If you are interested in learning Icelandic, learning about Icelandic heritage, participating in Snorri-programs, or volunteering in vetted activity in Iceland, we have set up a scholarship fund to help deserving individuals pursue those goals.
If you have the means, please consider helping applicants pursue Icelandic language fluency or Icelandic-related academic study, participate in Snorri programs, or engage in vetted volunteer activity in Iceland. Visit our donations page and choose scholarship fund.
November 2024 Board Review Notes
The Icelandic Association of Chicago Scholarship Program: Inviting Scholarship Applications from IAC Members and Friends.
The November, 2024 IAC Annual General Meeting approved soliciting applications for updated IAC scholarship stipend support:
- Advanced Icelandic-language instruction [younger applicants encouraged to apply] for up to USD $ 500.00 for those who have completed at least one of the free http://www.IcelandicOnline.com Icelandic courses and/or have some Icelandic fluency. [The Snorri Foundation uses http://www.IcelandicOnline.com courses.]
- Stipends up to USD $ 1,500.00 to support enrollment in either SNORRI for North American young adults [20 – 30 years of age] or SNORRI PLUS for mature North American adults and retirees, for which further information is available from the Snorri Foundation [www.Snorri.is] and the Twenty Years of Snorri [1999 – 2019] Report which is featured as a link on our IAC website;
- Stipends up to USD $ 1,000.00 for relevant Icelandic-related academic study at any bona fide academic, cultural, or scientific institutions in the United States, Canada, or Iceland;
- Stipends up to USD $ 1000.00 for bona fide, relevant volunteer service in Iceland during which the applicant will have ample opportunity to enhance conversational Icelandic-language facility.
Applications will be reviewed as they come in, subject to IAC Board approval. Stipend awards will be announced at the IAC Thorrablot or AGM. Volunteer service on the IAC Scholarship Committee will be most-welcome!
Full details regarding the IAC Scholarship Program and an online Application Form can be retrieved from the Link at the bottom of the IAC website: http://www.IcelandChicago.org. Inquiries can be made via email:
ScholarshipProgram@IcelandChicago.org or to the undersigned.
Further support of our IAC Scholarship Program will be most-welcome, either by direct donation or by supporting our beverage sales of donated IcelandicGlacial Water at Scandinavian Day, Vasa Park, South Elgin, IL, always the first Sunday after Labor Day: Next on Sunday, 7-Sep-2025.
John H. Hofteig, IAC Scholarship Program Chair: JohnHaldor@gmail.com
November 2021 Board Review Notes
OBJECTIVES:
The Icelandic Association of Chicago (IAC) Scholarship Program (“Program”) shall have a broad mandate to: encourage, facilitate, and fund formal and informal educational opportunities to promote knowledge of Iceland, its language, culture, history, and current affairs, It shall recognize exceptional contributions to same by members of the Icelandic-American Community which the IAC represents and serves.
GUIDELINES:
- The elected Chairperson and its Committee shall:
- Recommend the scope of its current activities consistent with available and anticipated resources, opportunities, and the needs of the Icelandic-American Community which the IAC represents and serves.
- Solicit and review applications for approved scholarship aid.
- Recommend granting of scholarship aid and/or special recognition.
- Only the IAC Board of Directors or an IAC Annual General Meeting (AGM) shall have authority to approve the recommendations of the Chair and Committee regarding actual awarding of scholarship aid and special recognition(s)
- Funding sources for the Program shall include individual and corporate contributions and fundraising activities approved by the IAC Board.
- The Chair shall recruit a Committee to include at least two IAC members with relevant input welcome from all interested parties.
- Preference in the awarding of scholarship aid shall be given to IAC members and family members of same.
- Recipients of scholarship financial aid shall be required to submit a suitable Report or Video following their IAC-supported activity, preferably at the next IAC Annual General Meeting [i.e., the AGM] or IAC Thorrablot and will be encouraged to become or remain active in the IAC and to assist the Program. Such reports or videos will be disseminated in the IAC Newsletter and/or archived on the IAC website.
- Committee or Board Members and their immediate family members are eligible to receive IAC scholarship aid, the only restriction being recusal from voting upon one’s own application or that of one’s immediate family member(s).
- Absent compelling reasons to the contrary, scholarship financial aid on behalf of an awardee shall be paid directly to the relevant, academic, cultural, or scientific institution with which the specified activity will be undertaken. Scholarship aid may be used for: tuition, travel, living expenses, books, supplies, etc., relevant to the financial aid approved.
- Scholarship financial aid not accepted or not used within two years of the award shall revert to the Scholarship Fund.
- The Program and its Guidelines shall be reviewed annually or as often as the IAC Board deems appropriate.
- If the Program is ever rescinded or the IAC ceases to operate as a Not-for-Profit organization, all Scholarship Program Funds not already committed or disbursed shall be transferred to vetted, Not-for-Profit institutions or organizations whose objectives are consistent with the Program’s above-stated Objectives.
The Chairperson’s Report to the AGM and Board:
The Chair shall submit a Report to the AGM and Board annually or as often as the Board deems appropriate, oftener if exceptional financial resources, opportunities, or challenges warrant. This Report shall be disseminated via the IAC Newsletter and/or the IAC website, including:
- Scholarship award(s) and special recognition(s) granted in the past year.
- Scholarship Funds available, significant sponsors and donors, anticipated funds, and recommendations regarding new fundraising opportunities.
- Recommendations for current Scholarship funding priorities and relevant deadlines for applications, award announcements, and preferred venue for final awards or special recognition(s), e.g., the next IAC Thorrablot.
- Recommendations for special recognition(s).
Approved by the IAC AGM, [Nov, 2011], subject to periodic Board Review.