Message from the President

President Memo: Request for Donations to SETP Foundations

On behalf of your newly installed Board of Directors, I humbly ask for your support.  Our Society is a product of what we contribute as members, volunteers and donors.  Whether you choose to volunteer your time or to donate financially, your Board understands that both are valuable commodities, and we will be very appreciative of either contribution.  Below, we have listed several ways the Society can benefit from your generosity.

BE AN ACTIVE MEMBER - Attend your local SETP Section Meetings and/or volunteer to help the activities they support.  Run for Section Office, assist with a local symposium or submit an abstract for any SETP symposia for possible presentation.  Another idea is to submit an article to the Publications Committee for Cockpit Magazine for possible inclusion in a future edition! The Publications Committee is always looking for new articles to review.  Mentor young students by supporting science fairs, airshows, or other science/aviation related events.  You can share the benefits of SETP membership and encourage non-member test pilots to join.  You have important contributions to make and unique talents to showcase to the younger generation of flight testers!  Do something to spark a fire in a kid's eye who will one day take your place.  Or perhaps you prefer to serve as a Trustee of the SETP Scholarship Foundation or as a Director on the Board of the SETP Foundation?  Raise your hand if interested!

DONATE TO ONE OF OUR FOUNDATIONS - Your support is essential to the success of our Foundations.  Donations to these foundations are tax-deductible in the United States.  We’ve included descriptions of the two Foundations below if you aren’t sure which Foundation you’d prefer to assist. Or consider both. You can mail a check to SETP Headquarters at the address in the signature box below , or you can visit www.setp.org and click “Foundations” at the top of the page to process an online credit card donation.  If you are in the midst of initiating or updating your estate planning, please consider including special gifts to our Foundations in your Will or Living Trust.

SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION - The SETP Scholarship Foundation is a non-profit charitable organization chartered in 1967 to gather, administer and manage scholarships and educational assistance to the children of deceased or disabled SETP members world-wide.  Scholarship funds are professionally managed and are solely supported through individual donations.  There is no finer way to remember our fallen Members than by donating to help support the education of their children.  Practically speaking, access to this insurance is worth more than the price of SETP’s annual membership dues.  The SETP Scholarship Foundation also has a relatively new process to provide small scholarships to living, active Members’ children as well!  This is evaluated yearly to determine if and how much is available to children of our living, active Members.  As an example, for the 2024-2025 academic year, the Scholarship Foundation awarded 10 children of deceased and disabled members a total of over $250,000 in assistance and in addition to that, awarded over $128,000 to 98 children of living, active members.  This is a tremendous benefit for SETP Members to help offset the perennially rising cost of higher education and trade schools.  More information can be found at https://www.setp.org/foundation/scholarship-foundation/.  I will take this opportunity to publicly thank the donors of the SETP Scholarship Fund that has grown to over $8 million in net assets since inception in 1967.

SETP FOUNDATION - The SETP Foundation advances our mission by safeguarding flight test history and investing in our future.  The Foundation retains and preserves the Society’s important historical data to include memorabilia, written records, oral histories, reports, photographs, and other artifacts of historical significance relating to test pilots and our profession.  It also supports educational and mentoring initiatives to enhance our profession for both current and future colleagues.  Please visit https://www.setp.org/foundations/foundation.html for more details.  Our partnership with the Flight Test Historical Foundation provides a pathway for a future facility to display our history and host STEM educational events. This partnership has taken great steps forward, but it will require your financial support to become a reality.

On behalf of your new Board of Directors and the SETP Staff, I thank you for your generosity.  Fly Safe and I look forward to seeing you this year!

Warmest Regards,

Andrew “Face” McFarland
SETP President

SETP Headquarters
PO Box 986, Lancaster, CA  93584 USA