How to Set Up a Scholarship Fund

If you, or someone you know, wishes to undertake a project which they cannot finance alone, it might be necessary for you to start a fundraising activity to initiate the project. If, for example, you wish to get a college scholarship, you can contact the school and they might have a whole network of available donors to help with raising funds. On the other hand, if you want to raise your own funds, you need to start off by writing down a list of potential donors – these can include, businesses, NGO’s, community organizations and even grant awarding institutes.

Finding Donors

To help you find your donor, you need to make some promotional materials like emails, flyers or letters to distribute and let people know for what exact purpose you require the scholarship. These promotional materials can also help people be aware of different fundraisers you may want to host like the following:

• Crowd funding campaigns where people all around the world can easily donate to your cause or scholarship fund.
• Games nights where participants and visitors have to pay a certain amount of donation to enter.
• Bake sales where people can buy some tasty treats in exchange for donations.
• Raffles and lucky draws for items or perks so each participant can buy as many donation tickets as they please to increase their chances of winning a prize.
• Offering perks like free dinners for all those willing to donate.
• Auctions where you can sell art work or antiques in order to raise funds.

Scholarship Fundraising

Whichever method you choose to carry on with, there are a certain steps you must follow to conduct successful scholarship fundraising.

Step 1: Request information about scholarships, such as on which basis they are given, are you eligible for federal aid, etc.

Step 2: Look for specific organizations which fund the major you are interested in. For example, if you’re interested in a career in broadcasting, you can request the American Broadcasters Association for a scholarship.

Step 3: Apply for a grant as soon as possible. Look into the different types including federal, institutional and state grants. Most grants are provided on a first come first serve basis so you have to make sure you apply immediately. You can apply to several grants to increase your chances of getting one. As long as you are earning less than $40,000 a year in the US, you will be eligible for most grants.

Step 4: Take chances in institutional grants – these grants are provided to students whose federal or state grants aren’t enough to fund their tuition. This money comes directly from the college itself.

Finally, after looking into all the scholarships and grant funding programs, ask your school to provide you with a better financial aid package. Most schools offer a low package initially, but with a bit of negotiating, they will likely increase your financial aid amount – take advantage of this.