LEGACY FUNDING DREAMS

We have been very fortunate to be able to set up and actually see the benefits of establishing LSU Alumni Association endowed Flagship Scholarships for young scholars just starting their LSU higher education journey, writes Bill Ziegler (1972 BACH ENGR). My brother and sister, as well as my wife, have been supportive of e orts to establish three separate endowments that fund four to six student each year.

Even with this level of family support, it took a number of years to reach the endowment threshold that allows these awards to be self-sustaining within the Association and the LSU student aid program. We’ve been fortunate to be able to meet a number of “our” scholars, and are honored to be a part of their education success.

As we explored opportunities to maintain and grow our support for students beginning their educations, the Association shared that other donors were not as fortunate as we were to be able to complete their scholarship establishment dreams. As in all things, “life happens.” There are a number of scholarship funds that have been established, but not fully funded. Some are still active, while others are dormant.

Of particular interest to us were those scholarships that had not reached endowment thresholds before the donors passed away. Of immediate interest was an incomplete scholarship endowment fund benefiting incoming music students established many years ago by an LSU music education graduate who has since passed. My mother earned a music education degree from Belhaven College (Mississippi) and taught students in our home while we kids were growing up. This coincidental fit between our interests in supporting incoming LSU students and the original donor’s intention to support incoming music students was too good a match for us to pass up. We will now be working with the Association to complete that endowment fund.

There are a number of such opportunities in the Association’s scholarship funding system. While many LSU supporters may not be able to individually create and fund endowments, even limited resources can help complete these legacy scholarship-funding dreams that have yet to be fulfilled.

Our experience in working on these scholarship opportunities has been rewarding to us as well as to the students. If you are considering how to focus your support of students toward a meaningful, tangible, and measurable result, we urge you to contact the Association and ask how donation can help complete some of these legacy dream opportunities.

–BILL ZIEGLER