2025 Purple Ribbon Award Winners Announced
Liz Ortenburger, SafeNest CEO, named Executive of the Year

LAS VEGAS – DomesticShelters.org announced the winners of the 2025 Purple Ribbon Awards in
42 categories, as judged by a national panel of leading professionals from across the domestic
violence field. 2025 marks the fifth year of the Purple Ribbon Awards (PRA), presented by Alliance
for HOPE International, the 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that operates DomesticShelters.org.

Liz Ortenburger, CEO of SafeNest, was named Executive of the Year. This award celebrates an
executive leader whose vision, leadership, and dedication have fostered significant progress in the
mission to support survivors of domestic violence. Candidates must exhibit extraordinary
leadership skills and a measurable impact on their organization and the community.

Launched in 2021, The Purple Ribbon Awards are the most comprehensive awards program
honoring the countless hope givers of the domestic violence movement. PRA winners include
domestic violence advocates, programs, shelters, organizations, survivors and members of the
community support system. Nominations for the Purple Ribbon Awards are submitted from around
the world.

All winners will receive an official Purple Ribbon Award medallion. As the Purple Ribbon Awards are
dedicated to honoring all of the compassionate efforts to help those experiencing domestic
violence, all other entries will receive an honoree certificate.

“Domestic violence is a global pandemic affecting millions of people and costing taxpayers billions
of dollars every year. Those that step up to help those in need rarely get the recognition they
deserve,” said Ashley Rumschlag, National Director of DomesticShelters.org. “The Purple Ribbon
Awards celebrates the remarkable people and organizations that might otherwise go unrecognized.

The awards are all about bringing hope to the hopegivers and inspiring one another to do more for
survivors.”

Each Purple Ribbon Awards nominated entry was scored by three judges on a 1-25 scale across
four factors:
1. Challenge & Impact (the scope of the challenge faced and overcome)
2. Creativity & Originality (the inventiveness of the nominee in their endeavor)
3. Submission Excellence (the caliber of the materials accompanying the entry)
4. Overall (the overall performance of the entry relative to other entries).

There were three separate competitions within each category to provide organizations with the
opportunity to be reviewed among their peers. To ensure parity, this was done by classifying entries
into one of three groups based on the size of a nominee’s organization: 1) Less than $500,000, 2)
Between $500,001 and $2,000,000 and 3) Greater than $2,000,000. Entries were judged within the
size classification within each category.

Learn more about the Purple Ribbon Awards and how to get involved at
www.purpleribbonawards.org.

ABOUT SAFENEST
SafeNest has been at the forefront of ending domestic and sexual violence in Southern Nevada for
48 years. The nonprofit organization treats the entire continuum, from prevention to protection to
empowerment, providing a safe shelter for victims of abuse and providing resources for abusive
partners to address the cycle of abuse. In 2024 SafeNest provided life-saving services to survivors of domestic violence, including 46,420
shelter services; 23,090 24/7/365 hotline calls; and 1,248 crisis responses with LVMPD. For more information, please visit www.safenest.org.

Media Contact
Linda Bridges
Chief Marketing and Communications Officer
SafeNest
702-821-2731