Introduction

The Viola McBride Educational Trust (VMET) was established by Viola McBride for the purpose of preserving the McBride family assets and for the education of deserving students with the profits generated by those assets.

The assets are primarily the physical properties that are part of the McBride heritage such as South Mayde Ranch, Ambrosini Ranch, and the Patrick House, but also include stock investments.  Range leases, structure rentals, hunting rights leases, wise timber management, and responsible investing generate the income from the assets.  These assets must be carefully managed to generate revenue that can be both be used to preserve and update the properties and to distribute funds for educational goals.

While many trusts are set up to be managed and consumed until exhausted, such as the Rex McBride Trust, VMET was established by Viola to be operated in a very different manner.  For one, the trustees are family members that serve as volunteers without pay.

The trust is a simple document, written by Viola, that gives the trustees discretion in the operation of the trust but includes clear guidelines for the trustees to follow.

After a great deal of discussion and careful reviews of all relevant documents, the trustees determined that two things must be accomplished to successfully operate the trust according to Viola’s wishes: the first is that the operation of the trust must preserve the families assets far into the future, and the second is that the trust must not be thought of as “free money” to be used and forgotten, but rather must foster an awareness of the McBride family heritage and ongoing family operations.  These responsibilities concern not only the immediate generations, but many generations in the future.

After running the trust for a few years and fully funding a small number of students, it became clear that the trust assets would be exhausted in a short number of years.  For this reason it became necessary to place limits on the dollar amount of awards to prevent financial collapse of the trust assets.

So, in order to fund the maximum number of qualified heirs while preserving the viability of the trust assets, the trustees will meet annually and review the financial situation of the trust.  Out of this review, the trustees will determine for the upcoming year, the dollar amount that will be awarded for the upcoming year.  The trustees will then review the applications and make a determination of how many applications to accept and how to divide the awards among the most deserving applicants.  The award amount is subject to adjustment each year and will be paid out as a lump sum, either for the entire year, or each semester for that school year.

Awards

The trust is very clear that support for an applicant’s education is post high school, but not limited to traditional college.  The following quote is from the trust document:

The awards are for education after high school. However there is no requirement that this education be for college. By way of illustration, a scholarship might be for training at a trade school, vocational school or arts school.

Similarly, top grades are not required. Rather, the Trustee is to look at the talents that the student has. This is not a euphemism for what are currently called the handicapped or the physically or mentally challenged. Rather, it is an acknowledgement that people of average intelligence who use the skills they have are achievers and may deserve support.

The most important guidelines are that students should work hard, carry a full load, and have a goal in mind.

There are two types of scholarships, Blood Heir Scholarships (approximately 90% of the award dollars) and Non-Blood Heir Scholarships (approximately 10% of the award dollars).

Blood Heir Scholarships

All direct descendants of Viola are eligible to apply for a Blood Heir Scholarship.

1. Applicants must apply through the VMET website.
2. Applicants must show that they were denied by the Rex McBride trust if they are eligible.
3. Applicants must provide an education plan and describe their goals.
4. Applicants must provide a plan for helping VMET that includes what they are going to do and how many hours they expect this to take. The applicant should be aware that they are competing with other applicants for the available awards (see note below).
5. Applicants are required to re-apply each year, thus continuing to “compete” for available scholarships.  Continuing applicants will be given preference.
6. Applicants will be reviewed and scholarships awarded by the trustees.
7. Application deadline is July 15 for new or continuing students.

Note: All scholarship recipients are requested to donate 40 hours per scholarship year to benefit VMET. This can be done in a variety of ways. The Scholarship application includes a section for the applicant to specifically explain how they will express their gratitude in a tangible way.  The applicant will work with the VMET Manager who can explain the current needs of the trust such as fence building on the ranches, barn repair, tractor repairs, painting, rental repairs, planting timber, planting windbreaks, installing culverts, clearing brush, spraying Tansy, building fire trails, organizing or cataloging family letters and photos, giving tours of Fern Cottage, organizing family events, etc.  Alternately, students can present their own ideas using their own skills and talents, subject to approval by the trust manager.  (Be aware that the needs of VMET vary with time and seasons, and it would behoove applicants to contact admin@violamcbride.com for insight into those needs.) The applicant’s plan to accomplish their 40 hours of work for the trust will weigh heavily into the decision for award.

Ranking factors will include (not in any order):

Eligibility

Plan for trust donation (of time)

Seriousness –  (previous performance, prior experience with VMET, previous schools)

Education plan and goals

Age (with a preference for the young)

Any other factors that the selection board feels are relevant

Other guidelines