During the 14 years since the Jim and Ann Nelson Youth and Foster Care Scholarship was established at the Foundation, the Nelsons estimate they have awarded more than $40,000 to at least  30 students. It was the couple’s volunteer work with the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) that spurred them to create a scholarship that provides financial support for young adults who have aged out of foster care and who wish to pursue higher education.

After Ann retired from a career teaching and working in public relations, she went looking for interesting volunteer opportunities. She found CASA, where Jim joined her after he retired as a mechanical engineer.When health challenges meant they could no longer physically volunteer, they focused on using their financial assets to continue advocating for foster children.

“We were familiar with the Albuquerque Community Foundation when it first started more than 40 years ago because I had several friends who were active in support of the Foundation,” says Ann. “Since then, we’ve been part of fundraising and other activities through the Foundation, too.”

Setting up the scholarship at the Foundation seemed an obvious choice to help manage the scholarships, Jim says. “The staff was extremely helpful and did the heavy lifting. With a combination of the Foundation’s good management and prudent allocations, the corpus of the endowment has remained almost the same as the original amount. And we know the scholarship will continue to benefit students far into the future.”