Procedures for Awarding Scholarships
for the Community Foundation of Central Georgia

Introduction: Scope and Intent of the Policy

The Community Foundation of Central Georgia (the " Community Foundation") from time to time holds and administers certain funds (the “Funds”) that provide scholarship grants to individuals, including high school, college, vocational, and graduate school students, to enable the recipients to complete an undergraduate or graduate education in the field of their choice at the college or graduate school of their choice. Grants made from such funds shall be referred to as “Scholarship Grants”.

The Community Foundation also from time to time holds and administers certain funds that make grants to individuals to achieve a specific objective, produce a report or other similar product, or improve or enhance a literary, artistic, musical, scientific, teaching, or other similar capacity, skill, or talent of the grantee that relates to the Community Foundation’s mission. Eligible individuals may include graduate students, scholars, professionals, and other individuals with specialized skills or knowledge. Scholarships also may be awarded to pay for a course of study leading to a certificate or to achieve a skill level, such as art or vocational school. Such scholarships may cover the cost of tuition and related expenses. All grants described in this paragraph shall be referred to as “Grants to Teachers.”

The Community Foundation has established the following procedures pursuant to which Scholarship Grants and Grants to Teachers will be awarded from funds where Donor-advisors have any advisory privileges or participation in the selection of grant or award recipients. The following procedures shall be interpreted so as to ensure the Community Foundation's compliance with all applicable requirements of the Internal Revenue Code, including Section 4966, accompanying Treasury Regulations and guidance from the Internal Revenue Service, and these procedures may be amended from time to time.

For purposes of these procedures, a donor advisor will be defined as an individual or organization, including a corporation, partnership or trust, that makes a contribution to a fund where such fund is separately identified by reference to contributions of the donor advisor and with respect to which the donor advisor (or any person appointed or designated by such donor advisor) has, or reasonably expects to have, advisory privileges with respect to the distribution or investment of amounts held in such fund by reason of the donor advisor’s status as a donor.

The Community Foundation values and encourages the interest and involvement of donors to funds established to make Scholarship Grants and Grants to Teachers. Such involvement may include developing criteria for awards, serving on grant selection committees and recommending others for places on selection committees.

I. Selection of Grantees

Grantees are to be selected on an objective and nondiscriminatory basis. The group from which grant recipients are selected must be sufficiently broad so that giving grants to one or more members of the group fulfills a charitable purpose.

A. Scholarship Grants - In connection with Scholarship Grants, Community Foundation staff and designated members of selection committees established for such awards shall contact high school, college, vocational, and graduate school administrators as well as managers of other relevant community institutions to advertise the availability of the Community Foundation's Scholarship Grants and to request that these administrators nominate potential candidates or encourage potential awardees to submit applications for scholarship aid.

B. Grants to Teachers - In connection with Grants to Teachers, Community Foundation staff shall develop application or nomination procedures that are appropriate to accomplish the purposes of the fund under which the award is established.

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II. Criteria for Selection

The criteria to be used in selecting grant recipients from a fund established at the
Community Foundation must be based on criteria that are appropriate to accomplishing the underlying purpose of the grant as described in the agreement creating the fund. Community Foundation staff should work with donors to establish funds that fulfill the donor’s charitable goals and feature clear selection criteria.

A. Scholarship Grants - For Scholarship Grants, such criteria may include, but are not limited to, the following: prior academic performance, performance of each applicant on tests designed to measure ability and aptitude for educational work; recommendations from instructors of the applicant and any others who have knowledge of the applicant’s capabilities, additional biographical information regarding an applicant’s career, academic and other relevant experiences, financial need and conclusions which the grant selection committee may draw as to the applicant’s motivation, character, ability, or potential. Criteria may also include the applicant’s place of residence, past or future attendance at a particular school, past or proposed course of study or evidence of his or her artistic, scientific or other special talent. Preference may be given to applicants of a particular sex, race, ethnic background or religion so long as such preference does not violate public policy.

Recipients of Scholarship Grants must be (1) primary or secondary school students; (2) undergraduate or graduate students at a college or university who are pursuing studies or conducting research to meet the requirements for an academic or professional degree; or (3) students – whether full-time or part-time – who receive a scholarship for study at an educational institution that provides an educational program acceptable for full credit toward a bachelor’s or higher degree, or offers a training program to prepare students for gainful employment in a recognized occupation and is authorized under federal or state law to provide such a program and is accredited by a national recognized accreditation agency. All Scholarship Grants must be used for tuition and related expenses (as further described in Section VII below) at an educational institution described in IRC § 170(b)(1)(A)(ii), i.e., such institution must normally maintain a regular faculty and curriculum and must normally have a regularly organized body of students in attendance at the place where the educational activities are carried on.

The Community Foundation reserves the right to impose additional, minor reasonable restrictions and/or requirements upon the awarding of Scholarship Grants and the administration of such grants. Any substantial or material changes will be made only with approval of the Community Foundation’s Board of Directors.

Grants to Teachers - In connection with grants to individuals to achieve a specific objective, produce a report or other similar product or improve or enhance a literary, artistic, musical, scientific, teaching or other similar capacity, skill or talent of the grantee that relates to the Community Foundation’s mission, recipients may include graduate students, scholars, professionals or other individuals with specialized skills or knowledge. Criteria shall be related to the purpose of the fund under which the award is established and may include prior experience, contributions to the field, demonstrated academic achievement, financial need, character, ability, motivation and potential. In connection with scholarships awarded to pay for a course of study leading to a certificate or a higher skill level, criteria shall be related to the purpose of the fund under which the award is established and may include financial need, character, ability, motivation, potential and the relevance of the candidate’s course of study and career objectives to the charitable purposes of the fund.

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III. Grant Selection Committees

The Community Foundation shall appoint all members of any selection committee charged with the evaluation of candidates for Scholarship Grants and Grants to Teachers. Appointments shall be made by Community Foundation staff and approved by the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors.

No combination of donor advisors, persons recommended or designated by donor advisors, or persons related to any of these persons to a fund that makes
Scholarship Grants may, directly or indirectly, control any selection committee established in connection with such fund. For example, donor advisors, persons recommended or designated by donor advisors and persons related to any of these persons shall not constitute a majority of any such selection committee. ("Persons may include individuals, partnerships, corporations or trusts.) Where a donor advisor recommends a person for appointment to a selection committee based on objective criteria related to the expertise of such person, such person will not be deemed to be appointed or designated by the donor advisor.

Donor advisors and related persons may provide advice with respect to the selection of grant or award recipients solely as members of a selection committee.

Every member of any selection committee charged with the evaluation of candidates for Scholarship Grants and Grants to Teachers shall adhere to the relevant policies of the Community Foundation as they may be adopted and amended from time to time, including without limitation a conflict of interest and confidentiality policy. Every member of any selection committee charged with the evaluation of candidates for Scholarship Grants and Grants to Teachers shall be obligated to disclose any personal knowledge of and relationship with any potential grantee under consideration and to refrain from participation in the award process in a circumstance where he or she would derive, directly or indirectly, a private benefit if any potential grantee or grantees are selected over others. No grant covered by this policy may be awarded to any member of the Community Foundation's Board of Directors, any employee of the Community Foundation, or any other disqualified person as defined in IRC § 4946(a) with respect to the Community Foundation, or, with respect to grants from a particular fund, any donor advisor or substantial contributor to such fund or any member of a selection committee to such fund, or for a purpose that is inconsistent with the purposes described in IRC §170(c)(2)(B).

Each selection committee established under this policy shall forward its recommendations to the Community Foundation staff in such form and on such schedule as the staff shall establish.

The Executive Committee of the Community Foundation’s Board of Directors shall approve each award made under this policy.

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IV. Application and Nomination Process

Applicants for Scholarship Grants and Grants to Teachers shall be required to submit such application forms and supporting materials as the Community Foundation may deem appropriate on a schedule to be determined by the Community Foundation.

V. Grant Renewals

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Grants will ordinarily be awarded for a one-year period, but may be for a shorter or longer period. Scholarship Grants or Grants to Teachers may be renewable for a period appropriate to the purposes of the fund under which the award is established. Otherwise, the Community Foundation may consider renewing a grant on a case-by-case basis.

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VI. Supervision of Scholarship Grants

A. General Procedures - Each Scholarship Grant shall be paid by the Community Foundation directly to the educational institution for the use of the scholarship recipient. Each educational institution must be described in IRC § 170(b)(1)(A)(ii) and must agree in writing to use the grant funds to defray the scholarship recipient's expenses.

Unless otherwise provided in the fund agreement establishing a Scholarship
Grant, a condition of each Scholarship Grant is that it will be used only for qualified tuition and related expenses within the meaning of IRC § 117(b)(2), and for room and board. Accordingly, a Scholarship Grant can be used only for: (1) tuition and fees required for the enrollment or attendance of the student at a qualifying institution; (2) fees, books, supplies, and equipment required for courses of instruction at such an educational institution; and (3) room and board. An additional condition is that no part of the Scholarship Grant shall be used as payment for teaching, research, or other services by the scholarship recipient required as a condition for receiving the scholarship.

B. Special Procedures - If the Community Foundation learns that all or any part of a grant is not being used in furtherance of the purposes of the grant, the Community Foundation shall take all reasonable and appropriate steps to recover the grant funds and/or ensure restoration of the diverted funds to the purposes of the grant. If such a diversion occurs and the grantee has not previously diverted grant funds to any use not in furtherance of the purposes of the grant, the Community Foundation shall withhold any further payments to the grantee until it has received the grantee's assurance that future diversions shall not occur and shall require the grantee to take extraordinary precautions to prevent future diversions.

Where a grantee has previously diverted funds received from the Community Foundation and the Community Foundation determines that any part of a grant has again been used for improper purposes, the Community Foundation shall take all reasonable and appropriate steps to recover the grant funds and/or ensure restoration of the diverted funds to the purposes of the grant. In such case, the Community Foundation shall withhold further payments until: (1) the diverted funds are in fact recovered or restored; (2) the Community Foundation has received the grantee's assurances that future diversions will not occur; and (3) the Community Foundation requires the grantee to take extraordinary precautions to prevent future diversions from occurring.

The phrase "all reasonable and appropriate steps," as used above, shall include legal action where appropriate, but need not include legal action if such action would in all probability not result in the satisfaction of execution on a judgment.

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VII. Supervision of Grants to Teachers

A Grant to a Teacher or, if appropriate, the organization supervising the grantee’s work, will be required to provide a written report to the Community Foundation about their activities and use of the funds at the end of the grant period. If the grant is for a term of longer than one year, periodic written reports will be required at least annually. Any funds not expended for the purpose of the award must be returned to the Community Foundation for use in furtherance of its mission and the charitable purposes of the particular fund under which such award was made.

VIII. Recordkeeping Requirements

The Community Foundation shall retain the following records in connection with all Scholarship Grants and Grants to Teachers: all information obtained by the Foundation to evaluate the qualifications of potential grantees, the identification of grantees (including any relationship of any grantee to the Community Foundation or to a director or officer of the Community Foundation), the purpose and amount of each grant, and any additional information the Community Foundation obtains in complying with its grants administration procedures. Information pertaining to unsuccessful applicants for awards shall be kept along with information on successful applicants.

Records pertaining to any grant made pursuant to this policy shall be kept for no less than seven years after the filing of the Community Foundation’s annual tax return for the period in which the last installment of such grant was paid.

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IX. Company Sponsored Scholarships

All employees and/or employees’ dependents are eligible.

No conditions may be placed on the award that requires the recipient/parent of recipient to remain employed by the company.

A minimum term of employment may be established for eligibility, but may not exceed three years.

Awards to employees may not exceed 10% of the number of employees who, (a) were eligible, (b) were applicants for the scholarship, and (c) were considered by the selection committee. Awards to dependents of employees are limited to 25% of those who, (a) were eligible, (b) were applicants for the scholarship, and (c) were considered by the selection committee.

Recipients may re-apply each year.


Scholarship Procedures Board Approved: May 10, 2007

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