Former President of Scholarship America on Minnesota’s Historic Response to 9/11

Our nation is about to mark the 25^th anniversary of the tragedies of September 11, 2001. The terrible events of that day drastically and immediately impacted the lives of more than 3000 families. Hundreds of additional families were radically changed by the toxic environmental consequences of rescue, recovery, and site clean-up operations.  Our nation responded to these families with condolences, genuine sympathy, and governmental financial payments.  Yet, one national—and in significant measure, world-wide—response has had more lasting impact on the “families of 9/11” than any governmental actions.  And this response was born, organized, and continues to be carried out in Minnesota.

This rapid call to action was led by Scholarship America, the nation’s largest nonprofit, private sector scholarship organization, from its central offices in Minneapolis and St. Peter, MN.  Funded through a national and international campaign, co-chaired by a former President of the United States and former Majority Leader of the United States Senate, and supported by more than 20,000 donors throughout the United States and other countries, this response gave hope and renewal to thousands of 9/11 families.

This timely and far-reaching response was—and still is—the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund of Scholarship America.  For almost twenty-five years, this fund has provided post-secondary educational and career opportunities for the children and spouses of those who lost lives, were permanently disabled, or suffered other damaging health consequences from the tragic events of 9/11. The fund will continue to help eligible families until it is completed in the year 2030.

Immediately after 9/11, thousands of people in America and throughout the world began to ask:  What could be done to help the families who bore the brunt of this terrible destructive event?  In September of 2001, Scholarship America (then called Citizens’ Scholarship Foundation of America), was emerging as America’s largest private sector scholarship support organization.  Over the years, since its founding in 1957, the organization had formed community-based Dollars for Scholars chapters throughout the nation, with thousands of local volunteers helping their local students to attend some form of post-secondary education. Then, the organization, using the experiences in training local volunteers, began to design and manage scholarship programs sponsored by corporations, foundations, associations, and individuals, managing more than 1000 programs by 2001.  Leaders and staff of the organization understood that the best way to respond was to focus on the organization’s mission to renew and enrich lives by expanding access to postsecondary education. But how to make that happen for the families of 9/11?

The answer came withing two days of 9/11. Serving as President of Scholarship America at that time, I received a call from Susan Collins, Vice President of the Lumina Foundation for Education in Indianapolis, with whom Scholarship America had worked closely for several years. Susan stated that Lumina would make a major grant, if we were interested in giving leadership to creating and eventually managing a fund for scholarships for the children of those impacted by 9/11.  I immediately contacted the Chair of our Board, Phyllis McGrath, long-time director of philanthropy for General Electric, and she gave her enthusiastic backing, as did other members of the Board.  I quickly called a meeting of the eight-member, very dedicated, executive team. We went to work to create the fund, establish initial guidelines, and make plans for raising funds to provide meaningful scholarship opportunities.

We contacted Scholarship America’s partners throughout the nation, including all Board members, National Advisory Board members, Trustees Honor Roll members, corporate scholarship sponsors, and Dollars for Scholars leaders. Positive responses and offers to help came rapidly, even before we formally announced the launch of the fund.  The fund was named the “Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund,” following a decision to include spouses and well as children of the 9/11 victims as eligible for receiving scholarship aid.

The formal launch for the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund was announced on Monday morning, September 17 by the Associated Press, with a joint press release from the Lumina Foundation and Scholarship America.  A grant of $3 million from Lumina challenged donors of all kinds to support this important initiative.   The release described the purpose of the fund, who would be eligible, how to make gifts in support, and how eligible spouses and children could apply for the scholarships.  A new website, press release, media response, and many direct emails and telephone calls followed, and within six days of 9/11, the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund was launched.

With the rapid launch of the Fund, Scholarship America was faced with three vital questions:

1. How much money would be needed to meet the postsecondary scholarship needs of the 9/11 families?
2. What should be a necessary but realistic goal for the campaign?
3. How could we attract funding from throughout the United States from our base in Minnesota, and perhaps even beyond the U.S. borders?

To help answer the first two questions, we engaged a team of actuaries to estimate the number of potential scholarship recipients.  With our knowledge and experience of financial aid that could be added by normal federal, state, and institutional resources, the goal for the campaign for the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund was set at $100 million.  A very helpful response to the final question came from an unexpected source.  Andrew McKelvey, then CEO of Telephone Marketing Partners and Yellow Pages advertising, shared with us his contacts with political rivals from the 1996 presidential campaign, Bill Clinton and Bob Dole.  We approached them, and they, in a generous and welcome bi-partisan fashion, agreed to serve as Honorary Co-Chairs of the campaign.

With this latest development, we relaunched the campaign with even greater national and international attention on September 29 at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Major television, radio, and newspaper networks were present to hear the enthusiastic endorsements from both Clinton and Dole and their calls for support from people in widening circles of awareness.  Several major corporate grants were announced at the event.  Other funders jumped in quickly. Scholarship America staff, operating in our offices in both St. Peter and Minneapolis, had already set up a phone bank to take donations and answer calls. Online donations were ready to be accepted as well.  Long-term partners of Scholarship America stepped forward.  For example, Daimler Chrysler made donations totaling $10.4 million.  Many others added major gifts ranging from $100,000 to $1 million or more. The Citigroup Foundation eventually added more than $20 million to the Fund.

Throughout the remainder of 2001 and into 2002, major gifts continued to be forthcoming from corporations and from some surprising places. The NCAA gave a donation of $5 million and several NCAA conferences contributed as did NFL and NBA teams and the Professional Golfers Association. The Kansas Chamber of Commerce, in response to a request from Senator Dole, contributed more than $1 million.  Even more amazing were the hundreds of “grassroots” efforts among thousands of individuals who joined in local events to raise money.  Youth of all ages held car washes, bake sales, lemonade stands, coin drives, sales of specially decorated lollipops, and high school dances. Elementary schools, high schools, and college students organized fundraisers. Just one example: The Carl Ben Eielson Elementary School in Grand Forks, North Dakota challenged school children throughout the state to join a campaign called “Nickels for New York.” They collected more than $28,600, the equivalent of over one half million nickels!

Adults in hundreds of communities organized benefit dinners, arts and craft shows, musical concerts, dance recitals, fashion shows, charity auctions, horse shows, holiday card productions and sales, artist print sales, golf tournaments, and even a flag football tournament. Run or walk events were held in many communities.  The biggest running event was the Nike-sponsored “Run Across America,” with more that 240 volunteers running relay sections for 42 consecutive days, stopping at 40 firehouses from Astoria, Oregon to New York City. They finished at Engine 7 Firehouse in Lower Manhattan.  As a result, Nike was able to donate $1 million.

The participation by people and organizations of a variety of religious faiths and ethnic backgrounds became a heartwarming outcome of the campaign. Christian churches nationwide created fundraising events, joined by Jewish synagogues and federations, Islamic Centers. Hindu Temples, Associations of Bangladeshi Women, Iranian American Women, Nigerian American Accountants, and Pakistan Americans, all of whom made important contributions.

Individuals and governments from around the world expressed deep concern for the families of 9/11 as well.  President Clinton was influential in a gift of $1 million from India. The Hyogo Prefect of Japan gave $700,000. People of Chinese heritage in America, in response to leadership from The World Journal, the largest Chinese language newspaper in America, gave $720,000 to the fund.  In recognizing that nearly thirty Canadian families with more than twenty-five children were impacted by the collapse of the World Trade Center, the St. George’s Society of Toronto, Canada raised $200,000 from its annual Red Rose Ball event.  Gifts came from England, Germany, and other countries as well.

A number of American celebrities joined in support. Merrill Osmond of the Osmond Brothers created a special patriotic song album and donated the proceeds to the fund. Richard Petty, the noted NASCAR champion, sponsored a “Richard Petty Driving Experience” to raise funds. Several celebrities held events in the Twin Cities in support of the fund. Barry Manilow gave a sold-out concert at the Historic Orpheum Theatre in downtown Minneapolis, with most of the proceeds going to the fund. In May of 2002, Dolly Parton headlined the “Families of Freedom, Families of Promise” promotion and fundraising event in Minneapolis. She was joined by Wintley Phipps, world-renowned Gospel singer and founder of the U.S. Dream Academy, and the Minnesota “Sounds of Blackness” singers.

By the end of August, 2002, our campaign goal of $100 million—a goal we wanted to reach by the first anniversary of 9/11– was within reach. Then, a marvelous and timely major piece of news arrived.  Throughout the summer, we had been working closely with Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association on potential significant gifts. They informed us of gifts totaling $8 million between the two groups.  These gifts brought the amount raised to $105 million, allowing us to reach and surpass the goal.

On the “Larry King Live” show, September 3 on CNN, Bill Clinton and Bob Dole were able to announce that the goal had been met. They gave thanks to all who contributed and to the work of Scholarship America personnel and so many others in making it happen. More funds continued to pour in over the next week, so by September 11, 2002, we were able to announce a final total of $125 million for the initial year of contributions to the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund!

Administering the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund and serving the eligible 9/11 families over 25 years has been a major task that continues to this day. From the beginning, Scholarship America Board and staff knew that major tasks lay ahead to be good stewards of the fund and to fulfill the promises made to donors and to the families to be served.  Prominent responsibilities included: discovery and registration of all the eligible families and potential scholarship recipients; coordination with any other scholarship funds that had come into existence; guidelines for eligibility for scholarships; operating with efficiency in administration; careful and prudent management of the large amount of funds secured for the scholarship operations over many years; serving the families and scholarship recipients with personal care and attention; and adjusting to changes that would likely occur over time.

Registration

Discovering, contacting, and registering all eligible recipients were not easy tasks. Our Scholarship Management Services worked with government agencies, corporations, and various organizations to identify every person who had died in New York City, at the Pentagon in Washington, D. C., and on the airplanes that smashed into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and the open field in Pennsylvania. Additional data were gathered from numerous sources to identify  spouses and all children of those who were killed or permanently disabled as a result of the tragic events of 9/11.

Coordination with Other Funds

The Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund very quickly became by far the largest scholarship fund earmarked for the spouses and children of the 9/11 families.  But there were other important smaller scholarship funds that had been created. To coordinate these available funds and simplify the process of providing aid for the eligible families and individuals, Scholarship America worked closely with the Citigroup Foundation (that had established a $20 million Citigroup Relief Fund) to organize a series of meetings.  Representatives from more than 20 groups met monthly throughout the spring of 2002 at the Citigroup offices in New York City. A key result was to ask Scholarship America to coordinate and administer all the funds, so families would have one source with which to deal and not face a complicated process.

Guidelines

The Families of Freedom Scholarship fund, joined by the other funds under its umbrella, was established to benefit children and spouses of those killed or permanently disabled on 9/11, including airplane crews and passengers, World Trade Center employees and visitors, Pentagon military members and staff, and relief workers, including firemen and policemen. Financial need was to be considered at the time of enrollment in determining the size of the scholarship, but all eligible students would receive a scholarship award.

Efficiency of Operation

Operating from its Minnesota offices, Scholarship America had already been recognized for its efficient administrative work. Wall Street Journal’s Smart Money Magazine had ranked the organization as one of the best-run, most efficient nonprofits for four years in a row.  Similar rankings have continued to the present time.  Scholarship America pledged that 100 percent of all contributions would directly support the scholarships being awarded. Administrative expenses were covered by several special grants and a small fraction of the interest earnings from the fund.

Serving the Families

Scholarship America, through its Scholarship Management Services, had a history of well-trained program management staff to handle administrative details, respond to questions, maintain contact with eligible families, and to see that scholarship funds reached the chosen colleges, universities, community colleges, or technical and vocational schools in a timely fashion. In 2008, as the number of students and families being served grew, the organization opened an office in New York with an Executive Director to work even more closely with families in that city and beyond, giving close personal attention where needed.

Adjusting to Changes

Over the years, Scholarship America has expanded its outreach to serve a broader range of families impacted by 9/11.  This expansion began with “Families of Freedom 2,” co-founded by Scholarship America and the AXA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of AXA Financial. The focus of this fund, begun with a $3 million gift from AXA, was to provide scholarship and educational support for those who suffered loss of income from the destruction and severe impairment of businesses located in lower Manhattan when the Twin Towers collapsed. Hundreds of additional gifts for this purpose came from other corporations, organizations, and individuals. And still, the terrible impact of the 9/11 attacks didn’t go away.  Those involved in relief work and the ongoing efforts to move away the rubble at Ground Zero and the Pentagon brought more death and permanent disabilities to many families.  The number of people suffering from cancer as a result of this work rose rapidly.  These people and others were added to the eligibility lists for the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund.

As a result, more funds were raised to serve these additional eligible families impacted by both the events of 9/11 and subsequent related difficult undertakings. But more remains to be done before the close of the fund in 2030. Excellent work by Scholarship America executive leaders, staff, and Board members has continued over the years, including under the current highly respected president Mike Nylund. Mike notes that from now to 2030, “Our goal is to ensure that the remaining eligible students have the same opportunity to attend college as the initial group of Families of Freedom scholars.”

As stated at the beginning of this article, the impact of the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund on the families of 9/11 has been more meaningful and lasting than any of the other helpful responses that have come their way.  Testimonies from recipients have revealed this impact.  I share a few samples from the thousands received:

“I am one of seven kids and growing up I never knew how I was going to pay for school. I was 12 when my dad died, and I hadn’t given it much thought at the time but certainly my parents weren’t going to be able to pay for all seven to go to college. But in 2011, I graduated from Villanova University in civil engineering, and I got a full-time job immediately after graduating. Families of Freedom has been there for every one of my siblings throughout our educational journey and has really given us a gift that so many people dream of. I’ll never take that for granted.”

—Bridget Fisher

“If I hadn’t received this scholarship, there is no telling where I would be. But I do know this: I would not have graduated Summa Cum Laude from Clemson University with an amazing education, work experience, and connections.  This scholarship allowed me to focus on who I was becoming, both personally and professionally. Thank you for all your generosity.  You have changed my life.”

—Sophie Robinson

“I lost my dad on 9/11. At NYU, I learned that I wanted to be an urban planner, and I think that has a lot to do with my experience with 9/11. I think that a lot of 9/11 family members feel the same way as I do in that our experiences lead us to want to make the world a better place in some way. I believe that if you are a supporter of Families of Freedom, you’re supporting students in achieving that goal.”

—David Garcia

“We would like to thank you for everything you have done for us since 2010. We could not have done it without you.”

—The Johnson Family, whose youth have attended and graduated with degrees from six different types of postsecondary institutions, including community college, four year private and public colleges, and graduate institutions.

And this last story is amazing in its special results, from a youth whose dad was a firefighter who lost his life on 9/11.  His dad and mom had ten kids, and she died from cancer in a few years after 9/11.

“My father was always my hero; and we all felt like we lost our best friend (when my mother died). We were so close to her.  When I found out that I was going to receive a scholarship from the fund, it meant a lot to me, and I knew that I had a responsibility to capitalize on that fund. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the scholarship, and I wouldn’t be able to give back. The more that you give and the more that you love, the more that you return that love to other people in need.”

—Joseph Palombo

And here is the “rest of the story.”  Joseph is giving back now as a member of the Board of Scholarship America!

This important story of how a Minnesota-based organization, using its fundamental mission, its strong organizational ties, and its administrative expertise could mobilize thousands of people to produce a program with such lasting impact on the families of 9/11 needs to be told for more people to hear. (And a book is underway to tell the story in even more interesting detail.)

Why must the story be told? At a time when our nation is so divided by political, social, and ideological loyalties, we need to be reminded that Americans can and do come together to support important causes to meet critical human needs. Highly visible signs of caring and generosity in support of the families of 9/11 were truly amazing. The American public also needs to be reminded that we need to regain strong appreciation for the immediate and lasting impact that postsecondary education makes in the lives of people—both youth and adults.

Every time a scholarship is awarded to a spouse or a daughter or son of one of the victims of 9/11 through the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund, a message is being sent—a message that tells each recipient—and all of us—that the sacrifices of a loved one have not been forgotten. At the same time, the story of this historical and impactful fund continues to declare that people, working together, can offer to so many life-renewing support and new visions for the future.