Scholarships

Announcing Your Scholarships

Communicating with your scholarship recipients and the public about the scholarships that have been awarded is a great way to demonstrate the impact you make in your community. This section focuses on announcing the scholarship decisions made by affiliate advisory boards or scholarship committees from the foundation-managed scholarship funds over which they have discretion.

Award and Denial Communications

For all scholarships, the initial contact with the student is done by the affiliate scholarship contact. Because these committees deal directly with the students, they are the best people to have the first communication with recipients. Both awarded and denied applicants should be contacted.

After the recipients have been notified, the affiliate scholarship contact will supply them with the Student Information Sheet that all the Quad Cities Community Foundation scholarship recipients complete. This sheet, in addition to the complete decision spreadsheet and the minutes of the committee meeting, serves as the directive for the staff to process the scholarship. The Student Information Sheet gives the Community Foundation the necessary information about the student and their school to correctly issue the payment.

Once all the directive materials are received by the Community Foundation, a letter is created to be sent to the student’s chosen college or university. This letter gives the college the proper instructions on how to issue the scholarship payment for the student. A sample of that letter is seen here.

When the process has been completed and the letter with payment sent, the student will receive an email informing them that their scholarship has been sent to the school. It will also include the Community Foundation staff contact information in case any issues arise.

Scholarship Presentations, Press Releases, Etc.

Scholarship presentations may be held by an affiliate advisory board or scholarship committee. This is an opportunity for your affiliate, the scholarship committee, and the recipients to come together and celebrate the success of the students  and what they will  be able to accomplish in the future.

It is also good to inform local high school counselors of all the scholarship awards made by your affiliate. You may be asked by the local high school to attend and present the scholarship at their awards night.

Because all payments are sent directly to the recipient’s school, there are no checks to be handed out. The Community Foundation can provide a certificate template to the affiliate scholarship contact, which can be handed out at the ceremony.

Press releases that the affiliate advisory board or grants committee would like to issue regarding the scholarships awarded are encouraged, however they need to be reviewed and approved by your contact at the Community Foundation before they are sent  to media contacts. Be sure to allow two weeks for review and approval of the information you submit.

What the Community Foundation Can Provide

Staff can provide the affiliate scholarship committee with a variety of items. Language for award and denial communications can be customized, and you can work directly with staff on how best to contact the recipients. The Community Foundation will provide letters to schools and emails to recipients during the process. If the committee members or advisory board members choose, staff can contact the donor of the scholarship recipients. Donors or their family members have a strong connection to their scholarship funds, and if they are not on the scholarship committee, they appreciate hearing who their scholarship will be supporting. They may also appreciate getting a copy of the recipient’s application. Please see the Scholarship Approaches section for more information on how to include donors in their scholarship award process.