Scholarship America Named Winner of 2023 Amazon Web Services IMAGINE Grant for Nonprofits

Scholarship America Named Winner of 2023 Amazon Web Services IMAGINE Grant for Nonprofits

By Scholarship America

Nation’s largest scholarship provider will work with Amazon’s cloud computing arm to unify and analyze data repositories in service of student success

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA (November 28, 2023) — Scholarship America, the nation’s largest scholarship provider, is proud to announce that it has been selected as a winner of the 2023 Amazon Web Services (AWS) IMAGINE Grant, a public grant opportunity open to registered 501(c) nonprofit organizations in the United States and the United Kingdom who are using technology to solve the world’s most pressing challenges.

The grant award will be used to fund Scholarship America’s ambitious data insights project, unifying large data repositories and applying analytics and visualization for deep, detailed, and actionable insights. This project will help fuel new research and identify best practices in scholarship administration, working towards true equity and socioeconomic mobility for students nationwide.

Now in its sixth year, the AWS IMAGINE Grant program provides vital resources to nonprofit organizations looking to deploy cloud technology as a central tool to achieve mission goals. As part of the program, AWS seeks proposals for big ideas on how to leverage technology in new and innovative ways to accelerate impact in local and global communities.

Scholarship America was named a winner in the Go Further, Faster category which recognizes highly innovative projects using advanced cloud services. The organization will receive $60,000 in unrestricted funding, $10,000 in AWS Promotional Credits, and engagement with AWS technical specialists. Proposals were judged on several factors including the innovative and unique nature of the project, impact on mission-critical goals, and clearly defined outcomes and milestones.

The introduction of the data insights product comes as a part of Scholarship America’s North Star goal to maximize the scholarship dollars that are awarded to students from historically marginalized communities who have significant financial need.

“As we look to re-imagine the world of private scholarships, it’s vital that we understand as much as possible about students’ needs, barriers and pain points,” said Scholarship America President & CEO Mike Nylund. “This grant, and our work with AWS, will bring us invaluable insight into the ways we can truly make a difference in students’ lives and educational journeys.”

Since the launch of the IMAGINE Grant program in 2018, AWS has awarded over $7M in unrestricted funds, AWS Promotional Credits, and AWS training support to 89 nonprofit organizations in support of their technology-driven goals. Previous winners are currently using AWS services to tackle critical challenges such as preventing service member and veteran suicide, identifying promising and affordable treatments for cancer, helping underrepresented individuals prepare for high-growth careers in technology, and more.

“I’m inspired by the ways in which our IMAGINE Grant winners are innovating with technology to improve lives worldwide,” said Allyson Fryhoff, Managing Director of Nonprofit and Global Health at Amazon Web Services. “We look forward to collaborating with these organizations as they leverage cloud to scale their impact and help solve some of society’s biggest challenges.”

Over 85,000 nonprofit organizations worldwide use AWS to increase their impact and advance mission goals. Through multiple programs tailored specifically to the nonprofit community, AWS can enable nonprofits of all sizes to overcome barriers to technology adoption, while enhancing the scale, performance, and capabilities of mission operations.

For more information on the AWS IMAGINE Grant, visit aws.amazon.com/imagine-grant

About Scholarship America

Scholarship America is a nonprofit organization that works to eliminate barriers to educational success so that any student can pursue their dream. Since it was founded in 1958, Scholarship America has distributed $5.1 billion to 3 million students, making it the nation’s largest private scholarship provider.