Establish a Legacy and Make a Positive Difference

Endowed Scholarships

Establish a Legacy and Make a Positive Difference

Donors who wish to make a positive difference in the life of a young person and at the same time establish a lasting memorial may establish or contribute to an SPJST Endowed Scholarship. The scholarship may be established in your name or the name of the individual you wish to honor. SPJST Endowed Scholarships may be established starting at $10,000. By definition, an endowed scholarship is one in which the principle remains intact and only the interest is awarded each year. Once established, your scholarship will be managed by the SPJST. Your endowment creates a permanent funding source that will grow over time and will support deserving students today and in the future.

In establishing an SPJST Endowed Scholarship, you have the opportunity to set the criteria for your SPJST Endowed Scholarship. For example, you may wish to direct your scholarship fund to reward high achievement students who are pursuing a specific field of study. Other criteria for you to consider are specific colleges or universities, areas of academic interest or extracurricular involvement, community service or hometown. Please know that in establishing restrictive criteria, you will be limiting the pool of qualified recipients. More about that later. Also, in accordance with IRS publication 526, located at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf, a donor may not select a specific individual as a beneficiary of their gift, i.e. scholarship recipients. SPJST Endowed Scholarships differ from others in that they are truly the gift that keeps giving.

An SPJST Endowed Scholarship is a perpetual gift because only the interest is applied towards the scholarship while the principle continuously grows. Endowed scholarships are a wonderful way to honor a loved one or link your legacy with the future.

The minimum gift needed to establish a named, endowed SPJST scholarship is $10,000. This amount can be paid all at once or in payments. Once the fund reaches the $20,000 amount, the scholarship will be awarded annually in the honoree’s name. Until $20,000 is reached, the interest gained is reinvested in the fund. At the primary donor’s request, an endowed scholarship will be awarded every other year, provided that the endowment balance totals at least $10,000.

60

There are many ways to fund an endowment, including gifts of cash, bequests, securities, life insurance, retirement assets, or properties.

As an alternative to an SPJST Endowed Scholarship, donors may elect to award a one-time scholarship in the name of an individual, organization or business. The minimum donation needed to award a one-time SPJST scholarship in the name of an individual, organization or business is $1,000. Just as with the SPJST Endowed Scholarship, donors seeking to award a one-time SPJST scholarship also have the opportunity to set the criteria for your SPJST Scholarship. Criteria should not be so narrowly defined that it is difficult or impossible to find qualified applicants and, therefore, to honor the donor’s intent. Following are some general criteria that may be considered by donors:

• Award restricted to students in a specified college and/or major. • Award restricted to students from a specific school or county. • Applicability only to high school graduates or undergraduate students or open to both. • Participation in extracurricular activities such as honor societies and student organizations.

In the event a donor proposes criteria which are too narrowly defined, the SPJST will explore the implications of such closely defined criteria with the donor.

If you have any questions about the information presented here or if you would like to proceed with the establishment of an SPJST Scholarship, please give SPJST President/CEO Brian Vanicek a call and he will be happy to assist you.

61