In 2001, we became a chapter of the Minnesota Dollars for Scholars. Dollars for Scholars is part of Scholarship America, one of the largest education foundations in America. They have many partner schools who have agreed to allow our awards to be used to help students with their "unmet needs" as portion of their financial aid packages. Many of these partners offer matching funds in addition to our awards, leveraging the impact of our scholarships.

Association of Colleges in the Twin Cities (ACTC):
In the past eight years over 80% of our awardees have attended post-secondary school in Minnesota. As of 2007, Students who choose to attend one of the Twin Cities colleges in the ACTC (St. Catherine's, St. Thomas, Macalester, Augsburg and Hamline) can have our scholarships matched by these colleges, potentially for all four years!

Corporate Donations:
The following companies have donated funding to our foundation: CitiBank, UBS Financial, 3M, St. Paul Travelers, Wells Fargo, Wal-Mart, Great Clips, Midwest Staffing Group, Highland Bank, GMAC and Bank Cherokee.

How I can donate:
The St. Paul Friend of Youth Foundation is a non-profit organization which is exempt from taxation under section 501 ( c ) 3 of the Internal Revenue Code. All donations to the foundation are fully deductible to the extent of the value of the gift.

We are a 100% volunteer organization with no ongoing administrative costs.
Donations by check should be payable to "The St. Paul Friend of Youth Foundation" and should be mailed to Optimist Club of St. Paul,
PO Box 40065, St. Paul, MN 55104

To donate securities or other assets in lieu of cash, please contact John Tillotson at 651-215-8465 or
by e-mail to  john.h.tillotson@smithbarney.com