Volunteer Extraordinaire

Courtney’s ethos of philanthropy, volunteerism, and community engagement has been informed and shaped by her JLA affiliation. As a brand new Austinite, she founded Austin Involved, a nonprofit dedicated to helping young adults find relevant philanthropic opportunities. She created the Board Internship Program, which is now a part of I Live Here I Give Here, to identify and train young people and POC as nonprofit board members and was the basis for the nonprofit board training program used by JLA. Courtney’s 2013 graduate research paper on how nonprofits can nurture and develop their clients into future volunteers and donors won the Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota Outstanding Graduate Research award and became the basis for her first book, “The Giving Prescription: A Personal Plan for Healing Through Helping”. She continues to lead and mentor in our community, having served on the board of directors for other local nonprofit organizations such as the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Animal Trustees of Austin, the LIVESTRONG Young Leaders Cancer Council, and on the Mayor’s Council for the Austin Cities of Service.
Courtney is an international professional speaker who delivers keynote presentations about resilience, perspective, adapting faster, and achieving more through content-based motivation. She has been featured in Forbes, Psychology Today, USA Today and the Chicago Tribune. Her current client list includes Whataburger, Dell, Nike, Cisco and Marriott Hotels. She has served as a philanthropy consultant to clients such as LIVESTRONG, the Austin Community Foundation and Austin’s Campaign for Philanthropy (I Live Here, I Give Here).
Courtney has received much recognition for her personal and professional work including: Austin Under 40 award winner, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Austin “Woman of the Year”, Austin Monthly “20 in their 30s”, Leadership Austin Ascendant Award, GivingCity Magazine “The New Philanthropists” Finalist, Austin Business Journal Women of Influence Awards
Courtney’s innovative thinking, compassionate leadership, and unique ability to foster collaboration have set a benchmark for excellence and made her truly deserving of the Volunteer Extraordinaire
Volunteer Extraordinaire Awardees
The Volunteer Extraordinaire award has been given to a sustaining member of The Junior League of Austin on an annual basis since 1985. The award is presented to a woman who has utilized past League training to demonstrate and promote volunteerism into the community beyond their active years with the League. Recipients of this award are listed below.
Recipient | Year | Recipient | Year | |
Courtney Clark | 2025 | Cindy Hendrick Kozmetsky | 2005 | |
Kathi Haralson | 2024 | Donna Stockton-Hicks | 2004 | |
Jene Bearse | 2023 | Kay McKay McHorse | 2003 | |
Susan Lambert | 2022 | Pam Pitzer Willeford | 2002 | |
Sandy Alcalá | 2021 | Carrielu Byram Christensen | 2001 | |
Toya Bell | 2020 | Beth Butler Granger | 2000 | |
Laura Wolf | 2019 | Diane Finch Grant | 1999 | |
Holly Mace Massingill | 2018 | Eugenia Worley Schoch | 1998 | |
KaLyn Laney | 2017 | Lolla McNutt Page | 1997 | |
Nancy Prideaux | 2016 | Janet Long Fish | 1996 | |
Dinah Barksdale | 2015 | Dealey Decherd Herndon | 1995 | |
Mary Gideon Herman | 2014 | Hallie Groos Slaughter | 1994 | |
Suzy Balagia | 2013 | Martha Woods Covert | 1993 | |
Amber Carden | 2012 | Libby Snyder Malone | 1992 | |
Cookie Ruiz | 2011 | Verna Mae Hardy Morrison | 1991 | |
MariBen Ramsey | 2010 | Eleanor Luckett Schneider | 1990 | |
Beth Walters Atherton | 2009 | Maline Gilbert McCalla | 1989 | |
Patsy Woods Martin | 2008 | Sonia Wolf Winson | 1988 | |
Karen Ruble Johnson | 2007 | Grace Odem Doyle | 1987 | |
Dianne Dies Schoch | 2006 | Ann Cox Bome | 1986 |