Our Technical Support Team Is Here To Help!

Managing your scholarships, maintaining your website, making the most of your Affiliate Resources—it can all get complicated in a hurry. That’s why the Dollars for Scholars Technical Support Team is here to help! Julie, Callie and Matt are friendly and experienced experts in all things ChapterNet. Hear from them firsthand in this article, and as your scholarship season ramps up, don’t hesitate to turn to them with any question, big or small! 

I’ve worked at Scholarship America for 18 years in a variety of positions, including Scholarship Program Manager, so I understand the challenges and complexities that go along with running a scholarship program. My favorite part of my job is working with volunteers to help them better understand ChapterNet and resolve issues they are experiencing.  

We’ve all had unpleasant experiences with customer service and tech support calls, so it’s my personal goal to handle each interaction with Dollars for Scholars students, parents, and volunteers the way I’d want it to go if I were on the other end of the phone. – Julie Wilkins

I joined the Dollars for Scholars Support Team in January, 2021. Before arriving at Dollars for Scholars, I worked and taught in Higher Education for 15 years. Most recently, I worked extensively with developing online courses and providing training in Digital Pedagogy. I also worked for several years with TRIO and Upward Bound students, helping them acclimatize to new social and scholastic expectations. This experience has given me a passion for helping students navigate the obstacles and pitfalls of Higher Education. My aspiration is to help chapters provide student support in more effective and impactful ways. – Matt Lust    

All six years that I’ve been at Scholarship America have been spent supporting the Dollars for Scholars program, first as a Customer Service Rep and now as Lead Technical Support Specialist. The mission of Dollars for Scholars is very personal to me, as I am a Dollars for Scholars scholarship recipient and it was the support of my local community that propelled me to earn my degree. There is nothing more rewarding to me than working one-on-one with a chapter to streamline their scholarship program to simplify the process for them and their students. – Callie Hartmann

Announcing the 2021 Dr. Irving Fradkin Legacy Award Recipients

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of our founder’s birth,
Scholarship America established the Dr. Irving Fradkin Legacy Awards—four awards for Dollars for Scholars organizations to
carry on Dr. Fradkin’s commitment to student support.  

Today, we’re thrilled to announce the recipients of the 2021 Fradkin Legacy Awards: 

• $15,000 Student Support Award, to initiate or expand support beyond scholarships: Excel Beyond 211 Dollars for Scholars 
• $10,000 Renewable Scholarship Award, to initiate or expand a multi-year, renewable scholarship program: Burlington-Edison Alumni Foundation Dollars for Scholars 
• $2,500 Impactful Scholarship Awards, to establish new, impactful scholarships: South Dearborn Dollars for Scholars and Gettysburg Area Dollars for Scholars
  

Nearly 200 Dollars for Scholars Successfully Transition to Online Donations!

Congratulations to the nearly 200 Dollars for Scholars for this multi-step accomplishment! Those of you on the Give Lively platform, you have: 

• Established your organizational email presence. Your organization’s work is in one account that isn’t tied to a single volunteer (and can be maintained across future leadership transitions).   

• Positioned your Dollars for Scholars for current and future fundraising collaborations. You can be found on GuideStar, the largest nonprofit validator, so partners, supporters, and businesses can confirm your nonprofit status. 
• Created an online giving presence and more. You now offer donors an online donation platform fully enabled for sharing and social media, with expanded capacity into event ticketing, text-to-donate, and peer-to-peer fundraising.  

What’s Next? Invite your givers to begin using your online donation platform during your end-of-year donation campaigns. View a sampling of Dollars for Scholars that went beyond the basic look and used student photos, or told impact stories on their Give Lively fundraising pages. Watch Give Lively’s Crash Course, to learn about additional features, and take advantage of the peer-to-peer campaign materials emailed to your chapter.  

It’s never too late to get an online giving solution in place. Whenever you’re ready to transition your online donations, contact your Engagement Director for assistance. 

If your Dollars for Scholars is unsure where to start, please reference these helpful tools first: Getting Started with Give Lively and Tips to Transition Online Donations video.  

Dollars for Scholars Holiday Gift Exchange

‘Tis the season for giving and sharing! The Student Success Programs Team invites you to share a resource, idea, program, or practice your chapter has successfully used in the past year as part of our “gift exchange” at the Dollars for Scholars Virtual Holiday Gathering on Thursday, December 9th.  

Learning from and sharing with others is one of the benefits of being a part of the Dollars for Scholars network. So, if you’ve created a dynamic Give Lively donation page, we want to see it. Have a stellar student support program? Tell us about it. Found a resource in Affiliate Resources that’s a favorite of your Dollars for Scholars? Share it! 

And remember, a picture is worth a thousand words so a photo, screenshot, or link to the related page on your chapter website is best. Just send it to your Engagement Director along with a brief description by December 3rd and we’ll ensure your “gift” makes it to our gathering to share with your fellow Dollars for Scholars volunteers. 

Don’t forget, sign up today to join us for the Dollars for Scholars Holiday Gathering.

ChapterNet Update: Domain Scam Watch

Your Dollars for Scholars website is a benefit of affiliation with Scholarship America, so there is no fee to your chapter for hosting the site or renewing the domain name. If your Dollars for Scholars receives communication (mail or email) stating otherwise, it is a scam and should be reported to your Engagement Director right away so we can warn others about it.  

Recently, two Dollars for Scholars notified our team about a solicitation mailer they received from “Domain Listings” which is requesting payment for “annual website domain listing.” Based on complaints made to the Better Business Bureau, many non-profits have mistaken this business solicitation as a domain renewal invoice and have remitted payment, only to discover it is not the service this company provides.   

Any time you receive a communication you are not expecting or seems suspicious, take the time to verify its legitimacy before taking action. In this example, the text in the red box confirms this is not a real bill.

Reminders

Stay up to date with everything going on. Check out the important dates and deadlines coming up, with November 30 being the first
key date to note.  

• November 30 - Giving Tuesday  
• December 9 – 7:00 pm CT Dollars for Scholars Holiday Gathering, register today to join us.
• December 31 - Encourage people to donate before the end of the year for the Expanded 2021 tax benefits
• January 6 – Deadline for students to apply for the $40,000 GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship - tell your students about this scholarship opportunity 
• January 20 – Save the date for our next Dollars for Scholars Connect 

Questions? Contact your Engagement Director!