By Brandi McGrath Kong, Director of Member Services and Conferences
Service is at the heart of everything that Sertoma does, and it’s thanks to our members’ generous giving to the Annual Fund that we are able to make some of our favorite flagship programs possible. Since 1971, Sertoma has had hearing health as its national mission. As such, we have used donor dollars to help those impacted by and living with hearing loss through the support of field-related higher education and philanthropic work.
The Community Grant program is the biggest way Sertoma supports the work of other hearing health nonprofit organizations. This program provides grants of up to $5,000 to Sertoma Affiliates aiming to advance their work in the hearing health world. Many Affiliates’ annual dues are also sponsored by local Sertoma Clubs.
Grants have gone to help fund hearing health programs, hearing health equipment, program supplies, project development, first-year support groups, hearing and speech screenings, information research and more. Applications are currently open for the grant program and will close on January 31, 2023.
The Annual Fund is also dedicated to supporting the hearing health leaders of tomorrow through Communicative Disorders Scholarships. These $1,000 scholarships assist graduate students pursuing advanced degrees in audiology or speech pathology in the United States. Our program provides more funds nationally for graduate-level study in communicative disorders than any other single organization.
We have also supported students with hearing loss through our Hard of Hearing or Deaf Scholarships since 1994. This $1,000 undergraduate scholarship is allocated specifically to Americans with significant bilateral hearing loss (40dB or greater) that are pursuing a four-year degree in any discipline.
Applications for this year’s scholarship program will open in November. You can read more about some of our past recipients here.
Supporting the Annual Fund is easy! To learn more about your giving options, or to donate online, visit the Annual Fund page at sertoma.org.