|
Unless otherwise specified by donors, all gifts go directly to the Foundation Endowment. The Foundation's scholarship budget
each year is limited to the earnings generated by the Endowment investment fund plus any funds specified by donors to go directly
to scholarships.
Board members, who are all Sunset graduates, have never received any remuneration except the joy that comes with helping
others, an ample reward to say the least. In fact, each has made significant financial contributions to the Foundation and
has invested extensive time and effort. Further, there are no paid staff members. Except for routine tax, accounting, and
bookkeeping expenses, all activities for fundraising, school interaction, scholarship selection and award, legal support,
etc., are handled on a volunteer basis by Sunset graduates and friends. This use of volunteers and the diligent practice of
holding related expenses to a bare minimum have resulted in a low ratio of cumulative expenses to cumulative contributions.
Realizing the rapidly increasing costs of higher education, the Board, as another step toward good stewardship, has worked
diligently to ensure that scholarship awards benefit the maximum feasible number of students. That is, rather than attempting
to provide very large, four-year scholarship awards to a very few students, the Board has adopted and implemented the philosophy
of providing incentive awards to more students.
This approach has proven to be very successful and is having a major impact on students. Experience has shown that, once
the motivated student has received even a taste of higher education progress, he/she has found some way to continue that progress
--- by working part or full time, and/or handling expenses efficiently, and/or seeking other scholarship support from his/her
respective institution of higher education, etc.
For example, the quality and determination of the scholarship students is shown by the fact that some who were given very
small stipends by the Foundation have begun by working part time and taking a couple of courses and have subsequently been
sufficiently resourceful to earn masters degrees.
Next: Founders
|
