In 2020, our donors created the Evan Gettert ’02 Entrepreneurial Endowed Scholarship. This scholarship is a permanent memorial to our friend and loved one, Evan. St. Ambrose University writes, “Evan’s name and legacy have become a permanent part of his alma mater. Every scholarship event will feature his name and our organization. Every year, one or more hardworking entrepreneurial students will receive a major scholarship in his name, so that they can study hard, and one day hopefully pay it forward.” Please read more about our scholarship here: http://saugift.org/?pageID=3&storyNum=78
Blog
15 in ’19: A Forever Memorial
Dear Friends: I am writing you today to share an ambitious goal- a permanent scholarship at St. Ambrose University to commemorate our friend Evan’s life, forever. A scholarship in perpetuity costs $50,000. That’s an audacious goal for a tiny nonprofit like Evan’s Dream. But I’m going to tell you our plan to get there in 2019.
We started this nonprofit in 2010 to honor our friend Evan Gettert, by awarding scholarships to like-minded, motivated, amazing college students who are pursuing their entrepreneurial dreams. At the time, I thought it would be great if we could raise enough to award small scholarships for 5 years. You guys blew that goal out of the water. We have now awarded smaller ($500-750) scholarships for over 7 years at the University of Iowa, and larger ($2,500) scholarships for over 5 years at St. Ambrose University!
As time went on, all of you continued to donate. You celebrated Evan’s life through yearly birthday gatherings, poker games, meetings of friends, and online. And this got me thinking about the future. I turned 40 this past year. I won’t be around forever. But I want this thing we have, this energy, this togetherness, to live on.
The best part of my job as a college professor is working with students. Every year I get to meet a new crop of exciting young people, pursuing their futures through education. But education gets more expensive each year. I notice more and more students working 2 or more jobs, starting their own businesses, or relying heavily on financial aid to get through school. If we could help these students forever… we could provide so much hope and positive energy in our state of Iowa, and wherever they may travel after graduation.
From the time we had the signing ceremony for the Evan Gettert ’02 Entrepreneurial Scholarship, I knew that the cost for a perpetual scholarship at St. Ambrose was $50,000. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we could achieve that level. That’s for super rich people and big companies. But what an amazing thing a perpetual scholarship is. It means that the University agrees to invest and manage a large donation in such a way that the interest earned each year is enough to provide scholarships to students forever.
I want to establish a forever memorial to Evan and his life, in 2019. The way to do this is through a perpetual scholarship at St. Ambrose University. This is something that we can all be proud of, every year, as a wonderful SAU student recipient gets a helping hand through college, and on to a bright future.
Here’s the amazing thing. We don’t need to raise $50,000 this year to reach our goal. You’ve been generous, and we’ve been frugal. Through your donations, and our careful stewardship of those funds, we currently have $35,000 earning interest in the bank for Evan’s Dream! We only need to raise another $15,000 to reach our goal in 2019. That’s still a lot- it’s ambitious- but it is within reach. I personally have committed $1,000 of my own money to this goal. I hope you will also consider a tax-deductible gift this year. I would absolutely love to send out thank you letters to all of you, telling you that we have done something permanent- that we have made a memorial to Evan that is forever.
Please send your donations to our “15 in ’19” campaign here. Thank you for your consideration and for all you do in Evan’s memory.
Dr. Andrew Hosmanek
Evan's Dream 