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Re: Scholarships -- Determining Financial Need
I'm re-thinking the way we've been calculating need.
Initially, I thought I had to factor in EFC, and I think it's still important but not the main thing.
Colleges/Unis use EFC in their calculations to determine the gap between federal/state aid and what the family can afford to pay. They fill the gap with institutional aid.
I'm planning to ask for EFC and it will be something to consider but in a different context.
I want to look at COA - Gift Aid (PELL, MAP, scholarships, etc.) to determine financial need. The school will have tried to fill the gap between F/S aid and EFC, and I look at our scholarships as a way to lower the EFC. So someone with a low EFC may have less need than someone with a higher EFC. But, of course, if the family has a high AGI and a high EFC, they may have less of a need.
My brain is starting to hurt from all of this mapping.
Re: Thank you for Custom Fields!!! So so SO excited!!!
Right?! I am continually amazed at how speedy Foundant is about getting things up and running. When we started training in January, we were told there weren't custom fields. By a training just a few weeks later, we had (rudimentary) custom fields in a couple of areas. Now, this is fully rolling out just a few months later? So cool!
Thank you for Custom Fields!!! So so SO excited!!!
I haven't even used it yet and I am thrilled about the custom fields! Just want to give a shout out to the development team for making this happen. I'll be attending the webinar tomorrow (July 8) and plan to gobble down the knowledge articles after. Thank you so much! I think it's gonna be more exciting than I imagined. You totally made my Wednesday!! 😍🤗😁
What gaps do you see in scholarship opportunities for students?
We are currently evaluating our general high school scholarship fund to see if we are making the best impact for our local students. I am reaching out to other foundations, counselors, local students, but wanted to see if any of you have any data or information on what kind of student is being missed by scholarship opportunities. Any thoughts or input, is welcome!
Moving recurring donations to CSuite/Stripe
One of our community foundations recently went live in Community Suite and is in the process of transferring all of their community funds from their current payment processor to Stripe. One fund in particular has a large amount of recurring donations in the legacy credit card system and the advisors are reticent to make a the change to Stripe, as it would require donors to set up their recurring donations in the new system. They are concerned that they will lose donors as part of this process.
Have any other community foundations encountered a similar pushback from fund advisors? If so, how did you handle it?
Sample Template Letter to Donor to reach Minimum Endowed Fund Balance
Hi all,
Would you mind sharing or uploading any template you may have on notices to endowed fund holders (DAFs, Agency, Designated, Scholarship, etc) to share that they have not met their minimum fund balance per policy guidelines, and advice on next steps?
Thank you very much!
Missy Belles
