Known for the Charles Marr Citation, its component grant program, the AIAS Chapter grants, and its annual scholarships, the AIA Ohio Foundation decided earlier this year to move forward with a Legacy Scholarship Program. The program is designed to augment the existing scholarship program by creating new endowments that will support additional scholarships available to students statewide. This program, expected to be formalized by this fall, will encourage individuals, firms, and groups of members to develop scholarships that will support students across the state.
Similar to scholarship programs operated by many non-profit organizations, the AIA Ohio Foundation Legacy Scholarships will encourage named scholarships to support specific firm or group interests. From honoring firm members to supporting issues such as sustainability, leadership, or women in architecture, the legacy scholarships are intended to bring groups together with common interests to help relieve some of the financial burden on today’s students. The AIA Ohio Foundation Board of Trustees intends to fund the first of these scholarships this year.
To develop a Legacy Scholarship, the AIA Ohio Foundation is working on a process that will assist donors to meet minimum endowment criteria. A minimum donation, which has not yet been established, will be required to create the scholarship fund along with a timeline to meet minimum funding criteria for the scholarships. The Legacy Scholarships will be invested in segregated accounts within the Foundation that will mirror the Foundation’s own investment policy. While this program is still a work in progress, it is the hope of the Foundation that we can continue to expand our assistance to deserving students from across the state in support of the architectural profession.
These scholarships, which will be able to target specific needs and students, will help us combine resources from throughout the state to meet student financial needs in this increasingly challenging environment. More information on the Legacy Scholarship program will be available later this summer. The Foundation Board of Trustees looks forward to helping jump start this important new program.