Beta Kappa of Sigma Chi · 501(c)(3)
White Cross Foundation
Friendship, Justice, and Learning
Named for the badge every Sigma Chi wears.
The White Cross is the badge of Sigma Chi — designed by Founders Benjamin Piatt Runkle and William Lewis Lockwood, and essentially unchanged since 1855. It carries the crossed keys, the eagle’s head, the scroll, the clasped hands, and the seven stars for the seven Founders. It is the most recognizable thing a Sig owns, and it stands for the promises he made when he received it.
The Beta Kappa of Sigma Chi White Cross Foundation takes its name from that badge for a reason. Founded in 2002 and recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) private foundation, it exists to advance the third word of our motto — learning — for the undergraduate members of the Beta Kappa Chapter at the University of Oklahoma.
The Foundation is a separate legal entity from the Chapter and from the Housing Corporation, with its own board, its own accounts, and its own annual filing with the IRS. Gifts to the Foundation are used for the charitable and educational purposes described below.
Our Focus
Education, Leadership, and Learning
Three commitments, one purpose: make a Beta Kappa membership an academic advantage rather than a distraction from one.
Education
Scholarships that reward academic achievement and ease the cost of an Oklahoma degree, so a member’s performance in the classroom is the thing his chapter recognizes first.
Leadership
Support for members attending Sigma Chi’s leadership programming — Horizons, Balfour, and the Sigma Chi Leadership Institute — where undergraduates learn to lead before they are asked to.
Learning
The study, tutoring, and academic spaces inside the chapter house, and the resources that make them work: quiet rooms, technology, and a scholarship program that holds members to a standard.
Scholarships
Recognizing the men who do the work.
The Foundation’s longest-running program is its scholarship fund, which provides academic scholarships to active undergraduate members of Beta Kappa. Awards have historically recognized members maintaining a 3.5 grade point average or above — a deliberate signal about what the chapter values.
Scholarship support does two things at once. It lowers the real cost of an Oklahoma degree for the member who earns it, and it sets a visible standard for every member who has not earned it yet. A chapter that funds its best students tends to produce more of them.
- Legal nameBeta Kappa of Sigma Chi White Cross Foundation
- Tax status501(c)(3) private foundation
- EIN30-0407306
- IRS rulingOctober 2002
- Annual filingIRS Form 990-PF
- ClassificationScholarships & student financial aid
- LocationNorman, Oklahoma
Capital Campaign
A New Home for Beta Kappa
A capital campaign is underway to build a new chapter house. White Cross is funding the parts of that house where members study, learn, and lead.
What the Foundation is funding
The campaign to build a new chapter house is being led by the Housing Corporation. The White Cross Foundation’s role within it is specific and bounded: the educational areas of the house.
That is not an accounting technicality — it is the part of the building that decides whether the house helps a member graduate. A dedicated study floor, rooms that can be reserved for tutoring and group work, a chapter library, reliable technology, and space for leadership programming and alumni mentoring sessions.
Because these are educational facilities, they fall squarely within the Foundation’s charitable purpose — which is why gifts directed to them can be made to White Cross rather than to the Housing Corporation.
Educational spaces in the plan
- 01Study and tutoring roomsQuiet, bookable space for individual study and small-group sessions during finals and throughout the term.
- 02Chapter library and academic resourcesA permanent home for the chapter’s test files, course materials, and scholarship records.
- 03Leadership and meeting spaceRooms sized for officer training, Jordan Standard discussions, and Sigma Chi Leadership Institute programming.
- 04Technology and connectivityThe wiring, displays, and equipment that let members work — and let alumni mentors join remotely.
- 05Mentoring and career spaceWhere alumni meet undergraduates for interviews, practice, and advice.
How to Give
Supporting the Foundation
Every gift goes to the education of Beta Kappa undergraduates.
Annual Gift
A recurring or one-time gift to the scholarship fund. The most direct way to put your name behind a member’s grades.
Campaign Pledge
A multi-year pledge toward the educational areas of the new chapter house. Naming opportunities are available.
Planned & In-Kind
Bequests, appreciated securities, donor-advised fund grants, and employer matching. We can supply the details your advisor needs.
Invest in the next generation of Beta Kappa.
Whether it is a scholarship for a member with a 3.9, or the study room he will use to earn it, the White Cross Foundation puts alumni generosity directly into education.