Student travel funds in the APS Foundation are established by either friends or relatives of a specific person, or sometimes by the person themselves. The funds donated to the Foundation for this purpose are invested and the interest is then used to fund the travel grant.
Guidelines to Establish a Student Travel Fund
- Contact the APS Foundation Chair and APS Vice President of Finance of your interest in establishing a fund and for the fund contract.
- Collect $5,000 for the fund to create an APS Foundation account.
- The following will be submitted to APS Foundation:
- APS Foundation Student Travel Fund Contract
- One-page biography and colored headshot high resolution photo of the individual(s) for which the fund is being named. (high resolution photo to be sent as a separate file saved as eps, tif or jpg format)
- $5,000 initial fund contribution
- An acknowledgement of the receipt of these funds will be made to the donor by the APS Foundation. All such donations are tax deductible since the APS Foundation is a 501c3 organization.
- The receipt of $5,000 and the contract confirms a fund account with the APS Foundation, however a total of $20,000 needs to be in the account to fully establish the fund for a travel grant in the amount of $500 to be granted each year to an APS Student Member to help assist with travel costs to the APS annual meeting.
- To encourage donations to the fund, the APS Foundation will publicize the new fund in the APS member newsletter Phytopathology News and the APS News Capsules, in addition to references in all APS Foundation solicitation materials.
- The first travel grant will be distributed at the first available APS Annual Meeting following the fund reaching $20,000.
Student Travel Grantee Selection Process
The APS Graduate Student Committee along with members from the Foundation Board will review applications and select APS Student members to receive a travel grant. Matching students to a specific travel fund area (e.g. Forest Pathology) is done when possible based upon the eligible applicants.
During the APS annual meeting, the student travel grantees are acknowledged and celebrated. Each recipient is also provided with a biography of the person for whom their specific travel grant is named, and are encouraged to acknowledge the honoree or the fund organizer to show their appreciation for receiving the travel grant.
