HOW ALUMNI DONATIONS DIRECTLY HELP OUR CHAPTERS

When the Deke Foundation decided in 2018 to allow alumni to allocate 50% of their donations to their chapter, this was greeted enthusiastically by many Deke alums and of course the chapters as well.

By making this change, we enabled alumni donors to donate to the Foundation, which would then set aside half of the dollars to go into what we called “Chapter Educational Funds,” or CEF’s for short.

The only “strings” attached to this is that the money must be used to support educational activities at the chapters. This is so the Deke Foundation can retain our status as a charitable organization, and so that you can deduct your donation from your US taxes.

Once a chapter’s CEF balance meets a minimum threshold, the chapter, or alumni associations, can request release of funds for educational purposes. Historically, the threshold was $5,000. The good news is that beginning in 2023, the threshold was lowered to $2,000.

Several chapters have begun to tap into the CEFs, and in this article we’ll highlight two of them, to show you how your donations are directly helping our chapters.

First, Psi chapter, University of Alabama, identified a need a couple years ago for some individual coaching of members for mental health issues and other life challenges they are facing. Psi hired a Tuscaloosa based firm called Lifeline Solutions LLC, which offers oneon-one counseling to the Psi brothers. They also conduct occasional presentations to the chapter as a whole. This service is unlimited and completely free to the Psi brothers, and it’s paid for by their CEF, thanks to Psi alumni who contributed to the Deke Foundation and allocated 50% to go to the Psi CEF. Psi brothers tell us that this is a very valuable service that the alumni provide to the chapter.

Another chapter making good use of its CEF is Kappa Epsilon-University of Washington.

Kappa Epsilon brothers love to attend Dekesponsored events, but usually face higher travel costs than other chapters due to their distance. They’ve been able to tap into the KE CEF to help pay travel expenses, so they can attend these events when they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to.

These are two examples, but there are several other chapters taking advantage of this funding, thanks to their alumni who generously contribute to the Deke Foundation.

Please support the undergraduates of your chapter, and the Deke Foundation, by making tax-deductible donations to the Foundation. Please mail checks to the Deke Foundation, 6921 Jackson Rd., Suite 400, Ann Arbor, MI, 48103, or by going to the following url: www.dke.org/donate.