The Sigma Phi Educational Foundation: Members may not know that there are TWO such foundations. One of them is the “national” foundation that provides assistance to ALL chapters of the Society across the country. This foundation’s name ends with “Inc.” (even though the national often fails to include this in their name). The other foundation is LOCAL (California only) and whose activities are strictly limited to providing scholarships to students at UC Berkeley. This foundation does NOT have the “Inc.” in its name.

I’m writing this to let you know about certain functions of the foundation that you may not know. The foundation was created in 1958 by some distinguished (but now deceased) California Sigs. Even though it took awhile, the foundation was granted tax-exempt status by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization in 1981 and at that point began granting scholarships. To bring you up-to-date, over the past several years, the foundation has granted over $20,000 per year in scholarships to our Berkeley students. At present, the foundation has over $200,000 in assets that produce the income used for these scholarships. The foundation is run by 4 trustees that provide applications to the student population and then meet once a year to evaluate and award the scholarships.

Most of the current trustees have been engaged in the foundation activities since the mid-70’s and we are all I-’60 somethings. For that reason, and in order to continue the important work of the foundation, it is essential that new, younger Sigs become involved. This is an appeal for volunteers to fill vacant positions on the board of trustees of our California foundation. We all firmly believe in the value of providing scholarship funds to our students based upon academic performance and financial need. This is a good opportunity to be of service to the Sigma Phi Society, and, as noted above, the time commitment is minimal and the payoff to our students is tremendous.

If you would like to help and to become involved in the foundation’s activities, please let one of us know:

Roy Rocca, I’62, roy.rocca@sbcglobal.net
Keith Jacobsen, I’64, keithjacobsen1@comcast.net
Stanley Ferber, I’64, srferber@sbcglobal.net

Thank you.

Stan Ferber