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By Haley Cowans
November 28th is GivingTuesday, a global day of generosity, and your donations can support the work and initiatives of the ASNT Foundation. The following is adapted from an interview with ASNT Foundation Executive Director Heather Cowles on the latest episode of ASNT’s podcast, Chat NDT with ASNT.
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What is the ASNT Foundation?
The ASNT Foundation, a separate 501(c)(3) organization, will rely on the generosity of our industry partners and individuals who understand the importance of nondestructive testing and its role in creating a safer world to support our future generation of NDT professionals. The mission of the Foundation is to advance the field of NDT through three things: research, scholarship, and workforce development.
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What are some of the short-term goals of the Foundation?
In our current fiscal year budget for 2024, we have five objectives. One is to raise at least $25,000 in individual and organizational contributions, and we’re well on our way to achieving that goal.
Starting in July our goal was to raise at least $25,000 through fundraising events. At ASNT 2023: The Annual Conference, we hosted two different fundraising events. The first was our golf tournament, held the Saturday before conference got underway. We had more than 70 people participate and it generated a lot of funds for the Foundation. We also had a silent auction during our exhibit hall hours, and a live auction during ASNT Celebrates. Between these two events, we exceeded our goal of $25,000.
The third goal was to set up the new Chuck Hellier and Jim Treat scholarships, and we are currently soliciting applications for those scholarships. Applications are being accepted through 31 January on the asntfoundation.org website.
Our fourth goal was to receive at least one grant in the amount of $25,000 for workforce development. We are still seeking both federal and state grants to help us start some of those initiatives. Workforce Development Manager Beonica Rutherford has been spending a lot of time talking to educators and some of our corporate partners to find out exactly what the needs are: bringing up new technicians, training and educating them, and finding companies who are looking to hire them are just some of the challenges. So, when we get that grant, that’s what we’ll be focusing on: putting that money back into the NDT community to address the challenges that they’ve identified for us.
And then the fifth goal was receiving at least one grant for $25,000 to conduct a sponsored research study, either on a specific technical issue or an industry workforce issue.
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Does the ASNT Foundation have partners?
We have some partners who currently have established apprenticeship programs in the industry, and we want to work with them to expand the apprenticeship programs.
We’re also looking for partners. We want to work with corporations that have ideas or challenges for joint projects. If you have any proposals, please share them with us. We will also be reaching out to potential partners with our own ideas.
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What are some research projects going on this year?
One project is a wage and compensation study, which is something the industry has asked us for. It will benefit individual participants who might want to know the information when they’re applying for a position. It will also benefit the companies who are trying to hire these NDT technicians and need to figure out what that market range is.
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What are some of the long-term goals for the Foundation?
In accordance with the Strategic Plan, one of the objectives under Pillar Six is that we’re going to increase our current giving as far as scholarships and faculty grants. Our goal is to be giving out $450,000 in scholarships and grants by 2026.
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How does the ASNT Foundation operate?
The ASNT Foundation is a separate entity that’s a subsidiary of ASNT, so it is governed by its own Board of Trustees. We have seven members on the Board, and they have approved a couple of different funds. When people donate currently, the donation goes to the general fund, and then the Board helps decide where to increase scholarship opportunities and fund different research projects that we have going on.
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How can people support the Foundation?
Anyone interested should start by going to asntfoundation.org to learn about our mission and current initiatives. Of course, individuals can give, and if their company has a charitable matching program, that’s a way they can doubly give to the Foundation. Corporations or companies can make monetary contributions, or they can help to sponsor activities at our next fundraising events.
The ASNT Foundation has long been a dream of our Society. And now with donor support, we can make it a reality.
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Haley Cowans is the Content Strategist at ASNT. Contact her with your ideas for future podcasts hcowans@asnt.org.
For more information on the ASNT Foundation, contact Executive Director Heather Cowles, hcowles@asnt.org.
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