s/o donations to your alma mater

[definitelyO]

the recommendations in the prior post were to donate directly to the university with the funds earmarked for a specific discipline or to donate to the local HS for kids attending that university.

we've thought about donating more - but how exactly do you think we would go about putting a scholarship in place for my local high school? I'm from a small rural town and only a small % of graduates go on to college. This got me thinking that I'd like to help contribute - but have no idea how to start.

Thanks!

[amity]

Call the counselor's or guidance office at the local high school. Chances are they can help you set this up or refer you to the people who can.

There might be a school foundation that they run the donations through (so that it is tax deductible to the donor).

[LoveTrains]

Do you want the scholarship to be administered through your university or high school?

I would suggest the university, because they probably have a staff set up to handle these things (unless you want to a private high school, which I doubt). Just look on the website for the development/advancement department and see who it says to contact.

However, most schools have pretty high minimums to endow a scholarship. The lowest I have seen is $50,000 recently, and many schools have upped it to $100,000.

If your sights are not that high, then check with your local high school. They might have a foundation or some other external group that manages these things.

You could also contact a local community foundation and think about setting up what is called a Donor Advised Fund. A DAF is normally run through a community foundation or you can also set them up with banks like Fidelity. But again, you are going to need a decent chunk of change to start this because most of these types of things need to be endowed and it isn't something that you necessarily contribute to yearly.

good luck!