Shronk Memorials at Temple!!!!!!!

[TeddyKGB]

check these options out! I think this may be the thing to do. If the PR community is into it, we can really get this going. I think 25k should be well within our reach. Maybe we can set that as a goal and leave the other options in as backup if we fall short. Ms. Lomery is available at Temple to anyone who may have further questions or want more details, I think we are ready to give the go ahead to Temple, I just need to know where the community stands, so share your thoughts please.

From: ASHLEY LOMERY <lomerya@temple.edu>
Date: Fri, May 29, 2009 at 4:36 PM
Subject: Scholarship Information for the School of Communications and Theater, Temple University
To: rfg@gausslaw.com



Dear Robert,

It was nice speaking with you earlier this week. Thank you again for your interest in helping to create a scholarship in memory of Justin Shronk, SCT '05. As I mentioned on the phone, scholarships at the School of Communications and Theater (SCT) at Temple University can be created in a couple different ways, which I have outlined below.

Endowment

To permanently endow and name a scholarship, a minimum of $25,000 is required. Endowed scholarships are a wonderful means to honor or memorialize someone, as they exist for the life of the institution. Donors may name the fund and select broad criteria by which the scholarship should be awarded. We offer donors the opportunity to meet their scholarship recipients each year. The gift of $25,000 may be made in full by one donor or many, or paid as a pledge over a period of three to five years. We could also work with you to fundraise for the endowment from family and friends. Scholarship awards will begin to be made once the endowment fund has reached a balance of $12,500. We also offer donors the opportunity to establish endowed awards/prizes, which begin with a minimum of $10,000.

Both endowed scholarships and awards/prizes are invested along with the University's endowment, and awards are made through the interest earned. An endowed scholarship established with a contribution of $25,000 will generate approximately $1,125 in direct scholarship support annually once fully funded; endowed award/prize sestablished with a contribution of $10,000 will generate approximately $450 in direct support annually once fully funded. For both scholarships and awards/prizes, any interest accrued above and beyond the amount designated for annual awards is reinvested into the corpus of the endowed fund, helping it to grow over time.

Term

Term scholarships typically range in amount from $1,000 to $5,000. The scholarship may be established through annual gifts by one donor, or many donors. If you would be interested in asking family and friends of Justin to support the scholarship, we could work with you to accomplish that goal. The scholarship fund may be named and the donor would select broad criteria by which the scholarship should be awarded. As with endowed scholarships, the donor will have the opportunity to meet the student recipients each year. Term scholarships are awarded over a predetermined amount of time, usually one to three years. Once the funds are exhausted, the scholarship would no longer exist without additional contributions.

All contributions to a fund established in Justin's name here at SCT would be tax-deductible to the extent provided by law, and will also count toward Temple University’s first-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign: Access to Excellence: The 125th Anniversary Campaign for Temple. One of the main goals of our campaign is to increase the amount of scholarship funding available for our students.

Tuition for SCT students is about $11,000 per year for undergraduates, and the majority of our students require some form of financial aid. Scholarships and awards/prizes are especially crucial in helping our students to alleviate their financial worries and to focus on their education.

I know you had mentioned internships as being something you and your colleagues might be interested in supporting. As I mentioned on the phone, SCT has a very active summer internship program in Los Angeles, and many students from the Broadcasting department (which was Justin's major), participate. It would be fantastic if our current students could benefit from additional financial support from a fund in Justin's name to travel to Los Angeles, or anywhere in the country, for their summer internships.

Please do not hesitate to be in touch if you have any questions, or if you would like additional information. I will touch base with you again within the next few weeks to see which option you think would be most feasible. In the interim, I may be reached at the phone number or email address below.

Ashley R. Lomery
Director of Development and Alumni Relations
School of Communications and Theater
Temple University
1938 Liacouras Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19122

tel: 215.204.1384
fax: 215.204.3479
ashley.lomery@temple.edu
www.temple.edu/sct

[The 6th Wilbury]

This sounds good, although I assume enough of us must be on board before the endowment is initiated. For example, if Temple only receives $9,000 in donations, then that money will sit there without accruing interest.

Very nice work getting this moving... now we'll have to gauge how much interest there is contributing to such a fund.

[Cardkillah]

I'm interested in contributing. Just fill me in on the details, when this is happening, how much we expect to generate, where these funds are going to (i.e I'm assuming we're sending them directly to Temple or are they being sent to an intermediary?)

[Viticus]

while my donation would be modest I would definitely be interested in helping.

[TeddyKGB]

three dudes?

who else wants to give, I know you people do, let the community know. you dont have to give alot to get this going. I think we should set the goal at the 25k endowment and have the term programs as back up in case we fall short. if you want to give, say $25 or more, please post so I can tell Ms. Lomery we are on board with this. I know Shronk would back the idea of a scholarship for young people in media. I dont worry much about falling short here, because as you can read in the above detail, there are less costly alternatives if the money falls short of 25k.

everyone grieves in their own way, and I know not all have extra money and have their own challenges in life. but Shronk deserves this , he earned it.

[jtb81100]

Great idea. If this gets off the ground I'll give a donation. With some pimping on the shows, both live and commercials, I think that the PR community could really get something good going.

[Airnick15]

I definitely agree that mentioning this during an episode would help get this going.

[TeddyKGB]

Ya, cardkilla, there will be no need for an intermediary, all funds will be sent directly to Temple.

I gotta say though, if I only have a committment from five people to give a modest amount, I dont know that this is going to work.

[WTFFantasiaBarrino]

Anyone talk to Full Tilt about running a tourney?

[The 6th Wilbury]

When I was working in university development (campus-speak for fund-raising), endowments usually needed a sizable lead gift to really get it going. At UC Davis, the minimum to start an endowment fund is $10,000 (or it was, 12 years ago when i was working in that office). In most cases, someone first stepped in with the requisite five-figure gift, then others followed with smaller gifts.

I had two exceptions: a memorial fund for a track athlete who was killed by a drunk driver, and a swimmer who was hit by a negligent truck driver.

The track athlete was first. I made the first donation ($200) to initiate the account. For the next week or so, I received stacks and stacks of very small checks – usually $10 or so -- from almost every sorority girl on campus. It was quite touching, really. That's how beloved she was in those circles. Then someone else came through with a donation large enough to push it to the $10,000 minimum. I think it took a few months, maybe even a year, to reach that plateau.

The swimmer's accident was second. Same idea. I kicked off the account with a small donation of $200. She came from a relatively wealthy family, so many of her father's business associates began sending in donations. Her fund became an endowment almost immediately, simply because of the size of the gifts.

In both cases, I had family members or friends contact me first. They had numerous people who were ready and willing to make donations for such a fund -- they just didn't know how to do it. I am happy to say that both of those funds are still going strong, generating enough for some decent scholarships for their recipients each year. We host a banquet for those awards so that the families can meet the scholarship winners.

Anyway, it's possible that a few of us could send in donations and get enough people to continue supporting it until it becomes an endowment. But the majority of the time, these things stall out before they can reach that amount. In such a case, it generally goes back to the donors to decide what they want to use the money for -- a one-time gift, the creation of a perpetual award, a monument, etc.