An Endowed Fund is an investment in the future of education for local area youth. Endowed Funds are invested and managed by a professional investment manager engaged by BASAF and overseen by the BASAF Finance Committee. The income from an Endowed Fund is used to provide an annual scholarship award that is given under the name of the Endowed Fund.
Oftentimes, an Endowed Fund is established in memory of a departed loved one. The annual scholarship generated by an Endowed Fund is an on-going, living memorial that makes a positive impact on a local student’s life.
To establish an Endowed Fund in connection with the passing of a loved one, we suggest the obituary include an instruction for memorial donations to be made payable to “Brunswick Area Student Aid Fund” with a notation in the memo section of the check that the donation is in memory of the loved one’s name. We send thank you and acknowledgment letters to all donors, and can provide a list of donors to family and other interested parties upon request.
Endowed Funds can also be established and named to honor someone the donor wishes to recognize or in connection with a meaningful milestone or event. Some examples include:
- A group of local business persons created the Brunswick Business Professionals Award Fund,
- The Brunswick High School Class of 1959 established an Endowed Fund in connection with their 50th anniversary class reunion,
- A group of friends and associates established an Endowed Fund in honor of Mal Strange, longtime Golf Pro at the Brunswick Golf Club, in connection with his retirement, and
- An Endowed Fund was established to honor Carl “Stump” Merrill, who was the first BASAF scholarship recipient to independently repay all of the funds he had been awarded.
All Endowed Funds are listed on our Endowed Funds page. Each Endowed Fund is provided with a page on the BASAF website containing a narrative about honored individual or group, the purpose of the fund and appropriate photographs and images. These narratives and photographs serve as an on-going, tangible honor to the subject of the named fund or award. They also provide a place for scholarship recipients to learn about the story behind their particular scholarship award.
In order for the annual scholarship associated with an Endowed Fund to be of some substance and to ensure the perpetuity of the award, we encourage our Endowed Funds to have a minimum value of $10,000. However, we will not turn away qualified contributions of any amount. Building an Endowed Fund over a period of time is an option if the donor wishes to engage in annual fund raising or undertake other measures to build the Fund’s value over time.