Scholarship America, Inc. HQ
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Scholarship America
In 1958, an optometrist in Fall River, Mass., Dr. Irving Fradkin, had a simple but profound idea: if everyone in his community gave just a dollar to a scholarship fund, it would be enough to help every student in the community attend college. It worked — and now we are the nation’s largest nonprofit, private scholarship organization.
Scholarship America works directly with students, parents, colleges, businesses and communities to help students fulfill their college dreams. Since it was founded in 1958, Scholarship America has distributed $4.9 billion to 2.9 million students … and counting.
Where we work
External reviews

Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of students who receive scholarship funds and/or tuition assistance
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
This represents scholarship and tuition assistance recipients across our organization's programs. (Note a methodology change in 2015 allowed for more accurate assessment.)
Average financial aid award per FTE student
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
We have an ambitious goal to help 750,000 students complete their education -- whether it's a certification, a two-year degree or a four-year degree -- by 2025 with a manageable level of debt.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We are employing four major strategies to ensure our goals. (1) Becoming a leader of the national education conversation by demonstrating the impact of private and community scholarships. (2) Harnessing the power of relationships and strategic alliances to ensure students are prepared to choose, enroll in and succeed in college on all levels. (3) Increasing national recognition of our organization and its affiliates. (4) Diversifying and maximizing our fundraising efforts to ensure sustainable scholarship growth.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Our staff, capital investments and growth are all focused on achieving our mission goal of helping 750,000 students between 2011 and 2025. We have created a Programs and Policy department that works in Washington, connecting our expertise and grassroots efforts to the national conversation on education.
Our significant technology investments over the past several years have focused on two areas: streamlining scholarship management for clients and volunteers, and establishing a robust CRM system for stakeholders. Thanks to the former efforts, our 500 volunteer-driven affiliates now all have branded websites and online scholarship management -- and all of our staff and stakeholders can raise funds and award scholarships more efficiently than ever before.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
In addition to the $202 million in scholarships we awarded last year, important progress has been made on all areas of our strategic plan. Through the introduction of the Dream Award -- a scholarship given to current college students, providing funds for their second year and beyond -- we have created a flagship national program that focuses not on getting into college, but on completing a degree. We have reinforced this focus by providing matching grants for renewable scholarships to our volunteer affiliates, and by encouraging corporate scholarship sponsors to fund renewable, completion-focused awards.
The Dream Award -- whose recipients were announced live on national TV by award supporter Katie Couric -- also helped us diversify fundraising and attain more brand recognition. And our association with Higher Ed Not Debt, a bipartisan higher-ed advocacy group, has raised our profile in Washington and led to new partnership avenues.
We continue to strive to help students complete school, and to successfully measure completion rates among our scholarship recipients. As we work toward our large goal, this is where we'll be focusing ongoing efforts.
Financials
Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights?
Learn more
about GuideStar Pro.
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Scholarship America, Inc.
Board of directorsas of 03/14/2022
Ms. Tina Lee
World Journal
Michael Ryan
MDR Capital Management
Richard Schwab
Entrepreneur
Michael Davis
Michael L. Davis, LLC
Charlene Hinton
Ernst & Young
Alain Karaoglan
Voya Financial, Inc.
Tina Lee
World Journal
Michael Maney
Whole Foods Market
Douglas Mello
DJM Advisory Services
Jay Morris
Yale New Haven Health System
Joseph Palombo
Verisk Analytics
Joyce Smith
National Association for College Admission Counseling
Roxanne Spillett
Boys & Girls Clubs of America
Mark Turchan
Deere Intelligent Solutions Group
William Young
Plastipak Packaging, Inc.
Jeffrey Silverman
The Summit Group of Virginia
Lynn Graves
Principal Financial Group (Retired)
Kay Marquet
Kay Marquet Associates
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data