About the Scholarship Fund
The Elsie Shaw Parent Scholarship Fund Inc. has been a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization since 1999. As a 501(c)3 the scholarship fund is tax exempt and is able to take charitable donations. The Elsie Shaw Parent Scholarship Fund holds its annual meeting the evening before the annual Circle of Life conference at the conference site. Anyone wishing to attend the annual meeting is welcome. We however expect that assistance will be given to setting up the annual fund raiser “porcupine auction” if you attend the annual meeting.
The Elsie Shaw Parent Scholarship Fund Board of Directors is made up of 9 members. There are 4 members who are relatives of Elsie Shaw and 5 members who are parents of children with disabilities. Members of the board are eligible to remain on the board until they desire to leave.
The Elsie Shaw Parent Scholarship fund provides resources to parents of children with disabilities who want to attend the annual Circles of Life conference. Families are eligible to receive the support that is preventing them from being able to attend the conference. In some instances this is in the form of paying for the registration fees, in some instance it is paying for a room at the hotel. The funding is given based upon a families real needs and is not restricted. An example of this is that The Elsie Shaw Parent Scholarship fund has paid for farm families to hire someone to milk the cows in order to attend the conference. Each individual case is different and the scholarship fund wants to recognize the differences in each families situation.
Approximately 95% of all funding that is received for the Elsie Shaw Scholarship fund goes to pay for direct assistance to families. All coordination, fundraising and bookkeeping is done on a volunteer basis by members of the board of directors. If you would like to be involved with fundraising or any other activity with the scholarship fund, you can contact us through e mail at john@elsieshaw.org.