Scholarships for the next generation of meteorologists and geophysical scientists are important to me, as they are for so many AMS members. I know AMS needs more scholarships for first-year college students and the Centennial Campaign gives me an opportunity to do so.

I have decided to increase my annual gift to AMS for the next ten years to allow AMS to increase my current endowed scholarship and to use part of this additional gift to fund additional outright scholarships beyond what the fund provides already. I can help more students now and ensure that even more students will be supported by an increased endowment. 

Each year, I will split my gift between current scholarship awards and increases to my endowment fund. My goal is to keep the new enhanced level of annual scholarship awards constant, funded in part by my yearly gift and, increasingly, by the income from the endowment fund, as the fund grows over time–just like using the power of compound interest to build the fund. 

I am giving this gift through an IRA Rollover. By transferring a portion of my Required Minimum Distribution(RMD) directly from the IRA to the AMS, I do not have to pay taxes on the amount I transfer. Additionally, this gift reduces my Adjusted Gross Income for the Federal Tax Return and, in my case, to a tax bracket that reduces the amount of Medicare Part B that Gay and I are required to pay. This is truly a win-win situation for both Gay and me and for the AMS.

How better to give back to an organization that has given so much to me and to ensure that the next generation has opportunities to contribute in so many ways we cannot yet imagine.

—Joe Friday