Anyone ever do a memorial scholarship endowment?

[gsganzer]

Thanks for the replies. During my next lull in work, I'll be setting up a meeting with my estate planning attorney to go over the trust that will now hold my folks estate (I'm the sole executor) and also our financial planner.

I understand $1K isn't a lot of money in this day and age. I'll see what the options are. As some mentioned, it might make better sense to just make a scholarship from investment gains as a tax write off each year.

I've done some googling and I've seen many of the options folks have discussed and I can see where some of them might be a frustrating option. At my daughter's scholarship awards banquet, they had scholarships that ranged from $500 to $18.5K. My daughter said the recipient of the $18.5K scholarship came from a very wealthy Indian family. Both the recipient and her sister had just gotten matching BMW's from their parents for graduation. That kind of sours a person considering philanthropy or certainly makes you want to take a better look at how their awarded, regarding economic need.

 

[2manyrocks]

On the other hand, I was told about a student who was on the verge of selling the crappy car he used to get to his part time job he needed to pay his college tuition, but was coming up short and considering selling his car to make his next tuition payment. Fortunately, the right college administrator stepped in before that happened, but a $1,000 matters to some students if you can get it to the ones who actually need it.

 

[Snobdds]

Honestly...I would do it differently. There is so much money for school out there. If a kid puts any effort into applying for scholarships, they will get some. What the wife and I have noticed with kids in college, they have nothing to live on and develop life experiences with. They need school, but they also need real world stuff.

We tend to help out in other ways. Our kid has a couple of friends that love to go up to our place in Steamboat for skiing. But at $300 for a day ticket, it's cost prohibited. So we bought 10 season passes and left them at the school and they can give the passes out to students that want to use them for the day. They are always being used.

Since that worked well, we bought other things in season pass form to allow students to use. The sympathy, amusement parks, swim and gym passes etc. The wife also funded a grocery fund to help kids with food. The school is able to load a prepaid card for kids to use. We put no conditions on it other than they need to be a student.

This year she is expanding into funding uhauls. It became apparent to us that college kids like to move around from apartment to apartment. The problem is, they usually don't have a truck to do it with so they get wrapped into renting uhauls to do it. The uhaul place sees these kids coming. So we (really she) negotiated a rate to students and funded a good amount to get the pricing. Now students can get a day uhaul rental paid for to move.

We would have never seen these needs if we didn't have a kid in college. Spend some time around kids and it will become clear what needs there are in that community.

 

[airbiscuit]

 

[gsganzer]

Snobdds,
Your post and a few others got me to start thinking about other options too. Part of the reason college tuition has become so expensive, is because there's so much money out there. Typical supply and demand. You look at any college and it has construction cranes poking up in multiple places. Elaborate athletic facilities, fancy dorms, showpiece student centers, used to be seen at only the fancy private colleges. Today it's become the norm for even the austere public colleges. These costs are passed on in the tuition fee's.

I also look at this girl that received the $18.5K scholarship, when she clearly didn't have an economic need and it makes me start to tap the brakes, or certainly make sure there are controls to make sure the money is well utilized.

One thing my parents loathed, was folks that weren't/aren't responsible with their money. Both my parents worked hard to make a comfortable life. They weren't rich, but they lived a comfortable and secure life because of responsible financial decisions they made. It's a trait that wasn't lost on me either. In the end, I was able to provide in-home care for my mom at a burn rate of $10K/month, because my folks prepared themselves financially for their elder years. It lessened both the mental and financial burden on my family, allowing us to have quality, worry free time, with my mom.

My Dad had done a lot of volunteer work through the years. He was on the board of trustee's for our town library, vestry/treasurer at our church, volunteer treasurer for the local visiting nurses association, volunteer treasurer at a home for aging men, driver for the American Cancer Association etc. Likewise, my mom was civically active, giving and helping in any way she could. Most of my folks contribution was with their time and effort, showing that philanthropy doesn't just have to be with money. So, I'm looking at other options of how to help people that are truly in need.

It's a shame that I'm starting to become cynical about helping others, but I guess that's the place todays societal ills have led most of us to.

 

[Snobdds]

The other big area of need is post college. Like I said, there is so much money out there for school. I doubt 20k is going to move any needle. However there is very little money out there to start life with. That is where reality and lack of money collide.

Start a fund for kids who graduate but have nothing to start life with. Most of these kids spend years getting a monetary foundation started. By then they are 30, the easiest years for child rearing is behind them and they still can't afford a house.

This is a lot harder space to donate in. The IRS will give lots of tax breaks for donating to scholastic funds, but treat post graduate donations as any other income for the receiver. It's hard to donate without saddling them with a tax hit. We haven't found a way around that yet.

 

[gsganzer]

One of the real issues we had when caring for my mom, was finding good caregivers. We initially started out using some of the agencies, and the quality and turn-over of the folks was all over the place. Theft, not showing up, questionable skills etc. We even had one girl that was telling the agency she was at my mom's when she was actually at her boyfriends, leaving an 80 YO diabetic/fall risk patient unattended. It was a nightmare that caused us a lot of stress.

That all changed when we hired a family friend directly. She was reliable, competent and caring, but she was also pretty bad with money. Spending every last dime of every paycheck, going out to eat, family trips etc. But we were thankful we found her, and she helped get us all the way to the end.

In the final 18 months or so, we had to supplement our primary caregiver with some agency folks, but it was a whole different experience from the previous agencies. All of the nurses from the new agency came from Zimbabwe or Kenya and were smart, caring, extremely reliable and very appreciative of anything you did for them. Some of them were students, working to get a degree, some of them weren't.

I remember one day; I saw one of the Zimbabwe care givers had a donut spare on her car. I asked her if she needed me to change her tire and she explained she'd get a new tire on Friday, when she got her paycheck. I asked her for her keys and went and paid to have a new tire put on her car. She gave me a batch of cookies the next day! Another time, her son had his bike stolen, so she was having to show up a little late, because she was having to drop him off at school. I took an old bike (although a very good bike) I had in the barn to a local bike shop and had them get it all fixed up for him, so he could get himself to school. Those were folks I enjoyed helping, because they needed it, and just as importantly, they were deserving and appreciative of the help. They were working to make a better life for them and their family. When my wife and I needed to spend a night away, one of those caregivers would stay over the night, in my mom's apartment to watch her. It was truly a win-win for all of us.

I'm considering what options I might have helping out those folks too.

 

[MossRoad]

Thanks for the replies. During my next lull in work, I'll be setting up a meeting with my estate planning attorney to go over the trust that will now hold my folks estate (I'm the sole executor) and also our financial planner.

I understand $1K isn't a lot of money in this day and age. I'll see what the options are. As some mentioned, it might make better sense to just make a scholarship from investment gains as a tax write off each year.

I've done some googling and I've seen many of the options folks have discussed and I can see where some of them might be a frustrating option. At my daughter's scholarship awards banquet, they had scholarships that ranged from $500 to $18.5K. My daughter said the recipient of the $18.5K scholarship came from a very wealthy Indian family. Both the recipient and her sister had just gotten matching BMW's from their parents for graduation. That kind of sours a person considering philanthropy or certainly makes you want to take a better look at how their awarded, regarding economic need.

Well, on the one hand, the smartest kid might deserve it.
One the other, the kid in the most financial dire straits might deserve it.
Or some balance between the two. Or something different entirely.
You can set the parameters for who is eligible.
Grades
Financial needs
Polish American
Local kids only
etc...

It's all up to you.

 

[2manyrocks]

In the final 18 months or so, we had to supplement our primary caregiver with some agency folks, but it was a whole different experience from the previous agencies. All of the nurses from the new agency came from Zimbabwe or Kenya and were smart, caring, extremely reliable and very appreciative of anything you did for them. Some of them were students, working to get a degree, some of them weren't.


I'm considering what options I might have helping out those folks too.

Sounds like you may have already identified a pool of candidates deserving assistance.

Buying a tire for someone doesn't sound like much unless you're the person who really needs it to get to a job that might not pay much to the person doing the actual work. Been more than a few poor people killed by bald tires trying to get to their jobs.

 

[airbiscuit]

I was on a Technical College Foundation Committee. I was on it from the beginning - when we formed the foundation. We were of to a modest but good start, and i was feeling good about things. At one of the meetings, our chair said we all selected to be on the committee for our Time Talent and Treasure. I was doing okay on the time and talent side, but not so much treasure. I quickly remedied that.

The President of the Technical College was amazing. He had an annual donor recognition event - to thank them. He had students who received scholarships and emergency financial assistance speak to what that meant to them. Most had been dealt a bad hand, and were barely getting by. Their stories were heart warming and heart breaking. They said that knowing that some cared about them was as important to them as getting the money. One student framed her scholarship award letter and put it on their wall.

Everyone in the audience was wiping their tears and reaching for their wallets.

Don't over think this. Do something and know that you have changed lives in honor of your parents.