About EAF
Mission Statement
Our mission is to promote lifelong learning. This is accomplished by securing charitable contributions, gifts and endowed funds to award scholarships, fellowships and Community Assistance Awards.
Education has always created opportunity. But in today’s complex world and global economy, education means survival. Acquiring the necessary skills to succeed is, more than ever before, a never ending, lifelong process, requiring funding long before the traditional college years, and well after.
The Alpha Kappa Alpha Educational Advancement Foundation (EAF) is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt organization, created to fill a void in education funding. As one of the few such organizations administered by African American women, it has a unique approach to philanthropy that allows it to meet the diverse needs of a complex society.
EAF funds are leveraged in a manner that does the most good for the most people. For example, it supports some 100 people and projects each year—ranging from the best and the brightest college students to those who have overcome great obstacles to achieve their goals; from mentoring programs that give at-risk teens survival skills to programs for gifted middle schoolers.
It is a resource to which individuals and organizations can turn to complete a program of study, to obtain seed money to transform an idea into reality or to embark on a research project. By supporting such a wide variety of lifelong learning projects and pursuits, EAF enables people to make a difference in their lives and the lives of others.
That philosophy is most evident in the administration of its scholarship programs. EAF is just as likely to support the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in Food & Bio-Process Engineering as it is a cleaning lady striving to make a mid-life career change in the field of Rehabilitation Services. This ability to seek out and find excellence in all strata of society, in all communities and at all stages of life, is a hallmark of the Educational Advancement Foundation.
EAF is also proud that its scholarships are reaching those who need them the most, helping some of the neediest students achieve their educational and career goals and objectives. A recent survey of scholarship recipients revealed that more than 20% of the respondents came from households with annual incomes of less than $15,000.
What’s more, it’s not uncommon for an EAF scholarship to be the only one that a student receives during an academic year, magnifying the impact of every dollar awarded and providing motivational as well as financial benefits.
“I applied for other scholarships, but I didn’t get any money,” says Lois Martin, a 1998 recipient. Lois enrolled in the prestigious Cooking & Hospitality Institute in Chicago after losing her job to corporate restructuring. It is a good feeling to know that there was somebody out there who would help me.”
