How Will the Foundation Use Your Contribution?

The Foundation is responsible for granting financial aid and scholarships to recognize and encourage academic achievement and leadership development among the active members and candidates for membership of the Chapter.

The number and amount of each grant may vary, depending on the funds available to the Foundation from the Board of Trustees.

The following are examples of the types of grants the Foundation may disburse:

• Academic grants to recognize outstanding scholastic achievement.
• Grants to outstanding members of the pledge class upon their initiation to the Chapter.
• Leadership grants to elected Chapter officers, e.g., consul and quaestor.
• Financial hardship grants to help deserving recipients with a demonstrated financial need.  These grants are determined on a case-by-case basis, and the names are undisclosed to maintain privacy.
• Grants to incoming officers to aid them in attending annual Leadership Workshops sponsored by the General Fraternity.

The Foundation has developed appropriate procedures for selecting the recipients and disbursing the funds.

How Will Your Contribution Be Invested?

Our investment policy provides that we manage our funds to maximize our return in a manner consistent with our anticipated risk and our need to use these funds to carry out our mission. We invest in a portfolio of stocks and bonds and earn a market- competitive rate of return.

Our goal is to distribute grants from the earned investment income and not from the principal amount of these funds. Also, we intend to minimize the costs associated with carrying out the associated management processes of the funds, including the inflows and outflows of cash.

We invest in an appropriate mix of stocks and bonds using no-load mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). We are not in the business of “picking stocks.” Our Finance Committee measures the investment performance by comparing the performance of the Foundation's funds against standard industry metrics for the types of securities involved.

Your contribution will help ensure that we can provide the funds needed for our programs today and in the future.

Ways to Give

Annual Giving

The Annual Fund is our ongoing fund raising initiative.  The purpose of the Annual Fund is two- old: it provides additional funds for our scholarships and leadership programs, and it offsets our administrative expenses, including the production of the Eagle, which is our primary communications vehicle. Brothers and friends of Beta Psi can give to the Annual fund by giving online.

Young Alumni

We want to encourage you to take a moment and think about how your educational and leadership skills developed while you were a brother in the Beta Psi Chapter of the Sigma Chi Fraternity at Georgia Tech.  We hope that your experience was valuable and that you have continued to live Sigma Chi’s core values of friendship, justice and learning.  We know it is difficult to consider an additional expenditure as a young alumni with the financial obligations you already experience on a daily, monthly, and annual basis.

The Young Alumni Club was started as a way for brothers who have been out of school for 10 years or less to give back.  To help encourage our young alumni to donate, we developed different giving levels that range from the equivalent of two cups of coffee a month to a monthly lunch for 2 people.  Giving levels have been set at:

• $7.70 (770 Techwood Drive is the house address) per month
• $19.22 (1922 is the founding year of Beta Psi at GT) per month

All donations are tax deductible and will go towards the Annual Fund.  We want to keep things in perspective and help you realize that starting a habit of giving can be manageable.  If you are unable to sign up for one of the predefined levels, we encourage you to give at whatever level you can.

When you setup your donation, you can choose to automatically have your credit card billed on a recurring basis so you don’t have to do anything additional once you sign up.  You’ll receive a thank you letter for your records every time your credit card is charged indicating your donation amount.  You can use that letter to record your donations for your tax deductions.

Your donations are important and help the Beta Psi Foundation continue to develop, encourage and support the future leaders from the Beta Psi Chapter of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.  If you are interested in giving please visit our donation page.   

We are also looking for people to head up the Young Alumni donation drive for each pledge class.  If you are interested in being a pledge class contact please contact us.

Matching Gifts

Hundreds of companies realize the importance of giving back to the community and are getting involved by matching their employees' donations to our organization. By asking your employer to back your commitment, you are making your contribution even more meaningful and increasing its impact on the chapter.  If you are not certain if your company matches you may want to check the GTAA site where they keep a very accurate listing of applicable companies that match gifts to the Alumni Association and in many case will match your Beta Psi Foundation gift also.

Individual Retirement Accounts

Attention Beta Psi Alumni Ages 70 1/2 or Older:

The IRS allows those with IRAs who are 70 1/2 and older to transfer up to $100,000 each year to a charity without recognizing that amount as income.  The transfer must come directly from your IRA custodian to the recipient charity.  This is known as a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) and can satisfy part or all of a donor's required minimum distribution (RMD).

Legacy Society

You can incorporate the Beta Psi Foundation into your planned giving strategy.  Our legacy flyer (coming soon) includes a few ways that donors often make charitable donations through their estate plans.  You can make a gift through bequests, annuities, trusts, insurance policies, appreciated stock and other investment vehicles.  Contributing Brothers will become part of the Legacy Society, and identified gifts will be acknowledged in the Brother’s lifetime giving amount.

You should speak with your financial planner or estate planning attorney if you are considering a planned gift to the Beta Psi Foundation.  If you do not have an estate planning attorney, there are plenty of reputable sources to help you decide including resources available at http://info.charitablegiftplanners.org/leave-a-legacy.  It is up to you to decide who should handle this important part of your estate.  The Beta Psi Foundation does not endorse any estate planning attorneys.

Please contact us if you have additional questions or to notify us of your planned gift.

NOTE: The information contained in our legacy flyer is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be and should not be considered as or relied upon as legal advice.