I had my phone call with Chris at Scholarship Managers. Everything is perfect with them except it’s too expensive. Let me define perfect – they accept the donations and give the donors a tax-deductible receipt, which is key. They also select the winners of the scholarship but we can set the criteria and publicize to our target demographic. When they have selected their finalists we get to verify that they are of Amish descent. How do we do that? Well, a little phone call would let us know if they speak the Amish language or not, so that’s quite convenient.
The only problem is the price. They charge $75 per application and $75 per scholarship they give out. There is no way for us to know how many applications they might receive, what if it’s a 100? There is no way we’re going to pay $7500 for that! What’s more – the money that pays for management fees is not tax-deductible so someone would have to pay it out of pocket knowing it doesn’t even go to the scholarship winners.
That being said, I know it’s a lot of work to read each application and take care of the whole selection process. I’m not saying they charge an unfair amount, but it’s definitely too much for us. Next?
I got in touch with a community foundation in Akron, Ohio and I have hopes that might work out but I haven’t been able to speak to them yet. I also emailed one in Indiana. I figured if something works out in either area then we have Will in Ohio and Naomi in Indiana in case they want face to face interaction. Fingers crossed.
My only worry about community foundations – I’m not sure if they’re able to give scholarships outside of their region. I guess I’ll find out as soon as I speak to them.
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