Questions

Yes. The Staff Sergeant Kyu Hyuk Chay Memorial Foundation Inc is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, EIN 81‑3174121, recognized by the IRS in March 2017. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

You will receive a receipt by email. For any gift of $250 or more, keep it — the IRS requires that written acknowledgment for you to claim the deduction.

Look us up yourself. Search EIN 81‑3174121 on the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search. Our filings are public.

Kyu’s service is recorded independently by the Army Special Operations Forces history office, Military Times, The Washington Post and the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. Those links are on the purpose page.

We publish the budget, the cost of a single student, and every grant we make. It is all on the donate page, updated each quarter.

Roughly 60% goes to providing educational resources for students; roughly 30% goes to local service groups; the rest is insurance, background checks, accounting and state filings.

No. The board serves without compensation, nobody takes a fee, and no one receives a percentage of funds raised.

No, and this is a legal limit rather than a preference. A gift earmarked for a named individual is not a deductible charitable contribution, and accepting one would put our tax exemption at risk.

You can designate a gift to Chay Scholars or to local service groups, and you can sponsor a scholar — the foundation then selects which student.

Often, yes, and most people never ask. Many employers match charitable gifts one for one. Ask your HR department or check your company’s giving portal — it can double your gift at no cost to you.

Yes. Recommend a grant to the Staff Sergeant Kyu Hyuk Chay Memorial Foundation Inc using EIN 81‑3174121. Your DAF sponsor will handle the rest.

Never. Not to anyone, for any reason.

Students in grades 6–12 with a genuine interest in healthcare — nursing, medicine, dentistry, surgery or another health profession — whose families are posted outside the United States in long-term service — missionary, humanitarian, development, educational, diplomatic or military — and who do not have local access to tutoring, test preparation or a test center.

No. Missionary families are where we are starting, because that is the community we know and where we have someone on the ground.

If your family is posted overseas in any other kind of long-term service — aid work, development, teaching, diplomatic or military — and your child cannot get the academic help they need where you are, apply. If you are unsure whether you qualify, apply and let us read it.

No. There is no income test, and no tax returns or hardship documents to send.

Eligibility depends on circumstance: where your family serves, and what support exists where you are.

Tutoring, exam fees including the international surcharges, and books and materials — bought digitally where possible, or bought locally and reimbursed against the receipt. Devices and internet only by exception, where a family genuinely cannot manage.

The length of an award is agreed with each student at the start, and may be renewed.

Usually not. We pay the tutor, the College Board, the bookseller and the school directly. Where a family has already paid something themselves, we reimburse them against the receipt.

Every tutor is background-checked before a first session — criminal record, sex offender registry, identity. The tutoring center we partner with carries this out, and we require evidence for each tutor assigned to a student.

Every session is recorded, and a summary is emailed after each one. Sessions are arranged through the center and we see the record. No personal phone numbers, and no private messaging between a tutor and a student.

The opposite — it is part of what we are trying to solve. Tell us on the form. We can sometimes fund data or a connection, and we can match you with a tutor who works well over a poor line.

Yes. Families serving independently can send two letters of reference instead of an agency letter — for example from a supporting church and from a local leader who knows your family.

Yes, and it is the part most students end up glad they did. Two minutes or less, filmed on a phone, about what you hope to do and how this would help you get there. We are listening to what you say, not to the camera, the lighting or how polished you sound.

Set it to Unlisted on YouTube, not Public. That means only someone with the link can watch it and it will not turn up in search. Only the selection committee sees it. We never publish it or pass it to anyone.

However many our donors make possible. We take on a student once that student’s support is funded.

Tutoring is a real commitment to a child, and we make it once we can keep it. A small program that finishes what it starts is worth more than a large one that cannot.

You keep free access to our study resources, and you go on the waiting list for the next cycle. We will tell you plainly rather than leave you wondering.

A selection committee of at least three people, none related to any applicant, against published criteria, with every decision recorded in writing.

Eligibility is the first stage and it is yes or no. Among everyone eligible, we read the student’s own statement.

We store only what is on the application form. We never publish a student’s full name, face, town or country without written consent from a parent, and for families where that could create risk we do not publish it at all. Applications are deleted after the retention period on the form.

You do not. There is no application and no reporting. The board decides once a year and sends the gift, and the organization spends it on whatever it actually needs.

We give meaningfully to a few organizations connected to Kyu Hyuk rather than a token amount to many. If your organization had a connection to him, please write and tell us.