Create a Scholarship

Establishing A Scholarship Fund Through Tyler ISD Foundation

The Tyler ISD Foundation administers scholarship funds by partnering with families, individuals, organizations, and estates to achieve their charitable goals while giving Tyler ISD seniors support to pursue their educational dreams.

Your Legacy, Our Support

Tyler ISD Foundation provides complete administration of your scholarship fund from publicizing the scholarship, creating, receiving, and processing the applications, convening the scholarship committee, and everything in between. The scholarship can bear the name chosen by the donor or sponsoring organization, and the recipient is always informed of the source of the scholarship funds. Often scholarships are established as memorials for individuals whose interests are perpetuated by the fund. Donors may choose to be involved or not involved throughout the scholarship process. Please note that all scholarships are subject to the Foundation’s Scholarship Selection Procedures. 

 Your Gift

Most scholarship funds managed by the Tyler ISD Foundation are endowed scholarship funds, although not required. Endowed scholarship funds are started with a permanent endowment contribution that can be added to by the donor or by others at any time. The contributions are invested by the Foundation, and the earnings from the fund are utilized each year for the scholarships according to the criteria established by the donor. Endowed funds require a minimum initial gift of $10,000 and are maintained in perpetuity. Funds must be in place for a minimum of one year before a scholarship distribution can be made. 

 Scholarship funds may be established with a contribution of any size, but it is the Foundation’s policy that no scholarship is awarded until the Scholarship Fund’s balance reaches $5,000. Annual scholarship distribution must be $1,000 or greater.

Fees:

Scholarship Funds incur a one-time flat fee of $500 to establish the fund account and a minimal annual fee of the market value of the fund. For more information or details on the fee structure, please contact Suzette Farr, Executive Director, at 903.262.3095 or suzette.farr@tylerisd.org.

Choosing Scholarship Criteria

The purpose of each scholarship fund is determined when it is created. There are two types of criteria that must be defined when establishing a scholarship fund, eligibility criteria and selection criteria. The first defines who may apply for the scholarship, while the second helps the scholarship committee determine who among the applicants should receive the scholarship.

While it is not beneficial to define eligibility in too restrictive a fashion (the pool of applicants may be too small), it is helpful to clarify eligibility enough to fulfill the donor’s intent and to avoid inappropriate applications being submitted.

Establishing selection criteria is extremely important. When creating a scholarship fund, the donor must make a number of decisions in regard to the qualifications for recipients of their awards. Some of the possible considerations are listed below. There are many other options from which to choose.

Want to discuss establishing a scholarship fund?

For more information or details on the fee structure, please contact Suzette Farr, Executive Director, at 903.262.3095 or suzette.farr@tylerisd.org.