Methodist Foundation
The Methodist Foundation of Santa Monica, founded in 1967, exists to provide aid to religious, educational and charitable causes. The Foundation is administered by a volunteer Board of Trustees with First UMC member John Youngman currently serving as president. First UMC has a long tradition of honoring the academic
achievements of students in our church and community who pursue post-secondary education. Every year the Loans & Scholarships committee acknowledges outstanding scholars, including graduating high school seniors, continuing undergraduates, and graduate students, for their scholastic excellence, commitment to community, and dedication to our church.
Calling all First UMC Students! Applications will open Friday, April 10, 2026 for our First UMC students pursuing their educational goals – deadline for the application is Monday, May 11, 9 p.m.
Save the Date for Scholarship Sunday: Sunday, June 28, 2026
First UMC member Alejandro Quintana offers his reflections on how the Methodist Foundation Scholarships have impacted his educational journey:
“In the summer before my junior year of college, I was given the opportunity to participate in a summer institute in St. Louis hosted by the American Society of Papyrologists. As the program’s funding was earmarked for graduate students and early career professors, the cost of travel, room, and board fell upon me and my family. Thanks to scholarships from First UMC of Santa Monica, I was able to participate in this unexpected opportunity without worrying about funding. Now, as a papyrologist embarking on my final year of a PhD in Classics and History at Yale, I am so grateful for my church community and for those who sponsored these scholarships.
First UMC of Santa Monica financially supported my studies through college at Harvard and into my first years as a graduate student at Yale. This aid has helped me pay for tuition, participate in seminars, and conduct research in graduate school. Through these scholarships, my church community provided me with the flexibility to discover who I wanted to be and stood alongside me on every step of this journey – from political science to law to classical literature and finally discovering ancient history where I feel at home.
Our church’s ability to support the academic and professional journeys of its students is really special and reflects a commitment to intellectual and spiritual growth as Christians and Methodists. These values that shaped me growing up at First UMC continue to define my work and my life. Every now and then in my research on daily life in Egypt in the first centuries after Christ, I am confronted by a term or a concept that vividly takes me back to a memory from my confirmation classes at church, and I am filled with an indescribable mix of nostalgia, warmth, and understanding. One might call it faith.”