Service To School
Admission Accomplished!
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our results give compelling testimony to our impact and effectiveness. Since our founding in 2011, Service to School has worked with thousands of transitioning veterans to achieve “Admission Accomplished!”. S2S alumni comprise over half of the veterans at the most selective private colleges in the country. Service to School has also helped veterans gain admission to Harvard Business School, Wharton, and other leading business schools, and has assisted veterans to secure a place at Yale, Harvard, and other outstanding law schools. Service to School currently has over 800 Ambassadors working with the next generation of veteran college and graduate school applicants. Service to School is fulfilling a unique and distinctive mission. Out of over 40,000 veteran service organizations, Service to School believes it is the only one dedicated to providing free, personal, and experience-based support across all of the critical elements of the college and graduate school admissions process.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Service to School
Our mission is to prepare transitioning military veterans for their next chapter of leadership by helping them gain admission to the best college or graduate school possible. We do this through free college application support, peer-to-peer mentorship, networking, and partnerships with highly selective colleges and universities.
Where we work
External reviews
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsAverage number of service recipients per month
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Veterans
Related Program
Service to School
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We strive to serve transitioning service members and veterans who are seeking admission to the best school for them. We track monthly sign-ups to ensure we are reaching our target number.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn 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?
Service to School’s mission is to prepare transitioning military veterans for their next chapter of leadership by helping them gain admission to the best college or graduate school possible.
Service to School is fulfilling a unique and distinctive mission. Out of over 40,000 veteran service organizations, Service to School believes it is the only one dedicated to providing free, personal, and experience-based support across all of the critical elements of the college and graduate school admissions process – from early test preparation and transcript and resume development, to interview preparation and application and essay review. Service to School is also unique in its partnership with over fifteen select colleges and universities – VetLink focuses on identifying highly qualified veteran applicants who express interest in attending any of our excellent partner institutions.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We accomplish our goal by providing the following programming:
Ambassador Program: S2S Ambassadors work with assigned veterans to provide peer mentorship and assistance through the college and graduate school application process. Assistance includes helping veterans identify the best school fit, essay and personal statement edits, interview preparation, networking tips and invitations, and standardized test preparation.
VetLink: VetLink is a partnership between S2S and 25 select colleges and universities committed to increasing veteran enrollment on their campuses. Through VetLink, veterans have the opportunity to showcase their military service and academic preparedness as part of the application process resulting in high acceptance and enrollment rates at those universities.
Guidebooks: Written by admissions experts and student veterans, our guidebooks are tailored to veterans applying to Undergrad, Law School, or Business School and have been distributed and downloaded 5,000+ times.
Events & Networking: Conferences, college visits, happy hours, webinars, student get togethers… the S2S community stays engaged and connected so we can continue to support one another and share our important mission.
WE LEAD FROM THE FRONT Our Ambassadors are volunteers who do not accept any pay or other financial benefits in exchange for helping veterans.
WE BUILD SOLUTIONS, NOT ORGANIZATIONS We focus our efforts on solving problems. We do not engage in empire building or self-aggrandizement. Titles do not matter; only results.
WE HAVE NO EGO Everyone is a leader. Service to School does not exist to build ourselves up, but to help veterans.
WE EMPOWER EVERYONE Ambassadors, applicants, and leadership are empowered to work on any initiative or project that fulfills our fundamental mission of helping transitioning veterans.
WE HAVE FUN We maintain the same light-hearted atmosphere we found with our military friends on active duty and the reserves. We enjoy working together because we all care about the same thing: helping veterans.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Ambassador Program: We provide our 800+ Ambassadors with training so that they may be the best mentors possible. Ambassadors have access to their own set of guidebooks, google groups, and our fulltime staff to ensure they are trained. Second, our Ambassadors are coached to follow our TRAIN methodology when providing mentorship. TRAIN includes TEST prep, APPLICATION and essay assistance, INTERVIEW prep, and NETWORKING.
VetLink: Service to School works with our partner colleges to create awareness of how a veteran’s military service has prepared them for success in academia. This one-of-a-kind collaboration between Service to School and our partner colleges unifies the respective strengths of each to serve student veterans more effectively than either could alone. Our partner schools are: Amherst College, Bowdoin College, Brown University, Carleton College, Colgate University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Emory University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Pomona College, Princeton University, Smith College, Stanford University, Swarthmore College, Syracuse University, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, University of Notre Dame, Williams College, Yale University George Washington University School of Political Management, Harvard Law School, Yale Law School.
Guidebooks: Written by admissions experts and student veterans, our guidebooks are tailored to veterans applying to Undergrad, Law School, or Business School and have been distributed and downloaded 5,000+ times.
Events & Networking: Conferences, college visits, happy hours, webinars, student get-togethers
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Our programming has placed 1,500+ vets at the country's best colleges and grad programs. In fact, 86% of veteran undergraduates who use S2S to gain admission go on to enroll at a high graduation rate school. This is compared to the normal veteran population where only 10% enroll at a high graduation school*.
Of the population we serve, 63% enroll at a top US News & World Report Top 50 College and almost ALL of the population we serve enroll at a Top 150 College.
*A high graduation rate school is considered a college where more than 70% of its students graduate within six years.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- 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.
Service To School
Board of directorsas of 01/06/2023
Augusto Giacoman
Anna Ivey
Bob Spieth
Adrian Perkins
Joseph Votel
Khalil Tawil
David Calfee
Tim Hsia
Mike Anderson
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 01/31/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.