Two years ago at GDC I was approached by Neil Kirby, one of the leaders of the IGDA Artificial Intelligence SIG. One of their founding members, Eric Dybsand, had died and the SIG wanted to do a Scholarship in his honor. And being a bunch of really smart guys, they though that it should be done through a charity. The IGDA, though a non profit, is not a charity because from time to time in participates in political advocacy on issues important to its members. But most non profits have a companion charity that can accept charitable contributions under section 501(c)(3) of th IRS code that are tax deductible. I told Neil that I would work to get a foundation formed if he agreed to help run it.

I got the Foundation approved by the IGDA Board f Directors in time for us to provide apass for the first recipient of the Eric Dyband Memorial Scholarship to GDC last year. A nice first step.

Of course, the Foundation would have to do a lot more than that to meet its true potential. Well here it is almost a year later and the Foundation is gettign off the ground, with yours truly as Foundation Chair and Neil o Secretary and a member of the Board of Trustees!. We finally got our IRS application in and aa bannk account open and are now able to accept donations. We have a slate of proposed programs and are working to get a professional association management company to help run the operations.

An initial solicitation for contributions will be going out tin the IGDA Newsletter this week and the Foundation web site is ready to go. It has been and will continue to be a huge task to get the Foundation to the point it should be. But I believe that it is an effort well worth pursuing.

If you are interested in supporting the work of the Foundation, go HERE.

Tom B