This fall, 32 students from D.C.- area public schools will head off to college with the help of the Posse Foundation — a new organization to the D.C. nonprofit community — and The Sallie Mae Fund, the giving arm of the student loan company.
Posse, founded in 1987 in New York City, opened a Washington chapter in summer 2004 after Sallie Mae awarded the charitable organization a $1 million grant. The fund also agreed to match Posse’s fundraising efforts up to $5 million. On Wednesday, Posse hosted a dinner in New York to honor Sallie Mae and announce the organization had reached its $5 million goal.
“Because of [Sallie Mae], we now have a $10 million endowment,” said Deborah Bial, president and founder of The Posse Foundation. “It’s really extraordinary.”
While there are more than 7,000 nonprofits in the D.C. region, only about 17 of those organizations are dedicated to higher education.Since opening its doors in 2004, Posse has sent 52 Washington-area students to college. This year, 11 students from D.C. will go to Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, 11 will go to Lafayette College, also in Pennsylvania, and 10 will go to Grinnell College in Iowa.
The Posse Foundation sends students to college in groups, or “posses,” as a way to give each student a strong network. The field of Posse students — who each receive a full four-year scholarship, as well as mentoring and other support programs throughout their college career — was narrowed from a field of about 1,000 nominated applicants from around the region this year.
Recipients are typically students who may get overlooked in the traditional college application process, Bial said. For example, Posse students typically attend high schools where top-tier universities don’t recruit. Students are selected in January and go through an eight-month leadership training and academic program to prepare them for higher education.
“It’s not a minority program, and it’s not a need-based program,” Bial said.
“It’s a leadership, development and diversity program. We are finding outstanding young leaders from the public school system who might get missed through traditional measures.”
Educational nonprofits
» There are 1,265 education-based nonprofits in the D.C. area, or 16.6 percent of all nonprofits. Higher education nonprofits represent less than 1 percent, with 17 organizations.
Source: Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington
