Establishing a named scholarship is one way you can leave a legacy. Perhaps you might want to honor or remember a loved one, recognize your family or business.
Endowed Scholarship Funds
Gifts of $15,000 or more may be designated to establish an endowed scholarship fund. The Northern New York Community Foundation invests the principal and uses the earnings to award scholarship support. The Community Foundation’s assets are invested as a whole, with return on investments credited pro-rata to each individual scholarship fund. The principal remains untouched so the endowment can be perpetual. You may add to this fund at any time. A scholarship fund endowed at the $15,000 level will award an annual scholarship of $500.
Annual Scholarship Funds
The Community Foundation manages scholarship funds for individuals, families, business, foundations and civic groups. An annual commitment of $1,000 is recommended. Unlike an endowed scholarship, an annual scholarship is not a permanent fund and is award only as long as you contribute to the fund.
For both endowed and annual scholarship funds you decide the fund name. You may work with the Foundation to establish selection criteria for your fund to give preference to a particular segment of students or field of study, financial need, academic achievement or other criteria.
Typically, a selection committee carefully reviews the scholarship applications submitted by students and selects the most deserving recipient(s) based on the donor-established criteria.
Scholarship fund donors are notified annually when the scholarship recipient(s) have been selected and are informed of the name and hometown of the recipient, as well as the amount of the award. Scholarship recipients often write a thank-you notes, which will also be forwarded to you.