The Endowed Scholarship Program
- Endowments are officially established when reviewed by the OWC Foundation staff and accepted by the OWC Foundation Board, to ensure consistency with the OWC Foundation mission, policies, and procedures.
- Endowments may be established by individuals, corporations, social groups, estates, charitable organizations, families, friends, and other entities, and wherever possible must designate an individual as a donor representative with whom the Foundation can communicate gifts, policies, and revisions.
- Each endowment's income will be distributed from time to time by a committee including the OWC Foundation Executive Director and the College Director of Financial Aid, or their designees, at a minimum, and others as necessary to meet the spirit of the fund.
- Capital gains on principal will be reinvested to principal. Income is awarded as scholarship.
- Investments may be pooled and income from such investments is allocated equitably to participating funds.
- Criteria for awarding endowed scholarships can include conditions such as financial need, academic achievement, or potential, community service and leadership, pursuit of a particular course of study, residence within a particular locale, membership in a given group, ability at identifiable tasks, or some combination of these. But in no case may conditions for award be capricious or discriminatory within those broad criteria.
- The minimum requirement to establish a new endowment is $15,000, a target which must be reached by the donor within ten (10) years. Endowments which fail to meet this target revert to either the general fund or the general scholarship fund at the discretion of the Board.
- Contributions can be made to the endowment at any time to establish a perpetual scholarship in the donor's name within guidelines established by the Foundation.
- Each endowment fund will be reviewed annually by the OWC Foundation staff to ascertain its effectiveness. At least every second year, the Foundation staff will review the criteria and performance of the endowment with donor representatives. Staff will make recommendations for changes in regulations as a result of these reviews. One year after the death of the donor, or inactivity of the donor representative or organization, governance of the fund reverts to the OWC Foundation.
- Exceptions to these policies may be made from time to time by the Executive Director with the concurrence of the Executive Committee.