Funding Status

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The LMAA Active Member Scholarship

The VTRS LMAA has created an endowment account with the Virginia Tech Foundation to fund an annual scholarship for active members of the Virginia Tech Rescue Squad. This scholarship, named the Virginia Tech Rescue Squad Life Membership and Alumni Scholarship, was seeded with a $5,000 donation from the LMAA and is managed by the Virginia Tech Foundation.

Thanks to our Charter Donors we have reached our first funding level in less than a year!

Purpose

The scholarship was created to provide the Life Member and Alumni Association a way to provide a stable annual gift back to the active squad in a way that directly impacts the members. As alumni, we all know about the incredible time commitment it takes to be a volunteer member of the rescue squad and the impact it can have upon the pressures of a college student. We hope this scholarship will be able to alleviate some of those hardships. We intend for this endowment to grow through continuing donations so that every member of the rescue squad will receive a full annual scholarship.

Award Process

Once the endowment fund is at a level that has proper annual income, that income can be dispersed as a scholarship to students who are selected from the Active Squad by a Virginia Tech Foundation committee.

There are two levels of funding for an Endowment Scholarship account:

• $50,000: A $50,000 endowment fund will provide a partial scholarship to one student. That equates to $2,500 annually.
• $100,000: A $100,000 endowment fund will provide a full scholarship to one student. That equates to $5,000 annually.

The students will be selected from the active squad by a committee from the VTF who will use the guidelines created by the VTRS LMAA. These guidelines can be modified each year. The scholarship(s) will not be awarded until there is ample income from the endowment fund (typically 2 years after reaching the full endowment funding level). The current selection criteria is:

1. Three (3) recipients shall be selected, each receiving $833
2. Recipients shall be senior year undergraduate students serving as team leaders on the Virginia Tech Rescue Squad who have a minimum g.p.a. of 2.0
3. Preference shall be given to students with a demonstrated financial need

Once a student is selected, they will be given a Financial Award Letter which must be completed and on file with the Virginia Tech Foundation. The scholarship will be listed on their student account and applied towards their balance due each semester. Half of the award will be applied in the Fall and half of the award amount will be applied in the Spring.

Funding Goal

The end goal of the LMAA is to be able to provide a full scholarship to every active member of the Virginia Tech Rescue Squad. There are about 40 members each year and the funding level of a full scholarship is $100,000. That is an end-goal of $4 million. However, we are taking it one step at a time and attempting to provide some money to as many of of the members as we can each year. Until we reach an amount that will provide scholarships to all members, we are dividing the existing scholarships between members.

Our first goal was to fund one partial scholarship at $50,000. We are excited to announce that we reached that goal within the first year of fundraising! That will be used to award one partial scholarship split between 3 senior members of the squad.

Our next goal is to double the amount to $100,000 so that we can double the number of members benefiting from our endowment. Hopefully we can reach this goal in a year also!

How to Donate

There are many ways to give to Virginia Tech Foundation. The easiest way is with a credit card or check. However, you can also set up recurring payments with your credit card, include VTRS in your will, pay with an electronic bank draft, etc. Virginia Tech also participates in a Matching Gifts program. If your employer participates, then you may be able to double your donation through your company. That information is available on our online giving form.

Credit Card Online
We have created an online donation form that will submit your request directly to the VT Foundation Banner system. Provide your information and your gift amount (be sure to select the designation for your gift) and then proceed to their secure credit card payment page.

Check by mail
Another option is to donate with a check made payable to Virginia Tech Foundation, Inc. Write "VT Rescue Scholarship Endowment" in the memo field of the check to ensure that it is contributed correctly. Mail the check to:

Other Methods
If you would like to contribute your amount using multiple payments or would like to donate another way, please contact the University Annual Giving office at (540) 231-3171. Also, at the bottom of the online donation form you can fill in your information and then request that they contact you to complete the transaction if you would like to inquire as to a different way to do it.

Virginia Tech Foundation, Inc.

The Virginia Tech Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit nonstock corporation that receives, manages, and disburses private gifts in support of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Donations received by the Foundation are credited to the account designated in the donation and the money is pooled in a large investment account that is aggressively managed to provide income and funding for the University. The endowment accounts own "stock" in the Foundation much like a mutual fund. When donations are accepted, they purchase units of the Foundation Account at the current market value of the Foundation's investments. The typical overhead cost of managing the funds is 7%. All excess earnings not used by the scholarship is re-invested in the endowment fund and is not lost.

Donations made to the Scholarship Endowment are made directly to the Virginia Tech Foundation and are tax deductible. The Tax ID number for Virginia Tech Foundation, Inc. is 540721690.