Phi Kappa Tau AO Chapter Setting up a scholarship endowment

The gist of the emails was asking you what to do with the nearly $4000 remaining in the "Alpha Omicron of Phi Kappa Tau Alumni Association" checking account and CD. The consensus was that we should give it away in the form of scholarships to be awarded to Lafayette students. Most of you liked the idea of an endowed scholarship. Here's how that would work:

• The college would set up an PKT endowed scholarship fund, which, when the fund balance hits $10,000, would generate yearly scholarships of $500 in perpetuity , increasing when (and if) the fund grows. The scholarship would be awarded annually by the college as part of the students' financial aid package.
• We choose a name for the scholarship. In my opinion, the finest hour of Phi Tau's 50 year run at Lafayette was when the brothers defied National and pledged two black students because the brothers thought that they, not the National fraternity, should decide who they would accept as brothers. This action resulted in the entire brotherhood resigning from Phi Kappa tau and forming the local fraternity Delta Sigma. National. realizing its error, recanted 2 years later and changed its constitution, allowing ALpha Omicron to resume its active status. That's a lot of history condensed into 3 sentences, but remember that these events occurred 7 years before the Civil Rights Act was passed and when blatant segregation was the modus operandi in many parts of the U.S.

The college has offered to recognize our fraternity for the creation of this schlolarship at a luncheon in Marquis Hall prior to the Homecoming game on October 21. If we can work out details, Ed Washington has said he would like to attend. He has not been on campus for nearly 60 years. If this occurs, I lhope that we can pedge the entire $10,000. We have $4,000 and have pledges for $2000 more. So we need $4000 more to reach 410,000, All donations to the fund are a designated portion of your annual giving to the college,.

Henry

-----Henry Ryder wrote (August 31, 2017):
Brothers of Alpha Omicron, Earlier this month you should have received a letter from me and sent by the College announcing the Partridge/Washington Phi Kappa Tau Scholarship. I spoke with Joe Samaritano in the Development Office today and he said the response has been very encouraging. We are very close to the goal of $10,000, and I am sure by October we will have met and exceeded that goal, giving the fund a suffcient balance to endow the scholarship which will be awarded beginning next year and every year thereafter. As a reminder, when you contribute to the scholarship fund, you are contributing to Lafayette's endowmenet and not to the Annual Fund (although you may do so when you contribute to the Annual Fund). Annual Fund contributions support the College's operating budget and are generally spent the year they are received. Contributions to the endowment are not spent; rather they are invested and the investment returns are spent. Therefore, your contribution to the scholarship fund becomes a permanent part of the College's endowment and will generate income forever. The College has graciously offered to mark the endowing of our scholarship by inviting Phi Kappa Tau alumni to a luncheon on the Saturday of Homecoming weekend, October 21. It will be held in the Kirby Hall of Civil Rights library. I have spoken to Edwin Washington and if he is able, he is planning to attend. So please watch for an invitation from the College. Thanks to all of you who have so generously contributed to the Victor Partridge/Edwin Washington Phi KappaTau Scholarship Fund. You have made an idea some of us discussed at June's reunion a reality. It is a fitting testimony to the brothers of that era who advanced the meaning of brotherhood at Lafayette.

Henry

-----Henry Ryder wrote (October 7, 2018):
Phi Kappa Tau brothers,

It has been nearly a year since we established the Partridge/Washington PKT Scholarship, and I want to update you on its status.

When we created the scholarship last October, we donated a little more than $22,000 to the scholarship fund. SInce then, we have donated an additional $8,000 +/- to the fund, bringing the current fund balance to $30,232.17.

The first scholarship will be awarded this fall in the amount of $500. That award amount was based on the fund being established for a partial year when the amount was determined. Based on the current balance, the award in 2019-20 should be about triple that. Remember that the award doesn't reduce the fund's balance since it is an endowed scholarship, and the award increases yearly as the fund balance rises. And also remember that the fund remains open to future contributions. You may designate a portion of your annual contributon to the college to the PKT scholarship by noting that when you send your contribution.

Thanks to all of you who have made, and continue to make, our fraternity a permanent part of the ongoing life at Lafayette.

Henry

-----Henry Ryder wrote (August 3, 2019):
Brothers of Alpha Omicron,

Full content is the letter. Status shows: "We set a modest goal of raising $10,000 to fund the scholarship. As of today, the Fund balance is $35,982 and the first recipient will receive a scholarship of $1,389 this spring."

-----Henry Ryder wrote (December 24, 2019):
Phi Tau alumni,

Last week I received the 2019-2020 Scholarship Report from the College. Ours is one of the 600+ named scholarships in the College's permanent endowment that assist the college in meeting its $55.5 million financial aid budget. When we established our scholarship fund was in October 2017, it had a market value of $22,000. In 2018, the market value rose to $30,232, and as of June 30, 2019 the market value was $40,995. In 2018, a $500 scholarship was awarded from the income (for a partial year) from the fund, and this year the scholarship was $1,967. It was awarded to Rabia Demirelli '21, an economics/enginnering major from Istanbul who is maintaining a 3.86 GPA. Since our scholarship is awarded from endowment income, it will go on in perpetuity.

We should all be encouraged by these numbers. As members of our fraternity continue to contribute to our scholarship fund, we can see a direct relationship between those contributions and the size of the award.

On behalf of Lafayette in general and the student recipients in particular, thank you for your continued generosity.

Henry

-----Henry Ryder wrote (March 31, 2021):
Phi Tau alumni,

I recently received the yearly Scholarship Report from the college and want to share the contents with you. Our scholarship has been awarded for the last three years, each year to the same student, Rabia Demerelli '21 from Istanbul. Rabia is double major in economics and engineering studies with a minor in German. Rabia wrote that "My financial aid package is the critical reason that made my journey here possible. I could start a new chapter in my life, immerse into a brand new culture and build an academic and professional career. I'm truly grateful for the generous offer that changed my life from its core."

The amount of the scholarship award is a function of the market value of the scholarship fund. In 2018-19 when the market value was $30,420, the award was $1,389; in 2019-20 when the value was $40,995, the award was $1,967; and in 2020-21 when the value was $56,291, the award was $2,943. Your continued generosity in supporting this fund has nearly doubled the fund's value and more than doubled the award in three years. I am planning to give a Qualified Charitable Distribution from my IRA to the fund later this year. You may wish to consider that as an option.

Last week, I received the following response from Joe Samartino '91 from Development and College Relations regarding my inquiry about where we go from here. He replied in part:

"It is customary for our financial aid team to match students with the same scholarship funds throughout their time at Lafayette provided that the student continues to be eligible. In some cases, a relationship may develop between the student and the donor especially if they are able to meet at the biennial Scholarship Recognition Dinner.

"Donors or groups may direct the financial aid award from an endowed scholarship fund to a particular category of student once the value of the fund exceeds $50,000. Normally restrictions are based on academic major or geographic location, however we can work with you on appropriate language to accomplish other goals as well."