We Provide And Manage Scholarships

The Foundation for Independent Higher Education and its network of 34 state fund partners manage dozens of scholarship programs each year awarding thousands of scholarships worth millions of dollars. The recipients are mostly needy, gifted students among the 1.5 million students enrolled at the 626 private colleges and universities that are members of the network.

There are several options for potential donors who would like to consider a scholarship program:

National/Named Scholarships

These scholarships are funded and named by donors. National scholarships are open to any applicant from among the network’s colleges. Named scholarships are identical except the donor has established criteria that limit the eligibility to students who are enrolled in a specific group of colleges or a specific geographic area (or markets). The minimum gift is $2,500.

Endowed Scholarships

Donors who wish to establish a scholarship to be awarded in perpetuity may contribute a minimum of $50,000 to the Foundation’s endowment fund. The fund is professionally managed according to policy guidelines established and overseen by the Board of Directors, and proceeds are awarded annually according to the wishes and criteria established by the donor.

Examples:

• The UPS Foundation established a $4 million “UPS Educational Endowment Fund” in the early 70s. Since then, over $30 million has been awarded, while the value of the fund has grown to almost $50 million. Each year, a UPS Scholar is named at every one of the 670 colleges affiliated with FIHE’s network. The member colleges select the students and undertake public relations activities with the media, which provides ongoing, national, effective public relations for the donor while virtually all the work is done by the network partners.
• A major media company has given approximately $60,000 annually to award scholarships to minority students majoring in communications and related fields. The recipients are enrolled at colleges in the company’s major markets. Again, the donor funds the program and determines the criteria for selection; the network partners undertake all the work. 100% of the donor’s gift goes to scholarships.
• A small business services company offers multiple $1,000 scholarships on an annual basis. Thanks to the efficiency of utilizing the Internet for applications, this comparatively small firm is able to make a national impact.
• The Coca-Cola Foundation uses the services of the Foundation’s state partners to organize and manage its First Generation Scholarship Program. The program provides $5,000 scholarships, renewable for four years, to students who are the first in their family to enroll in college. One award is given to each college affiliated with a participating state fund. Coca-Cola is able to sustain and build this program with limited staff resources for this multi-million dollar effort because the administrative burden is largely borne by the state executives of our partner organizations.