Your chapter or members of your chapter can choose to support any or all three nationwide giving programs – Amtryke, Scholarships for Therapists, Cornerstone. The need is great in every community across the nation, we know, but supporting the programs on a national level ensures they continue to grow and impact new communities.
You can give to any of the programs through a Memorial/Honor gift, by donating a vehicle or through a planned gift.
All three programs have honor societies for major donors and yearly recognition in the AMBUCS Magazine and at National Conference.
Skip to: Amtryke, Scholarships for Therapists, Cornerstone, 100% Giving
Amtryke Giving
If you give to the Amtryke Program on the AMBUCS website or by becoming a Wish List Club member, the entire gift goes directly to Every Kid Needs a Bike to fund Amtrykes for children waiting on the National Wish List.
Amtryke Giving Society
If you designate your gift for the Amtryke Big Heart Fund, as an Amtryke Ambassador, only a small percentage of the whole fund is spent each year – ensuring an ongoing program. The Amtryke Big Heart Fund brings the good your chapter does locally to a national level and also helps grassroots efforts take the next step. Specifically, giving to the Amtryke Big Heart Fund supports these efforts:
Amtryke Adaptive Tricycle Program and Amtryke Veterans Initiative. Both are supported in part by this Fund, mostly with research and product development.
National Amtryke Wish List. The wish list makes the Amtryke Program truly nationwide by providing charitable interventions to fund Amtrykes for those who do not live close to a chapter. Generally, around 600 Amtrykes each year.
Chapter Evaluation Sites and Chapter Trailer Operations. When chapters are ready to take the next step and broaden their reach into the community, the Amtryke Big Heart Fund makes up the difference to make the deep pricing discounts possible.
Those who give $1,000 become Amtryke Ambassadors. Those who give $10,000 (usually with ten gifts of $1,000 over time) can found their own Named Amtryke Endowment – Congratulations, your Amtryke was funded through the Fred Sammons Amtryke Endowment. Each year a recipient on the National Wish List will receive an Amtryke in your name, or the name of a person you would like to honor, ensuring an ongoing legacy. You can choose, when setting up your Amtryke Endowment, to set criteria for which recipients you’d like to fund, say, from a certain state, with a certain diagnosis or who have waited the longest.
Scholarships for Therapists Giving
If you give to the Scholarships for Therapists Program on the AMBUCS website or as a chapter to reach your 100% Program Giving Goal (see below), the entire gift goes directly to fund scholarships in the next school year.
Scholarships for Therapists Giving Society
If you designate your gift for the Scholarships for Therapists Permanent Fund, as a William L. White member, only a small percentage is spent each year – preserving the principle and ensuring an ongoing program.
Those who give $1,000 become William L. White Members. Those who give $10,000 (usually with ten gifts of $1,000 over time) can found their own Named Scholarship – Congratulations, you have been awarded the Fred Sammons Scholarship. Each year a student receives a scholarship in your name, or the name of a person you would like to honor, ensuring an ongoing legacy. You can choose, when setting up your Named Scholarship, to set criteria for the students you’d like to give a scholarship to, say, from (or studying in) a certain state, school, or those studying in a particular therapy field.
Cornerstone Giving
The Cornerstone Fund provides for the growth and development of the AMBUCS organization. Unlike the other two, it is not also the name of a community service program. Giving to Cornerstone, by any method, funds the AMBUCS-building efforts of New Chapter Incentives. New AMBUCS chapters receive several incentives funded by Cornerstone. National dues are waived for the first two quarters. The founding chapter President and the member (of a different chapter) who was the key mentor for the new chapter, we call them a ‘sparkplug,’ get free National Conference registration and one night’s lodging. The new chapter identifies their sparkplug as the one person who went out of their way to answer questions and give advice. Not every new chapter will have one. The 10-for-10 Promotion discussed above is also funded by Cornerstone.
Cornerstone Giving Society
Those who give $1,000 become Chapter Advocates. Those who give $10,000 (usually with ten gifts of $1,000 over time) can make a one-time Named Chapter Founding Gift – Congratulations, your new chapter is being supported by the Fred Sammons Founding Gift. A new AMBUCS chapter will receive all they need to make them strong and growing—all in your name, or the name of a person you would like to honor. It will fund a Road Show visit that inspires and trains prospective members, the 10-for-10 promotion that teaches chapters to fundraise, waived dues for the first two quarters as well as free conference registration and one free night’s lodging for the chartering chapter President. You can choose, when setting up your Named Chapter Founding Gift, to set criteria for the chapter you’d prefer to help found… say, in a certain state or region of the country or with a particular mission focus.
100% Program Giving
Annually, on or about March 15, your chapter Treasurer will receive a 100% Giving Letter where you will be advised of your Program Giving Goal. The goal is chapter membership as of the February 28 Blue Chip Report times $40 per member. For example: If your chapter’s February 28 membership is ten members; ten members times $40 equals a $400 Program Giving Goal for your chapter.
Your chapter’s total Program Giving to each National Program is reported and calculated from both member gifts and chapter gifts to the individual National Programs: Scholars, Cornerstone and Amtryke. After receiving your letter and prior to the end of the AMBUCS year (May 31), additional contributions can be designated to support any or all three Nationwide Programs in order for your chapter to reach its goal.
For each of the three programs for which the chapter reaches its 100% Program Giving Goal, it receives a 100% Program Giving banner patch and corresponding points on the 4th Quarter Scorecard. When your total contributions reach an average of $40 per member for a program, you will receive 40 scorecard points. If the average exceeds $40 per member in a program, you will receive one bonus point for each average whole dollar over $40. If a chapter reaches the 100% Program Giving Goal for each of the three programs, there is a 100-point bonus on the Scorecard. Like the Scorecard and the Awards Program, participation is entirely voluntary.
Please Note: No portion of any donation to National AMBUCS (even a general donation) or to its programs goes to operations or administration unless specifically designated for that use by its donor.
100% Program Giving History. In 1955 the membership pledged to fund a Living Endowment with small gifts from each member. The idea was that while we did not have a large pot of money with which to begin a true endowment, members were willing to work Shoulders Together to give the Scholarships for Therapists Program the same amount of money it would have earned in interest. And our generous members have honored their pledge for over six decades. We no longer refer to it as the Living Endowment (instead it’s the Scholarships for Therapists Permanent Fund) but the legacy of visionary leaders and the members’ gifts over time is more than $9 million dollars of educational scholarships granted to more than 16,000 therapy students.