Although this campaign has concluded, it's easy to give to Ohio University and support the Ebony Bobcat Network Urban Scholarship Endowment.
Thank you for the continued support of the Ebony Bobcat Network (EBN) Urban Scholarship Endowment. Building from this strong foundation of more than 2,000 donors, the EBN has kicked off its Fall 2021 effort titled "1804 Campaign of Champions.” This honors Ohio University's founding year and recognizes donors as champions.
Through The OHIO Match, launched in July 2013, Ohio University has pledged up to $25 million to strengthen its endowed scholarship program by providing $0.50 for every dollar committed to eligible scholarship endowments, which includes The EBN Urban Scholarship Endowment. As of June 15, 2020, donors had committed nearly $18.14 million in eligible gifts to The OHIO Match, and more than 261 new endowed scholarship accounts have been created, providing more students a pathway to an Ohio University education while establishing a legacy of long-term student support. The OHIO Match will continue to match gifts and pledge payments to eligible endowed scholarship accounts through June 30, 2024.
This is why now is a great time to support the EBN Urban Scholarship Endowment! As an example, a donor can pledge $5,000 to the scholarship and as long as that gift is honored by June 30, 2024, it will be OHIO Match-eligible for $2,500. This makes the total gift [impact] to OHIO $7,500.
EBN Endowment Chair Stella Antwine said, "Your giving makes you a champion for the cause. Not quite like the Olympic winners, but symbolic of their dedication. The endowment will ensure that future generations of Ebony Bobcats receive the needed financial support to fulfill their education and post-graduate goals.”
The inaugural Ebony Bobcat Network Urban Scholar, Te’aylis Jackson from Englewood, Ohio, was announced in August 2020. “[Winning this scholarship] means everything to me. I was so worried about going to college and not being able to afford it. Then this scholarship came, and I get to do what I want. I get to make a difference by being the first person awarded the scholarship,” Jackson said.
"I want to congratulate Te’aylis for being named the first-ever Ebony Bobcat Network Urban Scholar,” Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Dr. Gigi Secuban shared in the announcement. “Due to the generous contributions of the Ebony Bobcat Network, this is the beginning of a great scholarship opportunity for students that highlights OHIO’s accessibility and inclusion goals.”
In May 2020 the EBN Urban Scholarship Endowment received its second endowment, a planned gift, the EBN-Dr. Michele Curtis Penick,1966 Scholarship Endowment benefiting students majoring in early childhood education, in the Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education.
The EBN is working hard to double the amount it originally raised in order to endow the first scholarship — that makes the next milestone $600,000. The group of more than 100 active members feels if they did it once, with the help of many, they can do it again. (On April 18, 2019, with the University’s first OHIO Giving Day, the Ebony Bobcat Urban Scholarship became fully endowed, meaning it would be awarded in perpetuity.)
The EBN is an alumni organization that was formed in the spring of 2010 by Black alumni, after meeting with President Emeritus McDavis during the Black Alumni Reunion. He called upon the alumni to support OHIO’s Urban Scholars Program. Since then, EBN has organized and hosted a variety of events to raise funds to endow its scholarship. It has also grown since its original formation in Cleveland to be a body of six affiliates: Akron/Canton, Chicago, Cincinnati/Dayton, Cleveland, Columbus, and Washington D.C., all organized under a National Chapter.
An EBN donor shared, “OU was the best time of my life. It feels good to know I can help someone experience that feeling too.”
To support the EBN Urban Scholarship Endowment, make a gift on this page. If you prefer to give by check (payable to The Ohio University Foundation, with Ebony Bobcat Network [EBN] on the memo line), mail your gift to The Ohio University Foundation, PO Box 869, Athens, OH 45701. If you want to explore making a charitable gift to this campaign with a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from your Individual Retirement Account (IRA), giving via a Donor Advised Fund or stock transfer, please contact Caryn M. Bailey, Assistant Director of Development, Major Giving.
Remember: For every dollar donated to the EBN Urban Scholarship Endowment, the University will match it with 50 cents. The OHIO Match will match gifts and pledge payments through June 30, 2024.