Scholarships an investment in the future
As I shared in my column last month, the Eastern Colorado Community Fund is off to a great start. We partnered with several nonprofit organizations to provide investment opportunities and planned giving services, raised over $100,000 for the Cornerstone Campaign, and numerous donors established funds for the benefit of our region.
Those are tremendous accomplishments, but what stands out most from the last year are the students we helped with a scholarship to continue their education. Scholarships are a special thing — allowing the next generation to achieve something they could not attain on their own. The ECCF is honored to work with donors who make these opportunities possible.
Our goal is to make the scholarship process easy, enjoyable, and meaningful for the donor and the recipient. As with any fund housed with us, we take on the administrative, accounting and compliance burden, allowing you to focus on the joy and impact of your giving. There is no application to maintain, records to keep track of or IRS forms to submit. All of our scholarships are managed through an online portal where students complete one application to determine the scholarships for which they are eligible. Alternatively, donors can create a designated fund with the ECCF to benefit an existing scholarship fund at another institution.
Each scholarship is customizable to the donor’s interests. Donors work with our staff to establish objective criteria by which scholarship recipients will be selected. For example, scholarship criteria can look at financial need, academic achievement, seniors who are graduating from a specific school or graduating seniors who live in a particular geographic area. Donors may serve on the selection committee (in accordance with current laws), but our staff handles the necessary paperwork and ensures that scholarship awards are distributed to each recipient’s college or university.
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