Empower a First-Generation College Student

Dear Friend:

During the past two decades of its operations, Bridge to Turkey (BTF) has established a bridge between donors around the world and trusted partners in Turkey with the aim of benefiting socio-economically disadvantaged students with special emphasis on supporting female university students. BTF collaborates with many partners including university and high school alumni associations, foundations, and other nonprofit organizations to provide educational scholarships to students. In this report, we are happy to introduce the Middle East Technical University (METU) Scholarships Project – an important component of the Empowerment Scholarship Program.

BTF METU scholarships project was initiated in 2016 with the leadership of the METU Alumni Group of North Texas. This group had been meeting annually for socializing, networking, and raising funds to support scholarships to promising undergraduate students who study at METU in Ankara, Turkey. In 2016, the group decided to start partnering with BTF to establish a METU scholarship fund instead of directly transferring the funds to the alumni organization in Turkey. Partnering with BTF not only enabled them to take advantage of tax savings and corporate charitable gift matching programs but also sparked an interest among other METU alumni living across the USA in giving back to their alma mater. The small scholarship program that started with only 4 students quickly snowballed to 20 students within the first year, then to 40, and eventually to 80 students per year. Between the years of 2016-2020, alumni and friends of METU funded full year need- and merit-based scholarships for nearly 300 students and this group is planning to support over 100 students in the upcoming 2021-2022 academic year. BTF METU Scholarship funds are delivered to students through a partnership with the University’s Istanbul Alumni Organization and Scholarship Office. Over the years, special attention was paid to reach out to students from many different undergraduate programs and to include students with various physical disabilities.

Middle East Technical University, a public technical university located in Ankara, is one of the largest and most prestigious universities in Turkey. As a distinguished research university, METU has been committed to excellence in science and top-quality higher education since its foundation in the late 1950s. Today, METU offers a total of 41 undergraduate, 107 graduate, and 69 doctorate programs under five schools, with a special emphasis on engineering and natural sciences. The language of instruction at METU is English. Due to the high quality of education, and emphasis on research and social awareness, METU Alumni are well respected and have assumed leadership roles in various organizations not only in Turkey but also all around the globe. METU has over 135,000 graduates and over 20 percent of them live outside of Turkey. METU alumni are very loyal to their alma mater and are proud to give back to their school by supporting scholarships and creating opportunities for the new generation of METU students to change the world. Our goal as BTF volunteers is to continue to grow this program so that we can support an increasing number of METU Empowerment Scholarships every year.

Our METU Scholarship program is also very special because it inspired the foundation of various similar programs under the BTF umbrella that energized and enabled alumni of other leading universities in Turkey (e.g., Bogaziçi, Bilkent, and Haccettepe Universities) to give back to their schools. We believe this is a great testament to the power of leading by example in charitable giving. The fire sparked by the METU North Texas Alumni giving circle in 2016 with the goal of supporting four METU students not only quickly spread across the globe among other METU alumni organizations but also sparked fires among the alumni organizations of other peer universities. Through these programs, we are now able to provide hundreds of empowerment scholarships to promising college students in need of financial support every year.

We are forever grateful to our donors and volunteers who enable us to continue to support and grow these programs. Through your continued support, these young women and men will have a chance to live better lives and contribute to the Turkish Society.

We are happy to share pictures of recent gatherings of our BTF Giving Circle made up of METU Alumni volunteers. It is through the efforts of this group that we have been able to grow the scholarship fund to support promising students who need financial support.

Best regards,