation presents the award each year to the individual or couple who best exemplifies Bert Polsky's selfless dedication to humanitarian causes in Akron. More information, including a complete history of past recipients, is available at akroncf.org/Polsky.
About Akron Community Foundation
For 71 years, Akron Community Foundation has been our community's champion and generator of enduring philanthropy. In 1955, a $1 million bequest from the estate of Edwin Shaw established the community foundation. It is a philanthropic endowment of $340 million with a growing family of more than 900 funds established by charitable people and organizations from all walks of life. The community foundation and its funds welcome gifts of all kinds, including cash, bequests, stock, real estate, life insurance and retirement assets, just to name a few. To date, the community foundation's funds have awarded $280 million in grants to qualified nonprofit organizations. For more information about Akron Community Foundation or to learn more about creating your own charitable fund, call 330-376-8522 or visit akroncf.org.