We believe strongly in the importance of supporting the next generation of ground-breaking scientists. Finding new ways of solving old problems and using the new technology our young scientists will have available to them is critical to our future, as a profession and as a society. We have set aside a significant percentage of our IRA to endow the scholarship fund we envision, and we are pleased to know that that fund will provide scholarships to students in perpetuity. However, we also wanted to see the impact of our gift now, so we have decided to fund what AMS calls a “virtual endowment.”

We have agreed to provide an annual gift equivalent to 5% of the eventual value of the endowment (the same amount AMS will use every year from the endowment once it is established), to be used for current awards, then to fund the principal at the end of our lives through the gift from our IRA. In this way, AMS has the same amount available for scholarships now as it will have in the future—financially the equivalent of an immediate gift to the endowment. We can help students now, while still increasing the fund through our estate. A win for all involved.

—Marv and Mary Dickerson