Endowed Scholarship Fund

The School

ACS is an international school with a unique history of more than one hundred years and a dynamic future. With its rich mélange of cultures and religions, social classes and cultural backgrounds, pasts and futures, it creates for students a world of acceptance and mutual support. No matter who they are or what their backgrounds are, ACS students play together on the soccer team, raise money for a sister school, perform in a musical, or collaborate on a project. Those fortunate enough to be part of this rare community are, indeed, enriched by the experience.

Summary

Empowering youth through quality education is a social responsibility and of utmost importance to the future of our region. Scholarships give the recipients a chance to build a better future for themselves as well as to give back to their communities. Scholarships attract the best students, enable those who seriously apply themselves to their studies to remain in school, recognize academic achievement, and promote diversity among the student body. All of these efforts enrich the diversity of our campus and ensure a higher-quality education for our students. Scholarships make education attainable for those who need financial assistance, and they enable students to focus on schoolwork and learning, rather than on just trying to survive.

The American Community School at Beirut offers donors Endowed Scholarship opportunities which will provide scholarship funding to deserving ACS students in perpetuity. The donor will have the opportunity to name the Endowed Scholarship. A named scholarship would cost $250,000. There are several ways to provide scholarship funding and to work toward the fully-funded level, which are discussed below. Your support can provide many with the means to achieve their goals and become contributing members of our state, our nation, and our world.

The Challenge

Education is a vital tool in developing and fostering each individual’s future, as well as the future of our society. Establishing a scholarship is a great way to ensure that education is available to all who seek it. As an outstanding regional educational institution, the American Community School at Beirut has a leadership responsibility to offer need-based named scholarships to incoming students from all educational, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds.

As a community we share the responsibility to provide quality education to youth to help them achieve their full potential, both individually and as a member of the local and global community. This in turn will enrich our diverse student body and the diversity of cultures and unique backgrounds represented in our community, which will expand our students’ perspectives about our country, region and the world.

The scholarship funds you provide will benefit these students, giving them the opportunity they so earnestly seek to gain an education at this outstanding academic institution.

Meeting the Challenge

Scholarships attract the best students, enable those who seriously apply themselves to their studies to remain in school, recognize academic achievement, and promote diversity among the student body. All of these efforts enrich our campus and ensure a higher-quality education for our students.

We need to be able to provide a greater level of support for deserving students to attend ACS, but we still have a long way to go before our endowment will generate enough money annually to meet this challenge.

The support of donors like you is essential in helping those students who have demonstrated their potential to succeed here, but who simply do not have the means to attend. It is important that those students who have financial need receive assistance to enable them to blossom academically and socially in this stimulating academic setting.

In addition, these scholarships attract talented students who will lift the academic discourse of our entire campus, raising their classes to greater understanding and will contribute to our social, economic, and political climate. Scholarships can ensure that we don’t lose these rising stars.

Finally, all students will benefit from a more diverse student body that enriches our campus with a broader perspective and deeper understanding and compassion.

An Invitation

Over the years, generous donors have helped make the American Community School at Beirut the outstanding educational institution it is today. Thanks to their generosity, we are able to maintain the heritage of commitment to excellence in education. We have recently expanded our scholarship opportunities to benefit the diversified communities in Lebanon who cannot afford an ACS education.

We invite you to consider providing young students in Lebanon with an ACS education to join those who will make a difference for the future of the country we love and make a contribution to the world at large.

The qualifications and process for awarding this scholarship are flexible, and we look forward to working with you to establish the criteria that will meet your philanthropic objectives.

Endowed Scholarship Funding

Once an endowment is established, a portion of the investment income is available to support the scholarship, while the remainder is added to principal to increase the fund over time and safeguard against inflation. Our current endowment spending policy allows for spending up to 4% of the average market value of the fund as calculated for the three calendar years prior to the beginning of the fiscal year.

If you are interested in establishing a named endowed scholarship, we welcome your interest and offer the following guidelines:

Administration of the Endowed Scholarship Funds

ACS will deposit gifts for a named scholarship fund into the school’s investment account(s). The funds will be commingled with many other endowment gifts and are professionally managed.

Minimum to Initiate an Endowed Scholarship Fund

We will begin a named fund with a pledge of $250,000 and an initial gift of $50,000 toward that pledge. We prefer that the pledge be fully paid within five years.

Student Match

The Scholarship Committee will match each endowed named scholarship with a student. Our goal is to match the student to a particular scholarship from the time he or she is admitted to ACS, right through until his/her graduation. The student assigned will communicate through mail with the donor periodically, and in person meetings can be arranged. Scholarship students must maintain a 3.0 grade point average to continue to receive their scholarship.

Full Endowment - Endowed Scholarship Funds at $250,000 or more

When a fund grows to $250,000, it would be considered fully endowed and would provide for at least one scholarship. The fund would also be permanently listed in the Annual Report of Gifts.

Act Now

Changing the life of a student is the greatest return on investment. If you would like more information or want to discuss ways to establish a scholarship, please click do not hesitate to contact us.