SAME Foundation Secures Multiple Investments, Grants to Start 2024

In February, the SAME Foundation was selected for a grant of $100,000 by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES). This generous financial support will support credentialing, leader development, and STEM outreach.

This marks the third significant grant the SAME Foundation has received over the last year, complementing investments from the Baker-Hughes Foundation with a grant for $50,000 and the United Engineering Foundation and their grant for $119,000 to fund the STEM Pathways for Indigenous Youth: Going Further. The SAME Foundation also received its first corporate sponsor last year, Actalent, who have pledged $50,000 per year over four years to focus on the Leader Development Program.

The $100,000 grant from NCEES is to be used over a four-year period. Through this contribution and the generosity of its members and sponsors, the SAME Foundation can help extend efforts to advance licensure to safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of the public and the outreach needed to create a pipeline of future engineers and surveyors.

Engineering & Construction Camps

SAME’s Engineering & Construction STEM Camps have been providing high school students with a unique camp experience focused on supporting science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for over 20 years. The camps are world-class and feature a very impressive record of producing thousands of engineers and STEM leaders. Held in conjunction with the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine Corps, SAME’s Engineering & Construction Camps offer an unparalleled opportunity for students to learn engineering principles in collaboration with military engineers and SAME members.

Campers gain a sense of what it takes to become a STEM professional and explore their options from high school to college and beyond. Each camp has its own unique curriculum that features hands-on activities conducted in competitive environments which promote teamwork, leadership, project management, and problem-solving.

In lock-step with the camps program, SAME’s Camps Mentoring Program seeks out leaders who will provide campers with the guidance and engineering tutelage that will build their confidence and encourage them to pursue their dreams. Many mentors stay connected to campers in the months and years afterward, helping to elevate their journey to success. The SAME Foundation is proud to contribute and strengthen the tremendous legacy of the SAME Camps Program.

Leader Development Program

Each year, SAME’s Leader Development Program offers high-potential young professionals and mid-career members the chance to spend an entire year learning alongside their peers in a true joint training environment. This program, since its founding in 2019, has become a highly sought after leader development opportunity for both industry and military members. About half of the participants come from the uniformed services; the other half represent SAME member companies. The projects developed within LDP tackle large challenges and issues within the A/E/C community, and some projects have even become formally implemented within the regular programming of SAME. Funding provided by NCEES and additional grants will be a key resource to expand these initiatives to even more aspiring leaders.

Credentialing

The engineering community is strengthened when engineers and other practitioners continue to grow their skills through professional licensures and certifications. To assist this, SAME’s Young Professional Community of Interest (COI) administers the Credentialing Assistance Program (CAP) targeting the organization’s 2,300 young professionals. The program provides for the reimbursement of industry standard credentials, while also allowing for young professionals to propose non-traditional credentials. This grant allows the Foundation expand its outreach of young professionals and assist them with exam sitting fees, registration fees, and/or study expenses (such as books or classes for the specific exam).

In 2016, the SAME Foundation was established to build on a century-long legacy of SAME members giving back their time and resources to grow the next generation of engineering leaders for our nation. For more than 100 years, SAME has understood that for the engineering profession to endure as a reliable bedrock for our national security, new cadres of young leaders will need to be discovered and developed. As the philanthropic arm of SAME, the SAME Foundation is committed to advancing the Society’s founding principles and delivering on its compelling mission to foster engineering leadership for the nation.

The SAME Foundation has received a Platinum Seal of Transparency by Candid (GuideStar) and a four-star rating with Charity Navigator.