San Antonio A&M Club Endows Scholarship For Bexar County Students

The San Antonio A&M Club has contributed more than $120,000 to fund an endowed scholarship for Bexar County Aggies.

“The ability to customize the scholarship for Bexar County students was a make-or-break issue,” said club President Bill Mason, a 1994 graduate of Texas A&M University. “The Texas A&M Foundation made the solution very simple and was willing to entrust us with the selection of the students through our hard-working scholarship committee.” The Texas A&M Foundation, an independent nonprofit organization, solicits and manages major gifts on behalf of university academics and student leadership programs.

Club Vice President Art Blackburn, who assisted in setting up the scholarship, said “Foundation staff members went out of their way to answer questions” about the club’s endowment, which required transferring most of the funds from a short-term loan fund held by the university. That fund was created in the days when students often needed short-term financial assistance until their federal student loans arrived, but nowadays those funds arrive so quickly that few students request stopgap loans.

Aware of that diminished need, San Antonio A&M Club members chose to fund the scholarship so they are actively helping Aggies.

“We have four major fundraising events each year to accomplish the goal of providing scholarships to Bexar Aggies as required under the club’s charter,” said Mason, who received multiple scholarships to Texas A&M, including one from the Aggie Wives Club affiliate of the San Antonio A&M Club.

The San Antonio A&M Club completed its scholarship — which will use endowment earnings to help Bexar Aggies forever — on Aug. 29 during Operation Spirit and Mind, a $300 million initiative for university scholarships and graduate fellowships. Led by the Texas A&M Foundation, Operation Spirit and Mind raised more than $308 million from its inception, Jan. 1, 2007, to its conclusion on Aug. 31.