Our Commitment
To our donors, supporters and the community
The Greek America Foundation is a non-profit corporation in the state of New York whose mission is to “preserve, perpetuate and promote Greek culture, history and ideals.” We accomplish this mission through three strategic programming areas: social and cultural events, educational scholarships and charitable aid to Greece.
Our commitment to donors, members and supporters is to offer relevant and compelling programming, maintain utmost transparency and ensure the long-term viability of this organization.
Relevance
Over more than a decade we’ve built an impressive track record. But we are committed to doing more by staying true to our mission and engaging the next generation of Greek North Americans and others with activities and programs that are relevant to our mission statement.
Everything we do will be consistent with our core values of philanthropy, the pursuit of excellence, philotimo, innovation and education.
Transparency
At the direction of our Board of Directors, 15% of each donation goes to support the administrative operations of the organization. This percentage is consistent with national averages and benchmarking for academic institutions and non-profit organizations.
Donors are often rightly concerned about how much of their charitable donation goes to “overhead;” recent research has shown that donors and non-profits both benefit when the organization has a well-funded administration. Under-funded non-profits struggle to provide consistent results and transparent metrics of success.
Donors have also inquired about the process of how we donate to charities or individuals in Greece, as we’ve done through our Project Hope for Greece campaign. Click here to learn about how we donate to Greece.
Our aim is to be fully transparent about our goals, outcomes and finances. We have been officially recognized by GuideStar with a 2021 Platinum Seal of Transparency. GuideStar is the world’s largest charity monitor for transparency and the Platinum Seal is the highest ranking a non-profit can obtain. Click here to visit our GuideStar profile. Our profile includes all relevant legal and financial information including our IRS Form 990s, Letter of Determination and Articles of Incorporation.
Sustainability
The Greek America Foundation has a long-term goal to build two endowment funds which will allow the organization to run in perpetuity.
The Scholarship Endowment Fund goal is $10,000,000 which will be enough to fund 40 annual Semester in Athens scholarships. This endowment fund is currently funded by families wishing to memorialize or honor family or loved ones with scholarships in perpetuity.
The Operations Endowment Fund goal is also $10,000,000 which will sustain annual operations. A portion of our members’ dues are automatically applied to this fund, as are some of the proceeds from our major events.
We are grateful for the ongoing support of Greek Americans and philhellenes throughout North America who share our commitment to preserving and perpetuating Greek culture and ideals. Your commitment to us makes all of this possible not only because you recognize the value and necessity of these ideals in today’s world, but because you are dedicated to sustaining them. Together, we can ensure that future generations will have a living connection to their heritage.