Kids' Chance of California has an ambitious goal: They want to award a total of $1,000,000 in scholarship support by the end of 2022.

They're well on their way. Kids' Chance of CA has dramatically increased the number and amount of scholarships they've awarded over the course of the past four years, growing from 11 scholarships in the 2016-2017 academic year to 43 scholarships totaling $270,627 in the 2020-2021 academic year – the largest amount of scholarship money and highest number of students in the state organization's history.

What drives their success? How are they able to sustain this growth? Kids' Chance of America Executive Director Vicki Burkhart met with Kids' Chance of CA President Amy Hanson and VP of Scholarship Seth Frohman to find out.

How Kids' Chance of CA Scholarships Have Grown

Kids' Chance of CA has experienced significant growth over the last four academic years.

In the 2016-2017 academic year, they awarded 11 scholarships at $77,850. The following academic year, 2017-2018, they awarded $77,000 in scholarships to 13 students. Then, in the 2018-2019 year, they more than doubled both the students and money awarded, with 36 scholarships at $188,000. And now they have grown the program again, with 43 scholarships awarded, totaling $270,627.

Kids' Chance of CA was able to meet 100% of the need of eligible applicants – up to $10,000 for the year – and remain on track to meet their goal of awarding $1,000,000 by the end of 2022.

What Drives This Success?

When Vicki met with Amy and Seth, they discussed several things that have made their efforts successful, including a strong scholarship committee, strengthened relationships, technology, and administrative support.

First, they credit building strong relationships with high school guidance counselors in California and committing to the stewardship of that outreach program. “Guidance counselors are one of our most important sources of referrals. We want every guidance counselor in California to know about Kids' Chance of CA and what's available for students,” said Seth. “We don't want any eligible students to miss out because their guidance counselor doesn't know about our program.”

They specifically connected with the Association of Guidance Counselors, not just local contacts. Investing in these relationships allowed them to share information with high school students and increase visibility and awareness.

In addition, they also built a stronger connection with the State Compensation Insurance Fund, as well as some of their partners, all with a goal of increasing applicant referrals.

Kids' Chance of CA improved their scholarship technology to streamline their process and make it easier to support the increased volume of applications. They worked with their webmaster, Agora-net, to create an online portal for student applications and renewals. Now, scholarship applicants can apply online, and the scholarship committee can easily download the scholarship information.

Another component of Kids' Chance of CA's success is the administrative support and direction the management team provides, a trend common among higher-performing state organizations. Amy and Seth agreed that they wouldn't have been able to grow the scholarship program without paid support. “The administrative staff has made a huge difference,” said Amy. “They help to keep us organized and focused.” With the increase in the number of scholarships awarded and the need for additional fundraising, Kids' Chance of CA anticipates expanding administrative services.

Finally having a strong Scholarship Committee has been central to their success. “The committee meets regularly, and individual applications are assigned to each committee member who then dives into each application, requests more information as needed, and ultimately advocates to the larger committee for final determinations,” said Seth.

Sustaining Growth

In May of this year, Kids' Chance of CA received the highest number of scholarship applications in its history. Consequently, they're thinking seriously about how to sustain the level of support they need each year in order to reach their $1,000,000 goal and beyond.

Careful stewardship is part of their plan. Each year, Kids' Chance of CA reevaluates the money they have available and the number of applicants. They only award what they can afford. Each student is told that every year is different and that there are no guarantees year to year. However, Kids' Chance of CA intends to do everything possible to continue to grow their level of scholarship support.

Their current partnerships are strong, particularly within the workers' compensation industry. Kids' Chance of CA plans to expand its connections into other industries to provide a better balance in future funding.

Kids' Chance of CA is also exploring new revenue streams and fundraising options. They are grateful for the continued support of their corporate industry sponsors, as well as a large donation from an injured worker and some large one-time fundraising opportunities this past year, but they know they cannot count on that support every year.

They'll take advantage of sessions in the Kids' Chance of America's fall Give Back Better Webinar series and the national office will also be providing guidance as Kids' Chance of CA pursues grants.

Vicki said, “Kids' Chance of America set new records in our state scholarship program. Kids' Chance of CA has been a leader in creating sustainable, ongoing growth in their scholarship program that our state organizations can learn from.”