About the Guatemala Indigenous Women's Endowment Fund

History

In the fall of 2021, the MAIA-Impact School was preparing for its first graduating class.  The students who were about to graduate had received a much better education than the graduates of the Starfish mentoring program before them and were better situated to enter university.  Many were able to qualify for scholarships, but others were not, and even when scholarships were possible, they often did not cover the full costs of attending university.  Financial hardship remained.  

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This problem was recognized by the Quetzal University Fund Executive Committee, but it was reluctant to extend the life of the Q Fund to take on additional students in its present form.  Instead, it decided to establish an endowment fund that could provide annual grants to MAIA to help its graduates with their university expenses.  After researching other options, the Executive Committee decided that the Evergreen Rotary Foundation was the perfect organization to implement and manage such an endowment fund.  The Q Fund provided an initial gift of $200,000 to establish the fund and the Guatemala Indigenous Women’s Endowment Fund (GIWEF) became a reality.  The first grant to MAIA was made in December of 2021. 

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The Name

The name Guatemala Indigenous Women’s Endowment Fund was chosen to be as descriptive as possible of its intended purpose.  “Guatemala” because it is focused exclusively on that country.  “Indigenous” because it is intended only for Mayan students, the indigenous people of Guatemala.  And “women” because it is limited to female students in recognition of the Girl Effect.

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Mission   

To support the most promising MAIA-Impact School graduates in continuing their education by attending universities throughout Guatemala so they may become agents of change for their communities, their country, and the world.

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Management

​The GIWEF is managed in the U. S. by the Board of the Evergreen Rotary Foundation.  Funds in the GIWEF are invested in accordance with a formal investment policy statement (click to view) with the overall objective of preservation of principal and the generation of a targeted return while maintaining a prudent assumption of risk.  Annual grants are made to MAIA.  The amount of each grant is dependent on the financial stability of the fund.

MAIA is solely responsible for selecting the students to receive financial assistance and deciding amounts, as well as managing the day-to-day interactions with those students.  MAIA reports accomplishments and use of the funds twice each year or as otherwise requested by the Evergreen Rotary Foundation.

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Students

The number of students receiving financial assistance from the GIWEF will vary each year depending on circumstances.  All will be graduates of the MAIA-Impact School.  There is no limitation on the universities the students choose to attend or their degree fields.  It is expected that some of these students will attend universities outside of Guatemala.  As of June 2023, three students were receiving financial assistance from the GIWEF.

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Future

The GIWEF is designed to provide annual grants in perpetuity; however, this design will be reevaluated in the fall of 2023 to determine whether a sunset date should be established.  To ensure that funds will be available for the foreseeable future, the amount of each annual grant is adjusted so that it will not exceed the anticipated income for the following year.  Should either MAIA or the Evergreen Rotary Foundation cease to exist at some future date, the remaining funds in the GIWEF will be transferred to another organization with a similar mission.