Over 12,000 boys had been served by the organization since 1917 on its only campus located ten miles west of Omaha, Nebraska. In 1965, the Scholarship Fund was incorporated as a 501(c) 3 charitable organization whose purpose was to attempt to provide financial aid to the alumni that might desire to attend college after graduation from Boys Town. In 1965, the Scholarship Fund only had a $20,000.00
endowment, which was a one-time donation from a local friend of the organization. Most scholarship assistance during the early days was limited to $500.00. In the early days funds were raised through alumni contributions, bake sales, raffles, and other fund-raising efforts. Over the years the Scholarship Fund has grown through the generous bequests of alumni and friends of alumni to the point where we are able to provide scholarships to a number of alumni who wish to pursue a post-secondary education. Under-graduate, graduate, and advanced certifications are all eligible pursuits under the scholarship guidelines. Today, the Scholarship Endowment Fund sits at about $1.4 million dollars. In 2021, $76,000.00 was awarded in scholarships to the alumni member applicants for both under-graduate and graduate degree programs. Scholarship awards are currently limited to $4,000.00 per year. In 1979, Boys Town opened it doors to girls. Campuses are now mostly integrated with equal parts boys and girls in attendance. To date, Boys Town has provided residential care to over 145,000 children, both boys and girls. It is with this in mind, that we perceive the need to expand the endowment to serve the ever-growing number of young adults who have had occasion to reside at Boys Town at one time or another. Most of the children who have benefited from the residential care provided by Boys Town have come from broken homes, have been assigned through the juvenile court system, or have had years of involvement in foster care. Few Americans can identify with the individual challenges for children who have been raised within the foster care system. There are countless barriers to higher education faced by these young folks. Their post-secondary education degree completion rate is about 5% compared to 20% for students in the general population. On any given day, there are 425,000 children in foster care in the United States. In 2019, 675,000 children spent time in foster care. Of these, over 71,000 had their mother and father’s parental rights legally terminated by the court(s) system. In 2019, 32,000 youth aged-out of the foster care. Of these, 20,000 aged-out without having a relationship with any permanent family. Only half of those aging out have completed high school compared to 90% of the general student population. The Boys Town National Alumni Associations Scholarship Fund (BTNAASF) Board of Directors is an all-volunteer board made up of alumni whose High School graduation dates range from the early 60’s to the mid 80’s. There is no permanent staff assigned to the organization, although there is a secretary who provides occasional support on loan from the National Alumni Association. The two organizations function separate from each other. They are also separate entities from the main Boys Town campus west of Omaha, and the nine other campuses located around the country. Alumni members from any of the ten campuses are eligible to apply for a scholarship. For the most part, members of the Board of Directors have experience as professionals. They include former teachers, stockbrokers, accountants, contracts professionals, and senior institutional executives. They accept a position on the board to “give back” to the organization they perceive has made a significant contribution to their future successes and the well-being of their families.
