History of the S.C.O.P.E. Foundation
The SCOPE Foundation's origins grew from the pilgrimages & international service programs over the last 25 years to El Salvador & Mexico for students, faculty, and alumni from the University of Scranton and Scranton Preparatory High School, both Jesuit Institutions in Pennsylvania.
The mission of these programs was to foster a solidarity with the poor in the Light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the mid 1990's, through the efforts of SCOPE's founder, Rev. Brendan G. Lally, S.J., former Rector of the Scranton Jesuit Community (Society of Jesus) of the Maryland Province, the Bridges to El Salvador pilgrimage program was begun.
Several groups of pilgrims continue to travel to El Salvador each year from these Jesuit schools to see the post civil war torn & earthquake devastated country, to witness the Universal Church through the eyes of the poor and the Good News and to walk in the footsteps of the Central American Martyrs like Bishop Oscar Romero and the Maryknoll Sisters.
In 2002, to celebrate Fr. Lally's 25th Anniversary as a Jesuit Priest, past pilgrims of Bridges to El Salvador, began a humble SCOPE Fund at the University of Scranton (Salvadoran Children of the Poor Education Fund) to attempt to do something small, yet tangible for the poor of El Salvador.
In 2005, after three years of success in raising donations through the original SCOPE Fund, Fr. Lally decided to create a free standing non-profit tax exempt 501(c)3 public charity, the SCOPE Foundation, Inc. He invited past pilgrims, university staff & faculty, former students and friends to establish a public corporation in the Commonwealth of Virginia and form a board of directors to guide this endeavor to serve the poorest of the poor, the children of San Salvador.
In 2006, the SCOPE Foundation, Inc. received its 501c3 tax exempt status from the IRS. The SCOPE Foundation's board of directors meets in person once per year to hold their annual board meeting and conducts quarterly conference calls to govern and develop their stewardship for the poor. The founding board meeting was held in February 2005 in Washington, D.C. and the 2nd annual meeting in Baltimore, Maryland in June 2006. The focus and mission of the SCOPE Foundation is very simple, to sustain the present operations and to endow the Santa Luisa elementary school in San Salvador, El Salvador which serves the poorest of the poor in the capital city.
Additionally, during 2006, SCOPE doubled the size of its Board of Directors, recruiting committed professionals with expertise in Audit, Accounting, Tax Law, Finance, Bookkeeping, Graphics, Web Development, Communications and News Media.
SCOPE also completed the filing of its initial Exempt Organization (EO) Return IRS Form 990 as a 501c3 Public Charity and registered with the Commonwealth of Virginia to actively commence fundraising efforts with the public.
All the members of the S.C.O.P.E. Board of Directors are volunteers. There are no paid staff or executives. Many of the board members have traveled throughout Latin America, Central America, and the Developing World, including El Salvador. The operating costs of this charity are kept to a minimum such as the annual costs of a P.O. Box, website, and filing fees with the IRS, the respective State governments including Virginia and others, and with the Non-Profit Sector associations and watchdog organizations like GuideStar.org.
To date all legal and founding work has been done pro bono or been paid from the personal contributions of its board members. The goal is to care, guard, preserve and grow the principal funds of the SCOPE Foundation and distribute the interest to the Santa Luisa School to keep it open and viable to serve the needs of the children of San Salvador.
2007, proved to be an active and good year for the SCOPE Foundation. Marie Karam, Spanish Professor and Director of Bridges to El Salvador at the University of Scranton joined the the Board of Directors. The annual board meeting was held outside Baltimore, Maryland in February and the first annual Board Retreat was held in June at Chapman Lake Conference Retreat Center outside Scranton, Pennsylvania. The gathering focused on brainstorming fundraising ideas for the Cornerstone Campaign wherein SCOPE seeks to build the foundation to $250,000.
SCOPE raised $27,500 dollars in donations in 2007, receiving 40% of its annual donations from the general public. This achievement supports SCOPE's status as a 501c3 public charity. The SCOPE Foundation has raised $85,000 in its principal fund to advance the education of the poor elementary aged school children of El Salvador. SCOPE hopes to soon cross the $100k milestone. SCOPE would like to thank Mike Foy and his partner of Foy & Stratsman CPA of Scranton, Pennsylvania for completing of the external certification of our IRS Form 990 (annual non-profit tax exempt organization return).
SCOPE earned over $4,000 in interest on its investments from its principal fund. The Santa Luisa school requested $4400 to pay the administrative salaries, utility bills, and maintenance costs of the school for November and December, 2007. SCOPE was able to send this amount from the interest earned in 2006 and 2007 to assist in keeping the Santa Luisa school open for its 524 students, 23 lay teachers, administrative staff and 4 religious sisters who heroically serve the school.
A new website is under construction. It will offer professional formatting, vibrant colors, streaming video and audio and a highly secure and encrypted donations page with state of art merchant processing linked directly to our Bank of America accounts. This advancement will enable our generous donors to choose to give on a one time and recurring basis through Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT/ACH) drafting of their checking accounts or debit cards in addition to online credit card donations. Our board of directors believe this offers a safe, convenient, flexible, and regular means of giving to the poor.
2008 is an exciting time for SCOPE. Several of its board members are traveling to El Salvador in June of 2008 along with SCOPE's friend, Maria Menjivar (see hyperlink to Maria's story). Bill Howard, a Catholic journalist and editor of the Catholic Herald of the Diocese of Colorado Springs along with Matthew O'Rourke, President of the SCOPE Foundation will be visiting El Salvador with the Bridges to El Salvador program of the University of Scranton. Bill has visited El Salvador several times in the past and this will be Matt's first time back since his initial visit in 2001. They will focus primarily on the Santa Luisa Elementary School on this visit.
Accompanying them, will be Maria Menjivar, a US citizen, American success story, and an alumnus of the Santa Luisa school. Maria emigrated from El Salvador in 1986 during the turbulent 12 year civil war that ravaged her native country. She knew Arch Bishop Monsignor Romero, who regularly visited her childhood school in San Salvador. She will assist Matt and Bill as a translator and interpreter as they interview Sr. Martha Danielia, the Principal of the Santa Luisa school. The three hope to interview and chronicle the nuns, lay teachers, and students of the school during their stay. In addition, they will capture the school in high definition to add streaming audio and video to the new website and also take high resolution digital photos of each of the 524 students, 23 lay teachers, and 4 religious sisters who run the school.
The Board of Directors also plan to meet in late June outside Scranton, PA at the 2nd annual board retreat at the Chapman Lake retreat center. The goal of this meeting, aside from the regular governance of the corporation, will be planning tangible fundraising initiatives to grow the foundation from its current level of $85,000 to $250,000. This milestone would provide a fund sufficient to earn half the annual revenue needed to operate the Santa Luisa School. The school's budget is approximately $25,000. The principal fund of the foundation is currently invested in a FDIC insured CD earning 5% interest. Our directors feel this is a safe and conservative means to provide for the school during this volatile period in the US Stock Market.
