Recognize Dedication and Talent Through Your Foundation

  • Feb 25, 2016
  • Jane Hanson and Joan Hiller, Trustees

It's that time between the holidays and the first crocus where those of us grounded by blizzards watch the weather forecasts and daydream of spring and summer days. For those of us who are parents, it will soon be midterm time, and then the end of yet another school year will be upon us.

As school winds down, parents start thinking about ways to show appreciation to all the people who guided, cajoled, taught, encouraged and inspired our children. Finding something unique, something that stands out and lets that person know he or she has made a difference, can be tough. Candy? Nah. A gift card for the coffee shop? Maybe in September, when a double-shot espresso comes in handy and a teacher is going from 0 to 60 in startup mode.

Or, you could connect that special person to what the Foundation is doing to make a difference in the lives of others. Or maybe you want to honor someone who isn’t a teacher — or isn’t your teacher? Absolutely! Celebrate an anniversary, thank someone special, give praise where praise is due. You’re looking for unique recognition that could come from only you, a donor to an organization that recognizes intelligence and those who support it. Your tax-deductible gift will be used to add to our resources in Mensa for Kids, improve and expand the Colloquium, and enhance our scholarship offerings. Build your Foundation and increase its resources for shaping and expanding intelligence.

Our award-winning website, Mensa For Kids, continues to inspire youth, parents and teachers with its games, lesson plans and links to all things curious and inspiring. Students, teachers and parents from countries across the globe have visited the site to use its resources and information.

The National Book Fair saw us doubling our support for its event programs as we stood side by side with the Library of Congress in support of reading and literacy. Amazing Mensa volunteers pored through more than 11,000 scholarship applications and awarded more than $85,000 in scholarships. The Foundation’s goal is to increase the impact of those scholarships across the country. As Foundation support from members like you grows, we plan to double the amount of our local group scholarships, work to increase the amounts of other scholarships and institute more scholarships for STEM and IT degrees.

Mensans packed the house at the 2015 Colloquium in Louisville, Ky., focusing on the fascinating topic brain health.

The Mensa Research Journal continues its reputation for bringing together cutting-edge, relevant research from across a wide range of disciplines.

Your Mensa Foundation recognizes outstanding research done in support of humanity and its true treasure, intelligence. Our awards highlight lifetime achievement, excellence in research, creative achievement, distinguished teaching, intellectual benefits to society and general work, applied or theoretical, that promotes education or literacy, focuses on the gifted or identifies threats to or prevents loss of intelligence.

Many Mensans want to give back, to make a difference in the world with the gifts we have been given. Your Mensa Foundation presents the perfect opportunity to donate or to leave a bequest that will benefit posterity.

Please help us grow the Foundation. My Mensa — My Foundation.