We spent the first two months of the quarter, July – August, preparing and executing this year’s annual event which was held on August 31st, and all of September, gathering data, evaluating the event and communicating with donors and sponsors; sending out receipts and donor acknowledgement letters.
Some of the WAU Members, 2024.
This year the event was held at Hyatt Regency Wichita. Last time we had the event there was in 2019. This year’s event theme was ‘For Africa today, Education is Key’. The theme connected personal experiences of members of Wichita African Union (WAU) to the scholarship program. We are convinced that education is the main factor for who we are today and that motivates us to mentor and to provide scholarship awards to students. During the event program, we showcased success stories by one member from each of the different countries in the union, except for Tanzania which will be presented in the future.
A line up of Country Success Stories
We are thankful that grassroot donors and some local businesses came forward with donations for WAU scholarship fund as well as businesses that sponsored our event through special tables. We also received from businesses and partners items for raffle drawing and auction which helped us to raise additional money the day of the event. In total we raised about $6,700.
This year we awarded four scholarships of $500 each to one student from each of the following schools: Wichita State University, Hesston and McPherson Colleges and Butler Community College.
Two out of many other auction items from Dillard's Store and Wichita African Business & Professional Network.
Plans for the fourth quarter include developing relationships, building donor base, pushing visibility, programming, strategic planning for the next couple of years, researching funders and gathering information for grant writing, now that we are a 501c3 organization. We will also be participating in cultural performances and food vending at events like the Kansas Global Market on December 14 and possibly at the Philos Jubilee by Friends University on October 18.
We are looking at Saturday August 30th as the date for next year’s event. Please save the date.
Lastly but not least, we have earned a Silver Seal of Transparency with Candid. Get updates on our organization’s public charity status through our #NonprofitProfile.
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