So far this fiscal year, we have funded $83,727 in vocational education grants to fund life-changing education for 47 grant recipients. At the bottom of this article, you will see the programs of study and the number of students who have elected to study each.It is apparent that the majority of students we have funded have elected medical-related vocations. What is not so apparent is that in many cases, the level of the program they have elected to begin with will result in improving their household income and quality of life, but is also selected because it is within their economic reach with the help of our grant. Many vocational programs cost far more than our current $2,000 maximum grant will cover.
Only thirteen of the grants funded were for less than the current cap of $2,000. It would be conservative to think that if our maximum grant had been $3,000, that we would have funded $100,000 in grants by now. In fact, it would likely have been closer to $120,000.
What we cannot measure is how many students look into enrolling in a vocational education program, but give up because the cost of the program after our grant would still be far beyond their means.
The officers, board members and advisors of TRVFA know that to be the resource originally envisioned by those who gave birth to this uniquely Arizona Rotary vocational education resource, we have to expand the number of Rotarian donors as well as expand our sources of revenue beyond Rotarians. There are several ways you can help:
- Share this newsletter with your friends, family, and associates, encouraging them to give.
- Advocate for us - tell others why you are proud to support what we do.
- If your employer has a program where they will match your charitable contributions, please apply for that match.
- If you - or someone close to you - has to take a mandatory IRA withdrawal which is not needed to maintain your quality of life, look into having the withdrawal transferred directly to TRVFA.
- If you - or someone you know - manages a family trust, what we do by helping others help themselves just might be a very good fit for the type of legacy they would like to leave.
- If you truly believe in what we do, don't limit your support to the maximum allowed tax-credit donation. Any amount you give over the allowed tax credit will qualify as a charitable deduction since we are a 501(c)(3) charity.
We realize we have just entered our "season of giving." The majority of our donations come in between December 1 and April 15. At this point, we are only about 10% of the way to our $300,000 2020-21 fundraising goal.
It would be a huge help if more donors would elect the automatic giving option available through our on-line donation page. It would help the donor by making their "remembering to give" effortless going forward. It would enhance our ability to plan since it would provide some reliable year-round cash flow.
This is an unusual year. We hope this newsletter finds you well. We sincerely thank you for your past support, and genuinely hope we have earned your respect and you will plan to continue your support this year and well into the future. Together, we have the power to change lives.
