Mensa Foundation Celebrates 40 Years Of Fostering Intelligence

ARLINGTON, TEXAS, April 19th, 2011 — How can intelligence be used to better our world? Well, it was one day in 1971 that members of American Mensa came up with the solution by creating the Mensa Education & Research Foundation.

Today, with the help of hundreds of Mensa volunteers, the nonprofit organization has helped thousands of people across the globe with its national and international awards and programs created for members and non-members. 

For 40 years, the Mensa Foundation has supported the advancement of education with its scholarship and Gifted Youth programs. The Foundation has awarded thousands of scholarships to college-bound students across the United States and is currently sponsoring the award-winning Mensa for Kids Web site, www.mensaforkids.org, which provides learning resources for parents and teachers of gifted youth.
 
The Foundation also provides learning tools for adults with its Conversations with Mensa® podcasts and Colloquium events. Listeners of Conversations with Mensa can learn more about topics ranging from attention-deficit disorder to cosmology, but if one prefers the interaction of intellectual discussions, he/she can attend a Colloquium where attendees debate, evaluate, and offer judgment on major societal issues. Colloquiums are held periodically in different cities across the country. Other programs of the Foundation include the publication of the Mensa Research Journal and numerous awards such as the Copper Black, Distinguished Teacher, Intellectual Benefits to Society, and Lifetime Achievement award.

“The Mensa Education & Research Foundation has always worked to find innovative and creative ways to cultivate intelligence for society’s use,” said Greg Timmers, President of the Mensa Education and Research Foundation. “This year, on the Foundations 40th birthday, we are celebrating people’s lives we’ve touched through the Foundation’s many programs, and I hope we will continue on this path for many years to come.” 

# # #

The Mensa Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization focused on intelligence and giftedness in the community at large. It's mission supports two of the three stated purposes shared by all Mensa organizations, to identify and foster intelligence for the benefit of humanity and to encourage research into the nature, characteristics, and uses of intelligence. The Mensa Foundation pursues these goals, in partnership with American Mensa and/or Mensa International where appropriate, with resources donated by Mensans and non-Mensans alike and aspire to use the intelligence of Mensans and non-Mensans to make the world a better place. For more information about the Mensa Foundation, visit mensafoundation.org or call (817) 607-5577.