PEDESTAL FUND
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Mission Statement
Pedestal provides significant scholarships to rising area high school seniors. Our grants are unrestricted and our selection process is as fair and open as we can make it. Through our growing endowment, Pedestal provides financial assistance for associate and bachelor’s degrees, trade schools, professional certifications, and apprenticeships. Just as importantly, we provide grants to local youth-serving nonprofits to help sustain their pivotal work. These partner organizations identify candidates to become Pedestal Scholars. At Pedestal, we well know the struggle for funding for higher education and professional training among our youth, as well as the need to support the vital work of our local community of youth-serving nonprofits.
About This Cause
Investing In The Pedestal Fund The Pedestal Fund is a new, unique and impactful organization dedicated to uplifting the youth of the Richmond area. Over many years, your Markel Foundation has made clear its commitment to education and community development. We invite you to join us in amplifying that dedication to our area’s young people. Who We Are The Pedestal Fund was established through a generous gift from Anne and Robert Waldruff to honor Anne's four-decade career as a public-school teacher. Our founder, author and educator David L. Robbins, envisioned a fund that not only supports individual students for their continuing education but strengthens the very organizations which guide and prepare these young people for the future. What We Do Our mission is twofold: 1. Scholarships: We provide significant and unrestricted scholarships to rising high school seniors in the Richmond area. Our selection criteria are based on academic performance and promise, expressions of leadership, goals, and a personal statement. We support continued education across a spectrum of opportunities—including 2- and 4-year colleges, vocational training, and apprenticeships. By helping remove financial barriers for a spectrum of these rising scholars and professional skill workers, Pedestal will enable them to better pursue their dreams and reach their full potential. 2. Supporting Nonprofits: Recognizing the vital role local nonprofits play in youth development, we develop partnership agreements with key area youth-serving nonprofits in order to offer them reciprocal grants. Support from Pedestal, expected to grow every year, will help ensure that Richmond sustains a healthy network of youth-serving nonprofits instrumental in readying young people for citizenship, work, and life beyond high school. Why Partner with The Pedestal Fund? • Maximum Impact of Donations: As a completely volunteer-led organization, we ensure that every dollar donated goes directly toward supporting students and our nonprofit partners. Every contribution, regardless of amount, will have a tangible, growing, and lasting effect. • Professional Management of the Endowment: Pedestal maintains relationships with local banks and investment firms to assure that our endowment fund grows consistently and safely. Our current board consists of lawyers, nonprofit professionals, a CPA, financial counselors, and businesspeople, all single-minded in seeing The Pedestal Fund grow into a permanent and increasingly powerful force for the good of Richmond area youth. • Unique Reciprocal Support System: We connect students, nonprofits, and donors in a mutually beneficial network. This approach amplifies the impact of each donation, fostering a community of support that is unparalleled in the Richmond area. • Commitment to Equity and Accessibility: Our selection process for scholarships is as fair and open as possible. By blinding applications, we focus solely on the merits and aspirations of each candidate, promoting equity and inclusion. Your Support Can Make a Difference A donation from the Markel Foundation will significantly enhance our ability to uplift the youth of Richmond. Your gift will: • expand our scholarship program, allowing more students to pursue higher education and professional training; • strengthen and sustain local nonprofits, ensuring they can continue their essential work in youth development; and, • contribute to the creation of a well-educated, skilled, and confident generation ready to play their part in a more prosperous and equitable society.