Reasons to Give from our Community of Supporters

“Education breeds opportunity and it’s my privilege to be able to support kids who deserve and desire education, but Greenhouse Scholars is not just a Scholarship program. Greenhouse Scholars is a wholistic approach to changing lives and breaking the cycle of poverty. These students are so talented, and most of them are the first in their families to go to college. It’s great to get to lend them a hand as they go on to create lasting, generational change in their families and communities.”
– Nancy Downing, Education Leader and Philanthropist

“In everything it does, Greenhouse Scholars does so with absolute high caliber quality. We appreciate the Greenhouse Scholars model of building robust community around each Scholar through staff, fellow Scholar peers, and mentors. Moreover, it has the data to demonstrate the success of this model with its students. Because of this, our foundation has been happy to support Greenhouse Scholars for nearly a decade.”
– Adolph Coors Foundation

“I am thrilled to be a supporter of Greenhouse Scholars. My family gives to Greenhouse Scholars because these students are amazing leaders. They give back to the community, which is exactly what I want my own children to do so I’m hoping that by leading by example, my kids will also want to make the world a better place and will continue to support amazing organizations like Greenhouse Scholars.”
– Jen Hanau, Vice President and Senior Relationship Manager at Fidelity Investments

“Greenhouse Scholars has helped me build a strong foundation for both my personal and professional life. Through the mentorship and professional liaison programs, I have been given a tremendous opportunity that has helped shape my life and my family’s. Without my Greenhouse mentor, my dad would not have been able to start his own custom home painting business and still be working for minimum wage and I would not be anywhere near where I am today. I am honored to have gone through the program as a scholar and now having the ability to be a donor to the organization that has given me and my fellow scholars everything. Thank you Greenhouse Scholars!”
– J. Ivan Hernandez, Greenhouse Scholars Alum

“I’ve seen and been involved with many different education based not for profits but what really struck a cord with me was the approach that GHS has taken to not just get under resourced kids into college, but rather looking at a way where these young leaders will be in a position to go back to their communities and help to engage more and more kids with the benefits of education. By offering a community for the scholars to shares experiences, mentoring throughout college, career placement and accountability to give back, Greenhouse scholars is leveraging the most impressive future leaders it can find to make meaningful change in communities around the Country.”
– Fred Paulman, Co-founder and President of RMB Capital Management

“I support Greenhouse Scholars because it’s an organization that really sees these kids and supports them far beyond just the financially. They give them networking opportunities and mentorship and a real sense of community. Their holistic approach is something I think really benefits these kids that are already pretty incredible to begin with.”
– Larissa Anstey Ortiz, Kula Ventures

“I’ve been a supporter of Greenhouse Scholars for the last ten years. I’ve always been impressed by Greenhouse Scholars. I feel it really meets an unmet need in the market to help high achieving leaders successfully get through college and into their careers. I’ve found that by giving to Greenhouse Scholars it’s as much of a gift to me as it is to the Scholars. I’m a mentor and whenever my mentee and I get together, I feel that I get even more out of it than she does. When she told me she got an internship offer with Goldman Sachs, my whole month and year was made. I could not be more excited! You should also consider giving to Greenhouse Scholars because it is incredibly rewarding.”
– Maureen Medlock, Senior Manager at Deloitte

“As a Greenhouse Scholars alum myself, I can testify first hand on the efficacy of the program. Greenhouse Scholars gives high achieving, low-income students the resources they need to be successful in College. Without the mentorship, tuition scholarship, peer support, and internship assistance I received from Greenhouse Scholars I would not be where I am today. There are plenty of students with backgrounds like my own that have the drive to succeed but lack the necessary resources to do so, resources that Greenhouse Scholars provides. I believe so much in Greenhouse Scholars that I am proud to be a donor to the program that gave me so much.”
– Hassan Sufi, Greenhouse Scholars Alum, Software Engineer at Microsoft

“I give to Greenhouse Scholars because I believe it’s really important for every child to get to go to college. I think the work that they are doing in their own communities is really important and the more that we can give the more communities and lives we can effect.”
– Melissa Newton, Account Associate at 8z Real Estate

“Greenhouse Scholars has enabled myself, my wife, and my children to not only support a worthy organization of future community leaders, but to also welcome some of these future leaders into our own family. We have all participated in a variety of meaningful events; such as Venus Bike rides, Community Tables, and mentoring individual scholars over the last 6 years. But it is the students we have encountered at these events who became more than contacts, but truly family. Just recently, Glodie Mujinga Mulunda (our sponsored scholar and a senior at Yale) stayed with our family over the summer and is a true friend and role model for my kids (our twins just headed off for their first year of college). When they were curious about what classes they should take as they start their own college experiences, it was Glodie who stayed up late with them to start them down a path. We are honored to help support Glodie and all the scholars in our very special Greenhouse family.”
– Steve Monieson, Partner at Trigran Investments

“I give to Greenhouse Scholars because it doesn’t just give money to individuals to go to college but it has mentorship that helps those kids all the way through college and empowers them to be leaders who go on to make differences in communities across the country.”
– Angela Moss, Broker at 8z Real Estate

“I believe in Greenhouse Scholars and support them because the impact they make on the Scholars  in their program can make for a better society and a better world for us all. These kids are going to change the world.”
– Derek Chow, Head of US Intermediary Distribution at Matthews International Capital Management

“I wasn’t really in-the-know about Greenhouse Scholars until I started working there several years ago. When I began, I quickly discovered that I had just joined a passionate team that had the highest standards for integrity, results-based accountability, and professional diligence. In addition, I found that the organization was well run and incredibly efficient. I’m not an employee anymore, but my belief in the Greenhouse Scholars leadership, team, and mission have converted me into a lifelong volunteer and donor.”
– Greg Max, Student at Colorado Law

“I’ve been to many Greenhouse Scholars events and I give to Greenhouse Scholars because I really trust the team and because every time I meet a Scholar I’m genuinely amazed and completely blown away by their motivation, passion, and overall talent.”
– Loren Knaster, Vice President at RMB Capital Management

“I give back to Greenhouse Scholars because this organization is unique in that it doesn’t only provide monetary assistance. The Greenhouse Scholars community provides support, mentorship, and beneficial advice which are important pillars to the foundation of helping under-resourced/first-generation college students succeed throughout their new experiences. Greenhouse Scholars selected me as one of the first seven inaugural Illinois Scholars in 2012 when I didn’t believe wholeheartedly in myself. Through their program components, I was able to gain the leadership and professional development skills needed to build relationships and succeed in my career. Greenhouse Scholars is more than a community to me – it is a family that continuously challenges me to pay it forward and give back whenever and wherever I can.”
– Nick Tarleton, Greenhouse Scholars Alum, Business Process Analyst at Kraft Heinz

“We met some of the scholars and fell in love with the model that Greenhouse Scholars has set up for these kids. We feel it’s a perfect blend of what the students need to succeed and help their communities. My Husband and I got even more involved last year when we decided to Sponsor a Scholar. Tom is now a mentor to a student who is going to be a freshman at Stanford, and we are really excited about what Greenhouse Scholars does and how these kids thrive, learn, grow, and continue to give back to the community.”
– Megan McCleary, Partner at McCleary Group Real Estate

“There is a belief that America is the land of opportunity – that if you work hard every single day, you can succeed. Unfortunately, today this has become just a myth. Socioeconomic mobility in the United States has actually declined over the last few decades. Today, intergenerational earnings elasticity (the degree to which a parents’ socioeconomic circumstances dictate their children’s) has risen to between 0.5 and 0.6. This ranks the US on par with emerging economies like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Pakistan. In contrast, our neighbors to the north score 0.2 – In other words, in the US it is three times harder to come from disadvantaged circumstances and succeed. I know we can do better, which is why I support Greenhouse Scholars.”
– Ted Neild, President and CIO of Gresham Partners

“Zayo gives to Greenhouse Scholars because they are impacting the lives of so many wonderful, underrepresented youth, and giving them hope and opportunities to soar in their futures. It is an amazing partnership and it gives us an opportunity to highlight who we are and give youth an opportunity to have careers in an industry that is booming and flourishing. Greenhouse Scholars is amazing! Thank you for all that you do.”
– Monica Lang, Chief of Staff at Zayo Group