Mission

The NVMA Centennial Scholarship Foundation is a charitable organization
established to solicit, invest, and administer a perpetual endowment, and to
distribute the earnings to deserving students to support the growth of veterinary
medical education for the benefit of future generations.

The board of directors has established the Sustaining Membership Program to provide an ongoing source of contributions.  Donations received are classed as unrestricted and allows the Foundation to continue to provide engraved stethoscopes to each incoming freshman in the UNL/ISU 2 + 2 program. This serves as a welcome-to-the-profession gift and is co-sponsored by the NVMA. The dues also help to pay overhead expenses for the foundation so that those expenses are not taken from the endowed scholarships—allowing those funds to grow.

Membership is easy—simply donate $50 (or more if you wish) to the Foundation by mailing a check to:
NCSF, PO Box 296, Alliance, NE 69301
The treasurer sends a reminder each year for subsequent annual donations.

The Pet Memorial Program is the oldest fundraiser in the history of the Foundations. Participating Veterinary Clinics who wish to participate mail the information (the foundation provides pamphlets for this purpose) about a deceased patient to the Foundation’s Secretary. A condolence letter is then sent informing the client of the contribution. The recommended donation for each memorial is $15 or more. A pet memorial brochure (click here to download) may be printed or for those clinics sending multiple memorial notices at one time, may prefer using a spreadsheet (click here to download).

Click the link below to donate via PayPal. This will take you to the PayPal site where you can contribute using either your PayPal account or a credit card.

The Foundation currently has 27 Endowed Scholarships. A list of them is available here: NEVMA | Foundation History (nvma.org)  The criteria for these scholarships has been determined by the donors. Most are designed to be perpetual; meaning that approximately 5% of the donated amount is awarded each year. Some donors have specified criteria that recipients must meet.

Donors interested in donating larger amounts, exceeding $10,000 may consider establishing their own personalized endowed scholarships. In the past, some contributors have pledged a smaller amount each year over a period of time to reach the qualifying amount. Some scholarship funds receive additional donations in subsequent years which enables the board to award larger scholarships from that fund.

NCSF is a non-profit, tax-exempt charitable foundation. As such all donations are deductible expenses for those donors who itemize on their tax returns. Our donors have used a variety of other tax advantaged ways of giving. If you wish to know more about this subject you may talk with your investment or tax advisor, or with the Foundation’s Treasurer. Some of the tax friendly ways our donors have used, include:

  • Contributors directly from their IRA
  • Donation of stocks, or mutual fund with unrealized capital gains
  • Contributions from Donor advised funds (which work like a personal foundation)

The Foundation’s Board of Directors consists of 7 members, 2 by virtue of their office (President and Past-President of the NVMA) and 5 elected for a 2-year, alternating term at the annual membership meeting.

The Foundation’s By-laws provides for 3 standing committees:

Finance Committee: This committee is chaired by the Treasurer. The committee has chosen FNBO Financial Advisors to manage the investments. The committee works closely with the Bank’s Trust Officers. The committee makes recommendations to the board of directors on ways to be good stewards and make disbursements to provide for the endowed scholarships to be perpetual.

Scholarship Committee: This committee has established application forms and rules for applicants of the endowed scholarships. Recipients are selected by this committee utilizing electronic evaluation forms that provide for impartial, objective, and anonymous scoring.

Publicity Committee: This committee’s activities can be divided into two areas of responsibility:

  • The Internal Publicity is charged with publicizing the availability of the various scholarships—Veterinary Students, Pre-Veterinary Students, Graduate School Students, and Veterinary Technician Students.
  • The External Publicity is the marketing arm of the organization. Managing the website, promoting the pet memorial and sustaining membership fundraisers, and developing other new and fun activities to increase awareness of the Foundation and its purpose.

If you have an interest in contributing your time to benefit the Foundation contact one of the officers of the Foundation.

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