Scholarship America was founded on the idea that the collective power of communities could help students pursue college. Our partners and supporters continue to make that idea a reality in all sorts of innovative ways – and Sinclair Research Group (SRG) is spearheading a unique initiative that combines corporate giving with community energy.
SRG works alongside school districts, universities, foundations and government as an evaluation partner, collecting and analyzing data for school evaluation and teacher accreditation programs. In 2020, they partnered with Shasta College and the State of California to assess the success of a $45 million grant program for school paraprofessionals to pursue teaching certification.
SRG Executive Director Bill Rolland knew that they’d need a large, diverse and engaged group of people to interview and submit survey responses – and the team at SRG had an idea. "We needed a sample size of 500 to 600 and wanted to incentivize them to give feedback on their experience,” Bill said. “These are altruistically inclined people, in education, and we wondered if they’d be interested in forgoing a stipend and making a donation out of it.”
As they recruited survey respondents, SRG offered a few different incentives, including a donation in the respondent’s name to Scholarship America. After 550 responses, they’d made quite an impact – around 40% opted to donate in spite of COVID-related economic and job uncertainty.
Read the full story on our blog.
If you share a commitment to student support, visit our website to make your gift today. Want to explore more options? Get in touch – we’re here to help you help students.
