Legacy Gifts Provide Scholarships for CLHS Students
Mr. W. Paul Wolf and the students he supports via his Endowed Scholarship, the W. Paul Wolf Endowed Scholarship.
For 64 years, the Concordia Educational Foundation(CEF) has provided financial assistance to students attending Concordia Lutheran High School.
The mission statement of CEF reads “through God’s grace, the Concordia Educational Foundation works to preserve and grow financial gifts to Concordia Lutheran High School to ensure the Foundation’s continued support of the school’s overall operations, individual programs and students’ financial needs.”
In 1959, fifteen graduates from the classes of ’48 and ’49 regularly met for lunch. During their time, a member of the group shared that a family wanted to send their child to Concordia but could not afford the tuition.
He asked his classmates, as he passed his hat (literally) to give what they could, and the child became a student at CLHS. Since then, CEF has provided significant support to students and families, faculty and programs of Concordia as well as college scholarships through the Carl F. Gallmeier Memorial Endowed Scholarship, the Martin Fischer Memorial Scholarship and through Donor Advised Funds.
Currently 387 students at our CLHS receive financial aid through our family of endowments at CEF. That is over ⅔ of our student body for whom the Concordia experience is made possible by the generosity of those who have supported the work of CEF over the course of the past 64 years.
It is important to note that CEF is not part of Concordia Lutheran High School’s organizational structure. Operating as its own entity and as a 501(c)3 of the State of Indiana, CEF is governed by its own Board of Directors who make decisions on how to best serve the high school through the investment portfolio God has blessed them with.
Leaving a legacy for future generations of students at Concordia Lutheran High School may sound intimidating or beyond reach for donors; yet that is not the case. Scholarships can be established with a gift or commitment of at least $25,000.
The minimum can be reached within five years from the first gift and will not be distributed until the minimum is reached. The Board of Directors at CEF will then distribute at least 4.75% of this investment each year. Donors many continue contributing to the endowment as much as they would like as their legacy continues to change student’s lives each year.
If there is a specific department at the high school that you are passionate about supporting, such as Science, Foreign Language, Faculty, etc., please let us know.
For additional information, please contact Jenny Grisez at (260) 483-1102, ext. 253 or jgrisez@clhscadets.com or Matthew Konow at mkonow@clhscadets.com.