Scholarship America Receives 2025 Amazon Web Services Imagine Grant for Nonprofits

Minneapolis, December 3, 2025 — Scholarship America is proud to announce that it has been selected as a winner of the 2025 Amazon Web Services (AWS) Imagine Grant, a public grant opportunity open to registered charities in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, United States, and Canada and registered 501(c) nonprofit organizations in the United States who are using technology to solve the world’s most pressing challenges. The grant will support Scholarship America’s efforts to transform educational access by using AI to match students with life-changing scholarships.

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 up to $150,000 in unrestricted funding, up to $100,000 in AWS Credits, and support from AWS technical specialists. Awardees were selected based on several factors including the innovative and unique nature of the project, impact on mission-critical goals, and clearly defined outcomes and milestones.

With support from AWS, Scholarship America’s system will more effectively streamline the application process and provide personalized recommendations, making it easier for students to find and secure financial support. This breakthrough technology aims to nearly double scholarship disbursements within three years, helping more students achieve their educational dreams.

“Scholarship America has distributed billions of dollars in scholarships over the past 65 years, but we’re always striving to increase our impact,” said Mike Nylund, Scholarship America President & CEO. “Working with AWS to proactively match students with scholarships will allow us to eliminate more financial barriers to college for more students in need.”

“At AWS, we’re continually amazed by the nonprofit sector’s innovative spirit and dedication to creating positive change in our communities and around the globe,” said Rick Buettner, Managing Director of Global Nonprofits at AWS. “Through the Imagine Grant program, we’re seeing organizations embrace cloud technology in ways that fundamentally reshape how they deliver on their missions. From scaling their impact to reaching underserved communities, these nonprofits are showing us what’s possible when vision meets innovation. We’re proud to support their transformative work and help them build solutions that will benefit communities for years to come.”

Since the launch of the Imagine Grant program in 2018, AWS has awarded more than $21 million in unrestricted funding, AWS cloud computing credits, and technical expertise to more than 170 nonprofit organizations. Learn more about past recipients and how nonprofits use AWS to advance their missions around the world at the AWS for nonprofits hub.

Previous winners are currently using AWS services to tackle critical challenges such as improving political transparency, reducing the administrative burden placed on clinicians, accelerating coral reef monitoring, helping millions access clean and safe drinking water globally, tackling rare disease research, and more.

Over 95,000 nonprofit organizations worldwide use AWS to increase their impact and advance mission goals. Through multiple programs tailored specifically to the nonprofit community, AWS enables 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 https://aws.amazon.com/government-education/nonprofits/aws-imagine-grant-program.

Scholarship America is a non-profit organization that eliminates barriers to educational success so that students can pursue their dream. Since 1958, Scholarship America has distributed $5.7 billion to more than 3 million students. The organization works with partners to give students the support needed to succeed. Learn more at scholarshipamerica.org.

Claire Berge Schmidt
Associate Vice President, Marketing
cbergeschmidt@scholarshipamerica.org
(952) 830-7391