Joyce Ivy Alumnae Unlock $25,000+ In Endowments Funds

06.20.22

ANN ARBOR, MI, June 20, 2022 – The Joyce Ivy Foundation recently announced the completion of its first ever Scholar Alumnae Endowment Challenge.

 Mary Vandewiele, a Metro Detroit entrepreneur, advocate for women and their leadership development, and the creator of the Mary Vandewiele Leadership Award, made a lead gift that established the Joyce Ivy Foundation endowment in 2016. More recently, Vandewiele put forward a challenge to encourage the Foundation’s 900+ Scholar alumnae to give back. 

“I have always been compelled by Joyce Ivy’s mission of elevating the educational opportunities of young women,” said Mary Vandewiele. “To me, philanthropy is a vehicle to not only have an impact and make a difference, but also make a statement. I have stayed involved with the Joyce Ivy Foundation over the last decade because I want to continue to show that furthering the education of women is important and should be taken seriously. I am delighted to have had the opportunity to encourage young alumnae to give back and know that they too can  have an impact in paving the way for the next generation of Scholars.”  

In early 2021, Foundation leadership and Vandewiele launched the Alumnae Endowment Challenge, with Vandewiele committing $25,000 to match alumnae gifts made to the Joyce Ivy Foundation endowment. The challenge featured both match and participation incentives.  

To date, 200 alumnae, inspired by Vandewiele’s generosity and commitment to Joyce Ivy, their own Joyce Ivy experiences, and a desire to ensure similar opportunities for generations of young women to come, have made gifts since the challenge was launched.  Joyce Ivy alumnae who contributed to the challenge ranged in age from high school juniors to young professionals in their early thirties and hailed from all seven of the midwestern states that the Foundation currently operates in. While the majority of gifts were $25 or less, a select number of alumnae made three and four figure gifts. Those gifts, combined with Vandewiele’s match, resulted in over $30,000 for the Joyce Ivy Foundation endowment. Returns from the endowment will continue to support future generations of Summer Scholars in perpetuity. 

 “As an alumna, I was very excited to have the opportunity to collaborate with a nearly thousand-plus alumnae community to build more sustainability in the Joyce Ivy funding pipeline through an endowment,” said Jasmyn Samaroo, JIF ‘08 and a member of the Associate Board of Directors. “Joyce Ivy invests in the next ideators and leaders of our world, so Mary’s challenge powered a philanthropy education, in which the skills and opportunities Joyce Ivy provided to us as Summer Scholars equipped us to kickstart a chain reaction where initial investments will have repeated impact for generations of Scholars to come.” 

 Mary Vandeweiele’s ongoing support of Joyce Ivy Summer Scholars – past, present, and future, – is an inspiration to staff, Directors, and friends.

 About The Joyce Ivy Foundation

The Joyce Ivy Foundation seeks to provide exposure, encouragement, and financial assistance to young women who have the academic, intellectual, and leadership potential to attend the nation’s most selective institutions of higher education. Funding for the Joyce Ivy Foundation is provided by individuals, other foundations, and corporations. Since its founding in 2006, the Foundation has named 1050 students from Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, and South Dakota as Joyce Ivy Scholars, providing scholarships for them to attend summer educational programs at partner college summer programs, and providing or leveraging $5.5 million in scholarship funding. For more information, please visit www.joyceivyfoundation.org or contact the Joyce Ivy Foundation at info@joyceivyfoundation.org or (734) 661-0229.