Hispanic Scholarship Fund

1411 W. 190th Street, Suite 700

Gardena, CA. 90248

The Fund contributed to the Hispanic Scholarship Fund in 2005 and 2008. The report that permitted those contributions has expired. The Fund has received new information.

The organization states:

The Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) provides scholarships to Latino students, as well as related support services. HSF seeks to give students all the tools they need to apply to college, do well in their course work, graduate, enter a profession, excel, help lead our nation going forward, and mentor the generations to come.

In the period ending 31 March 2013 (it takes a while to complete an audit), total support and revenue was $41,305,000, of which grants and contributions were $39, 278,000. Total expenses were $46,148,000, of which $38,532,000 or 83% was for scholarships, and $3,598,000 or 8% was for education and information, or a total of $42,130,000 for program services. Support services of $4,018,000 included $3,319,000 or 7% for administration and $699,000 or 2% for fundraising.

The Hispanic Scholarship Fund is categorized by the IRS as 501(c)(3), so that it is eligible for contributions from both the General Endowment and the Special Endowment under IRS rules. Contributions are permitted for “cooperation between and among potentially hostile groups”, “equality of educational opportunity”, and “economic self-sufficiency of a disadvantaged group”.

I did not receive the detailed information about the value of scholarships for Hispanics in 2014 that I did in 2005. However, the favorable ratios of program services to administrative costs are typical of scholarship funds, which have large scholarship expenses with relatively small administrative costs, and are the sort of “efficient” use of charitable money that the Fund should encourage. (If another Trustee thinks that we need more detailed information on the value of scholarships for Hispanics or other disadvantaged minorities, I would encourage further research.)

I recommend that the Board should categorize the Hispanic Scholarship Fund as "eligible and currently nominated" from both the General Endowment and the Special Endowment.

Respectfully submitted,

Robert McClenon

25 September 2014