• You make a gift to the Topeka Community Foundation — you can give cash, appreciated securities, real estate, or other assets.

• You sign a simple letter of direction, which establishes the fund, and choose a name for the fund. It may bear your name, the name of your family, the name of another person, or be a reflection of something that is important to you.

• You receive tax benefits in the year your gift is made.

• Our professional staff helps you determine the eligibility and selection criteria — based on a student’s field of study, academic achievements, extracurricular activities, or financial need, for example — for the Scholarship Fund you establish .

• We handle basic administrative details and award scholarships in the name of the fund, based on its value.

• Your gift is placed into an endowment that is invested over time. Earnings from your fund are used to award scholarships.

• You can create a Scholarship Fund as a memorial to someone special, selecting eligibility criteria that exemplify that person’s goals and values.

• You may use it to express your educational values — or those of your family or business.

• It will help support students’ cost of education.

• Foundation staff perform all administrative tasks, from creating the scholarship application and publicizing its availability to coordinating the selection process, sending award letters and processing the payments.

• If the Scholarship Fund you establish is renewable, the Foundation’s team tracks performance to ensure that the recipients continue to meet the terms for scholarship support.

• You and others can add to the Scholarship Fund you establish at any time, receiving tax benefits with each new gift.