Does anyone in a composite or cadet squadron run a unit scholarship program?
We have been contemplating it for a while but unsure where to start.
Objective:Use funds raised/donated to provide partial/full scholarships for CAP related activities:
- $xx towards Encampment fee
full ride for Encampment
ditto for NCSAs
$xx towards purchasing ES gear for a keen ES cadet
$xx towards uniform purchases
$xx to pay for a cadet to attend an activity he/she may not be able to afford
Challenges:
How to determine the eligibility requirements (espceially hardship related ones)
How to decide who gets a scholarship
How to account for the funds
If anyone has expericene with this I'd love to hear from them!
Just make sure to run it by finance/legal first. Especially if you're buying uniforms and gear.
In a not very large squadron, we had several SM's offer Encampment scholarships. (The scholarships were for Encampment first years only.) The donors selected the recipients from applicants. IIRC, the applicants met a panel, similar to a promotion review. The donors sat on the panel along w the DCC. Don't recall if cadet staff was part of the panel or not. Most years the donors selected 1 or 2 cadets to fully fund, but one year they felt there were several applicants they wanted to support, so they offered partial scholarships to a greater number of cadets, instead of full scholarships to only 1 or 2. The DCC and Sq/CC were always kept informed of the decisions, and I suppose had veto authority, although it was never a factor.
Currently, squadron funds are used to help off-set cadet costs for WG conferences, etc. The squadron subsidizes the registration fee (pays $20/head or so), and writes a check to WG. The cadets are responsible for the remainder of the fee.