Scholarship America

Today, a college degree is essential for success--and yet it is more expensive than ever. Scholarship America helps individuals, communities and corporations support student success through scholarship programs and other education support and assistance programs. Consider the following statistics:

Education leaders say that the U.S. needs 60% of our adults to graduate from 2- and 4-year schools to stay competitive in the global economy (for the first time, in 2009 the U.S. was not ranked at the top of the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report. We are second. And slipping). Today, only 39% of U.S. adults have a college degree.

59% of newly-created jobs require a college degree.

Individuals with education beyond high school are more likely to: vote; be involved in the community; have lower unemployment rates; rely less on public assistance.

A college graduate earns double the income of a high-school graduate--and a college degree virtually eliminates poverty in a family forever.

Scholarship America is the life line for our Dollars for Scholars of Taconic Hills chapter. We rely on them to increase our knowledge to reach our mission and to present themselves in a professional, worthy light to our donors.
We represent a small community and our board members are all volunteers who sit on many boards which leaves us little time to work on presentation. When we need statistics, current trend information or other research information, we depend on the staff at Scholarship America. I liken us to the troops in the field, depending on the best supplies and best information that can be provided by the sources at headquarters so we can be successful. Having a high quality, up to date, need-generated designed website would benefit us tremendously, giving us and donors the tools we need anytime, any day, 24/7.

This organization has two differences from most. The first is that the chapters are locally conceived, controlled, and responsible to their communities. As such it speaks to the American Dream of community members helping members. The second difference is that the expansion and support of these chapters is largely the result of utilizing funds that have been earned by providing companies and others with scholarship management services.
With such a large number of local chapters communication of ideas and support is critical and this is where a better website and communication method could help out considerably. It will allow us to provide better support in a timely and green manner and for the chapters to exchange ideas among themselves.
Also a better website could help attract more people who would like to support the effort and start new chapters on the way to our long term goal of having a chapter in every community in our country.

Since 1985, the Jordan-Elbridge Dollars for Scholars chapter, a poor rural community in Upstate New York, has depended upon the support and innovation of Scholarship America. We are fighting a paradox: Education is our primary economic development tool as the cost of that education continues to skyrocket and become more and more unattainable. Locally, we have been able to raise and award over $500,000.00 in direct scholarships to nearly 1,000 graduates, and this is just one chapter’s story. As technology advances, the methods of capturing the attention of our audience, both donors and awardees changes. We strongly support the Nerdery’s choice of Scholarship America.

Henry Doerr
Mayor
Village of Elbridge
Volunteer President, Jordan-Elbridge Dollars for Scholars

Alexander Dollars for Scholars is very small but we think we do great work to benefit or community and our world. We rely on Scholarship America's website for instant information and as a forum for idea exchange. The website saves us time, money (especially postage or phone charges), and the environment. We get a fraction (1/10th?) of the published material we received 10 or 12 years ago. The value-PRICELESS!

The mission of this Scholarship America is fundamental to the future of our country. All students need to have access to higher education and Scholarship America has been working toward this goal for 50 years. We will continue to focus our efforts and resources toward this important mission because a new set of students emerges every year. The need never goes away and neither will Scholarship America. Our need is also acute. Anything that we can do to help spread the word and promote the mission work that we do is important. The design of an enterprise web site, in essence the outward face of any modern organization, is a key factor of our success in these efforts.

I wish to thank the Nerdery for their interest in this organization and support their choice of Scholarship America for this gift. It is greatly appreciated.

Year after year Oneonta Dollars for Scholars looks to Scholarship America for up-to-date information to share with our community and the
families, organizations and businesses who support scholarship funding. They are so valuable and insightful that I can't imagine being without their
support. Scholarship America keeps chapters across the country moving forward. Your assistance will help all of our chapters nationwide.
What a deal! Not one, but 1,200 chapters & and many thousands of students will benefit from the creative efforts that you can provide.

The Nerdery is very cool! Thank you for your consideration.

California Dollars for Scholars, a division of Scholarship America as well as Scholarship America are critical to the needs of our young people today. We need to get our youth into college and post-secondary education to move us forward as a country and those needs are even more important now that they ever have been. Scholarship America motivates and supports communities to help their young people reach their dreams and aim for something better than they might have thought of on their own. We need to help mobilize America to get more students educated so we can remain competitive into the future. What Scholarship America and Dollars for Scholars provides is crucial support in getting the message out to our supporters, contributors, corporate clients, foundations and the young people we help. A new website that will help us deliver on our mission and messages as well as distributing information effectively is critical to us meeting our goals and helping educate the youth of America. Thousands and thousands of people will benefit.

South Colonie Dollars for Scholars has been able to support our high school seniors with over $20,000 a year in scholarships thanks to the support of Scholarship America. Dollars for Scholars is only one of Scholarship America’s programs that bring students access to higher education. We depend on Scholarship America as a resource and a new website would elevate the support we receive through a new web portal. Their website is also a resource for students, parents, and donors to support the mission of bringing higher education to America’s future leaders. Thank you for considering Scholarship America as a recipient of a redesigned website.

While President of Oneonta Dollars for Scholars I relied heavily on the Scholarship America website to obtain vital information necessary to run our organization. It is the ideal training tool used by so many Dollar for Scholar organizations. An updated website is necessary in order to keep astride with the changing technological times. The Nerdery's support of Scholarship America would be instrumental in helping to keep administrative spending down, and hopefully increasing, the urgently needed, dollars available for student scholarships. Thank you for considering this organization for a website redesign.

The Mission of the Hancock Community Education Foundation is to increase as rapidly as possible the number of students who go to college.
As a member of Dollars for Scholars we rely on up to date information that will help us reach our organizational goals. In these tough economic times it is critical that we keep each other up to date on what is happening in every chapter of every community. Networking with other chapters has been instrumental in the success of our scholarship program.Since 2000 we have awarded $369,250.00 to Hancock students. A rural community that would have never had the opportunity without the support of Dollars for Scholars.
Dollars for Scholars has helped so many students achieve their dreams.They are very deserving of receiving a new web design that will continue to send our future leaders to college.

Scholarship America is a 50 year old organization that has given over $2 billion in scholarships to over 2 million students. This fact is little known outside it's 1200 Dollars for Scholars all volunteer chapters, corporate clients and current donor base. The website needs revamping and updating to properly position the organization for the next 50 years. Your help will allow more dollars to go directly to mission.

I am proud to have been involved with Scholarship America’s board of directors for more than eight years, and have seen the organization develop its marketing and online communications abilities with some really talented, self-taught internal staff who are stretched beyond imagination by the amount of work they produce. We currently have one person who is responsible for ten websites—and while he doesn’t have the resources to take our current site to the next level by himself, he does have the drive and motivation to maintain a new site design.

Our goals for a new, improved site include better branding, easier navigation and more relevant information for students who are searching for information to gain access to college and success in their academic pursuits. We also need to make sure it’s easy for communities to gain access to the information they need, in a greener, more efficient manner than sending printed materials to more than 1,200 chapters, 40,000 volunteers and donors.

We believe our website can become a place that people will want to visit again and again and that it will be a great hub of information for communities, students, parents, and anyone who believes in the power and promise of higher education. We want to assure that quality postsecondary education is accessible for ALL students!

Scholarship America is a national nonprofit with a grassroots mission -- working with communities to help them help students achieve access to college and success in their academic careers. Scholarship America has historically put the majority of its funds in the hands of deserving students, rather than increasing its operational and marketing capacities, which is why I believe the organization is not well known despite having awarded more than $2 billion in scholarships over the past 50 years.

As a board member, I know that over the past couple of years, Scholarship America has begun more strategically investing in its operational capacities, so that its service platforms make sense in the 21st Century. I believe that it is vital that the organization's online communications capabilities keep pace as well, offering its chapters and donors increasing access and the flexibility that they require in an easy-to-use and visually compelling way. Unfortunately, we have to make extremely tough decisions regarding the budget allocations, and a website overhaul isn't rising to the level of top priority as the current site works "good enough." "Good enough" isn't going to help Scholarship America raise its visibility and do justice to the investments they are making in their service platforms. a Nerdery Website Challenge overhaul is just what we need to move to the next level. Thank you for considering us!

Based on a study released just today, the United States is way behind the other countries of the world in the number of students that attend and complete college. This has to change. I can think of no organization that does more to encourage and engage young people about the value and opportunity of post secondary education than Scholarship America. In a way, though the organization is this country's best kept secret. This ALSO has to change. Creating a more provocative and compelling web site is one of the key ways to solve this issue.

Dr. Susan G. Weinberger
Former member, Board of Trustees
Former President, Norwalk Mentor Program, a Dollars for Scholars Chapter
Life member, Honor Roll Trustees

Scholarship America, Inc. is a unique non-profit organization in many ways. First, it has a history of success. For 50 years, through its community based "Dollars for Scholars" chapters as well as its other programs, it has enabled thousands of students to pursue their post secondary educational dreams. These dreams have cut a wide swath across the United States, from the traditional 18 year old, the returning to school single parent, the mid life career changer and those who represent the first in the family to attain education beyond high school. Secondly, it enjoys support from diverse sources. Volunteers and supporters of SA come from every walk of life and live in cities, towns and tiny hamlets. Thirdly, it does more than "give away scholarships." Through its encouragement of mentoring and other support mechanisms, it engenders an "I can do it" attitude among students.

Never before has it been so critical that students be able to achieve their educational goals. The number of students who need help continues to grow as we move into the second decade of the 21st century. Reaching these students, and the volunteers, donors and parents who support them,
can be done more effectively with the redesign of Scholarship America's website. Please consider Scholarship America seriously as you make your decisions.

Scholarship America's website needs to "speak" to so many different people - students of all ages, community volunteers all over the country, companies that have scholarship programs, parents, community college and university staff, and people who care so much about giving opportunities to deserving students that they donate whatever they can. That is one tall order for an organization that has been consistently rated among the most efficient non-profits around. In other words, Scholarship America spends most of its money on getting students ready for, into and through college over and above things like a great website or improved technology (even though we know how much we need it and how much it could help). People can sometimes barely remember the organization's name, but even after 50 years, it continues to attract new generations of dedicated, unsung heroes who are inspired to help kids in their community. I've supported a lot of deserving non-profits (even worked at two), but I'm pretty humbled by the people of Scholarship America - people who help people help others.

To the Nerdery - What an amazing thing you're doing! Thanks so much.

The mission of Scholarship America is to mobilize America in support of students. The thousands of students we support each year are the future of this great democratic nation. We need your amazing talents to reach the millions of Americans who will rally in support of our youth. The web, and specifically, the spectacular site you will create overnight, is an essential tool in our mobilization of America.

To the Nerdery - thank you!