TENNESSEE ELKS BENEVOLENT TRUST

Major Project: Nursing Scholarships

The Tennessee Elks Benevolent Trust is a nonprofit Tennessee Corporation governed by comprehensive by-laws which provide for a President, Vice President, Secretary, Pledge Secretary, Board of Directors and several committees to administer its programs and business affairs. Elks from Tennessee Lodges fill all positions on a voluntary basis (in keeping with with volunteer state) and business affairs. Elks from Tennessee Lodges fill all positions on a voluntary basis. Equal representation is accomplished through Board and Committee quotas for each of Tennessee's four (4) Elks Districts. The TEBT, as Elks most commonly call it, is a subsidiary of it's parent corporation, the Tennessee Elks Association (TEA), of which all Tennessee Elks are members. The voting and participation rights of Tennessee Elks are the same for the TEA and TEBT. The TEBT hold midyear and annual meetings in addition to committee and special meetings as the need arises.

A distinctive feature of the TEBT is the provision for a permanent Financial Corpus. All contributions to the TEBT are forever held in trust and all of the investment earnings of the Trust are, in turn used to carry out the TEBT major project-a Nursing Scholarship program. Consequently, every contribution serves as a renewable resource to student nurses in Tennessee. Along with the earnings of the Corpus, the TEA provides support from the annual dues of each Elk, and the Elks National Foundation (ENF) makes and annual gift to the TEA for use in supporting the NURSING SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM .

For more information contact your local Lodge or Click Here.

The Nursing Scholarship program was selected as the major project of the TEA in 1956, as a means to relieve a critical shortage of nurses in Tennessee. Over the years, and even in 1999, a review clearly shows the need to continue a nurses scholarship program.

TEBT scholarship application forms are distributed to the Tennessee Elks Lodges in early October and they in turn, distribute to forms to High School guidance counselors, colleges and hospitals within the jurisdiction of each Lodge. Applications must be submitted to the Lodge as directed, usually in January. After judging, winners are notified in April or May. In managing the scholarship, the award is paid directly to the student's school of choice. The student then may draw against an account for allowable expenses such as tuition, boos, lab fees and dormitory expense.