Press Release

College Possible is pleased to announce an extraordinary new long-term funding commitment of $20 million from Ballmer Group in Bellevue, WA. This gift is the largest in the history of College Possible, recognizing our strong student outcomes; our successful, time-tested flagship programming; promising plans for transformational growth; data-driven approaches and focus on evaluation; and the strength of our financial management, fundraising and reputation-building efforts.

“With strong leadership leveraging an evolving business model across multiple regions, College Possible is well-positioned to scale their impact quickly and efficiently to help more low-income students,” said Tonya Dressel, executive director of Ballmer Group. “We are proud to support College Possible’s work to close the degree divide and break the cycle of intergenerational poverty.”

This generous gift will allow College Possible to serve low-income students in key areas:

• Fast-tracking the development of Catalyze, a new capacity-building program piloted in 2016. Through Catalyze, College Possible provides tools and training to colleges and universities that allow them to coach and mentor more low-income students on their campuses. This initiative has the potential to serve an additional 2 million low-income students over the next five years.
• Building capacity and service potential in our two youngest sites in Chicago and Philadelphia. This investment of capital gives College Possible to opportunity to add a significant number of near-peer coaches in high schools and colleges in these areas.

“Gifts like this are extremely rare,” said Jim McCorkell, College Possible CEO and founder. “They are what every nonprofit dreams of receiving. It is not only a validation of our coaching model and approach, but more importantly, is a testament to the hard work, dedication and persistence of the Leadership Team and coaches who have served College Possible over the last 17 years, as well as the leadership of the national and site boards. This is a great day for low-income students across America.”

About Ballmer Group:
Ballmer Group supports efforts to improve economic mobility for children and families in the United States who are disproportionately likely to remain in poverty. They envision a country where every child, regardless of background and circumstance, has an equal chance to achieve the American Dream.

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College Possible is making college admission and success possible for low-income students through an intensive curriculum of coaching and support. College Possible operates in Minnesota, Milwaukee, Omaha, Portland, Philadelphia and Chicago.