How to Set Up a Memorial Scholarship Fund
Imagine Dragons
Losing a loved one is a profoundly difficult experience, and often, our words seem inadequate to express the emotions that come with it. When I lost my father to COVID-19, I quickly and unexpectedly learned just how painful it is to lose someone you love. Not a day goes by without thinking of those we have lost. Honoring them can be an inspiring and meaningful way to embrace the healing process.
One beautiful way to keep their memory alive and make a positive impact is by creating a memorial scholarship fund. This not only celebrates your loved one's life and values but also ensures their passion for helping others continues to make a difference.
In this guide, I'll walk you through how to set up a memorial scholarship fund, from defining its purpose to raising funds and awarding scholarships. My goal is to inspire and provide you with practical advice so you can honor your loved one's memory meaningfullly. Let's learn how to honor them in a special way!
Create your memorial scholarship fund with Bold.org for free, and cherish your loved one's memory by helping others fulfill their dreams.
Set Up Your Free Donor Account Today!Quick Look at Memorial Scholarship Creation Options
Using Bold.org
- Pros: Simple and free setup, administrative support, ensures compliance with regulations, allows direct participation in the scholarship process
- Cons: Requires a minimum donation of $500
Creating Your Own Foundation
- Pros: Establishes a lasting tribute to a loved one, potential for substantial growth and impact
- Cons: Complex and costly setup process, must adhere to regulatory requirements, resource-intensive management
Hiring a Scholarship Management Service
- Pros: Saves valuable time, ensures regulatory compliance
- Cons: Creates dependency on the management service, reduces personal involvement, high management costs, limited transparency, processes may be standardized
What to Know About Memorial Scholarship Funds
A memorial scholarship fund is a way to honor the memory of someone you’ve lost by helping others pursue their education. It’s a financial aid award set up in their name (e.g., Jane Doe Memorial Scholarship), providing scholarships to students. Often, the criteria for these scholarships reflect the values, passions, or interests of the person being remembered. Family, friends, and supporters can contribute to the fund.
For family and friends, it’s a beautiful way to keep their loved one’s spirit alive. Every time a scholarship is awarded, it’s a reminder of the difference their loved one is still making in the world. It brings comfort and pride to know that their legacy continues to inspire and support others. It turns grief into something positive, providing a sense of purpose and connection.
For students receiving a memorial scholarship in someone's name is incredibly special. It's more than financial help. They become a piece of a story and legacy, motivating them to succeed.
One helpful aspect of creating a memorial scholarship is that the donations are fully tax-deductible. It means that while you're honoring their memory, there's also a financial relief for you.
Important: for the scholarship to stay tax-exempt with the IRS, it must be awarded fairly and without discrimination. Following these guidelines is essential. I’ll explain this further in a bit. You can also check out our post where we talk about IRS Guidelines for Starting a Scholarship Fund!
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Create Your Free Donor ProfileHow to Start a Memorial Scholarship Fund
To set up a memorial scholarship fund independently, you will need to create a private foundation and complete the necessary paperwork with the IRS. In order for you to do this, you'll need to determine the type of foundation you want to establish. Typically, scholarship funds are classified as grant-making foundations, but the IRS recognizes various categories of tax-exempt organizations.
Next, you'll need to apply for tax-exempt status. It's important to ensure you've gathered all the legal documentation required and your foundation meets all the requirements for tax-exempt status.
The process for setting up a private foundation for a memorial scholarship can vary depending on the type of organization, the size of the foundation, and the amount of the scholarship fund. It is essential to hire a lawyer or legal adviser to assist with the process and ensure that you meet all the necessary requirements. This professional assistance helps avoid ineligibility due to minor errors.
Finally, you'll need to file the paperwork with the IRS and your state government. This can be a bit of a hassle and might get pricey, as you'll likely need to hire a lawyer and a financial tax advisor, plus cover website and legal fees.
Choosing a reputable scholarship management service like Bold.org can make the process of creating a memorial scholarship in honor of your loved one much easier. Many donors choose to use a scholarship management service to take care of their memorial scholarship fund.
By using Bold.org, you can ensure your memorial scholarship honors your loved one's legacy while gaining favorable tax benefits. Best of all, our service is free, so every dollar you donate goes directly to supporting deserving students without any administrative or legal fees.
Bold.org has been recognized by trusted sources, such as Calvin Rosser, Business Insider, and CNN, as one of the best platforms to start a scholarship fund, and many high schools and colleges across the nation feature its scholarships as excellent opportunities for their students.
Step-by-Step: Creating a Memorial Scholarship Fund
1. Allocating Memorial Funds
To create a memorial scholarship, you'll need to allocate funds to the scholarship. You need to decide on your budget and whether or not you wish to raise funds for your scholarship.
You can choose to raise funds for your memorial scholarship on the Bold.org platform and host fundraising events to boost donations to your scholarship fund. Doing this allows you to raise money for your scholarship to help you reach your donation goal. Browse scholarship funds for inspiration!
2. Choosing Who to Support
Deciding who to support is an important step in the scholarship creation process. It's also a meaningful way to honor your loved one by reflecting on their values and the qualities you want to promote through your memorial scholarship fund.
3. Determining Eligibility Criteria to Honor Your Loved One
Your scholarship eligibility requirements are a wonderful opportunity to reflect the values and traits of your honored loved one.
Do the applicants need to attend a particular school, pursue a specific field of study, or meet a minimum grade point average, etc? For example, if your loved one attended trade school, you might specify that applicants should be enrolled in a trade school. If they were a teacher, loved football, or had a special bond with their dog, you could incorporate those aspects into the eligibility criteria. The choice is yours!
4. Finishing the Memorial Scholarship Documents
Once you’ve nailed down the eligibility criteria for your memorial scholarship, you’re ready to bring it to life! Here’s how you can get started:
- Start a Nonprofit Organization: This route involves a lot of work and expense, including legal fees and setting up a professional website.
- Set Up an Endowed Scholarship at a School: This option usually requires a significant financial commitment, as many schools have high minimum donation amounts for endowed scholarships.
- Create Your Scholarship on Bold.org: This is often the easiest and most affordable choice. Our Donor Team takes care of the administrative tasks, legal details, and promotion, making the process smooth and hassle-free. Plus, you’ll have access to our expert team and a large pool of students, all without any extra cost to you.
5. Setting Up Your Memorial Fund
Want to honor your loved one’s memory in a meaningful way? Head over to Bold.org to set up your donor profile and start a memorial scholarship. Once you're verified, you can submit a proposal for your scholarship, and our dedicated Donor Team will reach out to guide you through the process and answer any questions.
After your proposal is reviewed and finalized, you can fund your scholarship, and it will go live on Bold.org within an hour. Students will be able to find and apply for it easily, ensuring your loved one’s legacy supports those in need.
You can also gather support from friends, family, and your community to contribute to your scholarship fund and share your loved one's honorable legacy. By doing so, you'll help ensure that their memory continues to inspire and provide opportunities for students in need.
Start today and create a memorial scholarship that continues to honor your loved one’s memory and supports future generations.
Share Your Loved One's Story and Legacy
You can further share the legacy of your loved one by including their name in the title and using a picture of them as the scholarship image. You can also share a bit of their story in the scholarship description and can even seek out applicants with passions, values, or experiences similar to theirs if you'd like!
Deciding the Memorial Scholarship Winner
Now comes the heartwarming part. After the deadline for your memorial scholarship has passed and applications are closed, you’ll have the opportunity to review the submissions and choose the recipients who will benefit from your generosity.
At Bold.org, we're here to support you through this meaningful process. Our team will help by providing you with a curated list of the top 10-50 applicants, making it easier for you to select the individuals who best reflect the values and memory of your loved one.
Once you’ve made your final choice, we’ll notify the chosen recipient and ensure they receive the scholarship funds safely. This is a beautiful way to honor your loved one’s legacy and make a lasting difference in a deserving student’s life.
Create a Scholarship Today for Free!
Honoring a Loved One with Bold.org
1. Become a Bold.org Donor
To get started with Bold.org, you can create your free donor account here. Making an account takes only a few minutes.
2. Submit Your Memorial Scholarship Proposal
Once your Bold.org donor account is set up, you’ll create your memorial scholarship proposal. You don’t need to have every detail figured out right away, but the more clarity you provide, the smoother the process will be.
3. Finalize Details With Our Donor Team
Our team will review your proposal and reach out to schedule a call. During this call, you can discuss any questions you have, refine your goals for the scholarship, and clarify eligibility requirements to ensure everything aligns with your vision.
4. Review Our Draft
After your call, we’ll prepare a draft of your scholarship and send it to you for review. Feel free to suggest any changes or adjustments to make sure it perfectly reflects your intentions.
5. Fund Your Memorial Scholarship
Once you’re happy with the draft, you’ll fund your scholarship, and it will be ready to go live. As applications start coming in, you can review them and select your recipient(s), and we’ll handle the rest. If you’d like to continue supporting students beyond a one-time award, you can choose to renew the scholarship for future years.
6. Enjoy a Stress-Free Selection Process
You’ll be able to see new applications daily. While reviewing them might seem overwhelming, our team is here to assist. We’ll shortlist the top applicants based on your criteria, though you can still review all applications if you prefer. When reviewing and awarding, you can mark applications with your rating to help you keep everything organized. Then, you can choose your winner(s) and may also choose finalists if you'd like.
7. Let Us Handle the Logistics
When it’s time to announce the winners, we’ll manage the details, including notifying recipients, collecting their information, and sending out the scholarship funds. This way, you can focus on the joy of seeing your loved one’s legacy make a difference.
With student debt on the rise, it's important now more than ever to create scholarships, and what better way to keep your loved one's memory alive than by making a lasting impact? Create a memorial scholarship today!
Create a Scholarship in Honor of a Loved One!
Frequently Asked Questions About Creating Memorial Scholarships
How soon can I get a memorial scholarship up and running?
You can set up a memorial scholarship fund rather quickly if you have a clear vision of your goals and the people you want to help.
The exact timeframe depends on the service you use. Many choose to collaborate with an educational institution, community foundation, or nonprofit that already runs scholarship programs. Bold.org strives to make creating and managing memorial scholarships as simple and straightforward as possible. In fact, some donors have successfully set up a memorial scholarship in time for their loved one's memorial service.
How much does it cost to set up a memorial scholarship program?
The cost of scholarship programs depends on the scholarship management service you choose. Some scholarship platforms may charge service fees, initiation fees, management fees, etc. However, free scholarship management services like Bold.org are great options that allow you to create memorial scholarships at no cost, allowing your money to go directly to your scholarship.
When creating a scholarship fund on Bold.org, all scholarships must be at least $500, but they can go up to $75,000 or more! And, since Bold.org is a nonprofit organization, you'll receive tax benefits for your donations.
Is a scholarship fund tax deductible?
Scholarship funds are typically classified as tax-deductible donations, given that they meet specific IRS guidelines. Learn more about IRS Guidelines for Starting a Scholarship Fund!
Do you wish to create an educational scholarship fund in memory of someone? Sign up today and let our Donor Team help you!
About Candace
As the Managing Editor at Bold.org, Candace oversees the creation of valuable, well-crafted content and supports the Writing Team in delivering accurate and relevant information to assist students in navigating their academic and financial paths. She brings years of experience in writing and editing to the platform.
Candace graduated cum laude from Columbia University in the City of New York with a major in Creative Writing and a minor in English, focusing on nonfiction writing and Russian language studies.
Experience
Candace has participated in a variety of writing workshops and seminars, including those focused on nonfiction and fiction writing, novel writing, technical writing, poetry, and editing. She has managed multiple blogs, overseeing their editorial work and SEO optimization, along with content creation, management, writing, and publications. Candace has also written multiple short stories, personal essays, and a children's book.
With a passion for uncovering opportunities and combating student debt, Candace is dedicated to informing students about financial support and resources. She possesses in-depth knowledge of private and federal student loans, institutional scholarships, grants, and fellowships. She leverages this knowledge alongside her editorial expertise and love for storytelling to create engaging and informative content that empowers students.
Since joining the Bold.org team in 2022, Candace has worked as a Content Writer and has since become a Managing Editor. She leads the Writing Team, guiding them to produce high-quality content that informs and empowers students.
Her firsthand experience with the challenges of student debt gives her a unique perspective and a strong commitment to helping others navigate similar situations. This background fuels her dedication to identifying funding opportunities and offering valuable resources to students seeking financial aid and college insights.
Quote from Candace
“To attune co-creatively with our ever-transforming natural neighborhood, we must learn to re-learn. ”