Create a Legacy Scholarship
Honor a Life. Open the Door for Future Healers.
A Legacy Scholarship through the Northwest Osteopathic Foundation (NWOF) is a meaningful way to honor an individual or organization whose life, leadership, and service have helped shape osteopathic medicine. Each fund creates lasting scholarship support for future osteopathic physicians while carrying forward a legacy of compassion, vision, and whole-person care.
How It Works
A Named Legacy Scholarship is established in partnership with NWOF and built to create enduring impact. The recommended fund goal is $125,000, with all gifts restricted to the named scholarship fund. Once the fund reaches that level, it is intended to provide an annual $5,000 scholarship from the named fund, and NWOF intends to provide a $5,000 Foundation match, subject to Foundation policy and available resources, allowing for a potential $10,000 annual scholarship awarded in the honoree’s name.
The NWOF Partnership
NWOF works collaboratively with donors, families, and organizing partners to help bring each Legacy Scholarship to life. The Foundation provides the formal fund agreement and named-fund structure, collaborates on campaign planning and donor strategy, administers the scholarship, and helps recognize the honoree through Foundation materials, scholarship announcements, and related communications. Fundraising may include major gifts, tribute or memorial giving, donor-advised fund gifts, stock and planned gifts, Foundation campaigns, and peer-to-peer tools.
Why It Matters
A Legacy Scholarship transforms gratitude into opportunity. It honors the values and contributions of a beloved physician, mentor, family member, friend, or organization while investing in students who will carry that legacy forward through service, leadership, and compassionate care. It is both a tribute to the past and an investment in the future of osteopathic medicine.
Honoring Our Trailblazers
NWOF is proud to steward Legacy Scholarships that already reflect this vision in action. Each fund tells a story of service, generosity, and lasting commitment to future osteopathic physicians. These stories also offer room for deeper storytelling through expanded profiles, photo sliders, and recipient features.
E. L. “Doc” Burnham Wonderful World Scholarship
Created in memory of E. L. “Doc” Burnham, this scholarship reflects a legacy of warmth, optimism, and deep belief in the healing power of compassionate care. Inspired by his joyful mantra, “Oh, what a wonderful world!” the fund began through the generosity of family and friends and has grown into enduring support for osteopathic medical students. Through the students it supports, Doc Burnham’s legacy continues to live on in the future of osteopathic medicine.
Shirley Carpenter Scholarship
The Shirley Carpenter Scholarship honors a remarkable legacy of dedication, leadership, and service to the osteopathic profession. With the support of the Montana Osteopathic Medical Association and generous donors, this scholarship supports osteopathic medical students from Montana and carries Shirley’s legacy forward through future physicians committed to compassionate, whole-person care.
Create a Legacy That Lives On
Creating a Legacy Scholarship is a powerful way to honor a life while opening doors for future osteopathic physicians. With NWOF as your partner, your gift can become a lasting source of opportunity, recognition, and healing for years to come.
Minimum fund to establish a Legacy Scholarship: $125,000.
