ISTAT Jetrader - Spring 2020 - 48

ISTAT FOUNDATION

ISTAT Foundation
Milestones
by Jep Thornton

T

he ISTAT Foundation
board meeting in
March in conjunction
with ISTAT Americas
will be my last as
chair of the ISTAT
Foundation. It has
been my privilege to serve as chair the
past three years and trustee since I
became president of ISTAT in 2013.
The ISTAT Foundation has come a
long way since its humble beginnings in
1994 with our first chair, Pete Seidlitz.
The size of the Foundation has grown,
along with the size of the membership, to
a point in 2019 where the total assets of
the Foundation were almost $6 million.
Along the way, we have developed
several major giving programs that
are connected in some way to our
industry of aircraft trading, leasing and
financing. The Foundation is now giving
nearly $1 million per year in the form
of scholarships, grants, education and
humanitarian giving.

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* T H E O F F I C I A L P U B L I C AT I O N O F I S TAT

In the last 10 years, the Foundation
has awarded close to 500 student
scholarships, valued at $3.3 million.
The number of scholarship program
recipients who work for ISTAT member
companies is increasing every year,
with some of those individuals rising
within their organizations, further
proving the value of these scholarships.
Keeping in touch with these scholarship
recipients over the years as they
progress in the industry has been a
milestone for me during my time as a
Foundation trustee.
Since 2009, the Foundation, by way
of the Grants Committee, has awarded
$900,000 to over 40 aviation nonprofit
organizations worldwide that support the
advancement of commercial aviation.
The Education Committee has
developed ISTAT University, a
comprehensive aviation leasing and
finance program for university students.
The goal of the program is to equip
students with knowledge tailored to the

activities of ISTAT member companies.
Over 80 students have graduated from
the program since its inception in 2015,
many of whom have become valued
colleagues in our industry.
The Humanitarian Committee has
provided significant support to a wide
range of global charities that use the
power of aviation for humanitarian
purposes. Our humanitarian program
has funded many causes, including an
airdrop of food for famine-relief efforts
in South Sudan. The program has also
granted funds to organizations that
provide air transportation for patients to
access life-saving medical care.
The Foundation has gone on to
launch some very impactful and
valuable programs in the last 10
years, the first being Airlink, which,
after its spinoff from the Foundation
in 2012, has become a substantial
provider in humanitarian disaster relief
worldwide. The second is ISTAT PDP,
a continuing education curriculum for
ISTAT Jetrader - Spring 2020

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