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Nonprofit Leadership Podcast
Empowering Students Through Education: How One Nonprofit is Expanding Access for Those Affected by Poverty
00:25:13
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- [00:02]
Dr. Rob Harder
This is Dr. Rob Harder with the Nonprofit Leadership podcast, Making youg World Better. What does it take to be an effective nonprofit leader today? What are the biggest challenges? What are the biggest obstacles? How should nonprofits fundraise in an economy that is constantly changing? All these reasons combined led me to start this show, and it's my hope that through this series, people can learn not only what it takes to be an effective nonprofit organization, but to hear from effective leaders who. Who are successfully making a positive impact in their communities. We hope you enjoy the show as together we hear how they are making their world better. Welcome everybody, to the Nonprofit Leadership Podcast. So glad you're here joining us, I've got a great guest today, Yoon Choi. She's the CEO of College Spring. She's been a nonprofit leader for over 20 years. She's been fiercely dedicated to transforming lives and communities through education specifically, and as the CEO of College Spring. College Spring is a nonprofit organization that really primarily focuses on serving underrepresented youth by providing accessible, inclusive test preparation for those who are seeking to go to college. It's going to be a fascinating conversation. It's really interesting what they're trying to provide, and particularly with the changing landscape and standardized testing. She's had a bit of a challenge right as anybody in that industry would with all the changes, and yet she's done a great job leading that organization through all those changes, particularly post Covid. So I think you're going to really enjoy listening to Yoon, as always. Thanks for tuning in. Now, onto the show. This podcast is sponsored by DonorBox, helping you help others with the best donation forms in the business. Well, Yoon, thanks so much for being on the show again today. So glad to have you.
- [01:47]
Yoon Choi
Oh, thanks, Rob. I'm happy to be here.
- [01:50]
Dr. Rob Harder
Now, your work with College Spring, it really focuses on increasing access to education and improving test preparation for students impacted by poverty. What motivated you to lead this movement in the first place, and what are some of the key challenges you've seen firsthand?
- [02:04]
Yoon Choi
Yeah, well, I can't say that it was necessarily a personal passion or love for Tess, or my stellar performance on them as a student, for that matter. You know, most people don't like tests or they aren't great at them, but that doesn't mean you can't improve on them or that they're not important. In fact, I believe the opposite is true. Whether we like it or not, Tess are something that we can't avoid in our education and to some extent, the our workforce system. The systems are designed to unlock greater rewards or mobility if you do well on them. So from that vantage point, for me, the motivation to work in an area that was likely going to advance opportunities for students who need them most in a very pragmatic way at that, was what drew me to lead this movement, if you will. But like you sort of intimated in your question, it hasn't been without some challenges. I think that people's perceptions of the test or tests and limited information about the ever changing policies and requirements have frankly been harmful to the students who stand to benefit from being prepared for them. For example, there is a broad view that if a school, a college is test optional, then test scores don't matter. And while it's true that you may not need an SAT or an ACT score to gain acceptance into a school to major in certain fields, you might, or to gain a scholarship, you might, you might also be evaluated against another applicant who does choose to submit a test score. And now you might need them to enter a community college to pass out of remediation and begin credit bearing courses right away. Certificates for higher paying jobs also require tests. So this pervasive idea that tests no longer matter does our students a disservice. And I'll, I'll be the first to say that tests are not the only thing that matters. But excuse me, having an a solid test score in hand is a tool. It's a competitive advantage that communities with access to, to more information and wealth have certainly been able to leverage. And let's not forget, the act of studying for tests at the end of the day is the act of reinforcing core knowledge like math and English. And that's all a journey towards building confidence.
- [04:41]
Dr. Rob Harder
Well, I've learned that your organization really emphasizes building life skills like goal setting and resilience in students. Can you share some of the examples of how these skills have really helped students transform their outlook on education in life?
- [04:54]
Yoon Choi
Yeah, well, improving performance on anything, whether it is running a faster mile, training for a marathon, going from a season, a C in calculus to a B, they all have one final outcome in common and, and that's confidence. Because the process of all of those things is similar too, right? You set goals, you keep going until you reach them, you ask for help when you need it, and, and you focus on the areas where you need to do more. So at the end of the journey, you look back with pride and say, wow, I didn't think I was going to be able to get this far, but I did it. So the student in the college spring program who has achieved 100 points higher on the SAT score isn't simply thinking, you know, wow, I'm a great test taker now. They're thinking, you know, I know what to do to reach my goals. I can overcome obstacles. Maybe I can dream bigger. You know, I'm thinking of one student. Her name is Giselle. She talks about how taking tests is something she believes she's going to encounter throughout her entire life. And she doesn't think College Spring helped her with just one test. It prepared her for a broader road ahead for her. She had always thought that being a teacher or going into education was going to be her career path. But with a higher score, she started thinking, well, maybe I can do more than this one track or a student. Stephanie, she always wanted to be a criminal defense attorney, and now she feels like she has a score that can get her into a more competitive cop college and therefore maybe a better law school. So, you know, I think college spring allows kids to have more options, think about new possibilities for themselves, and, you know, hopefully carry some of those newfound skills into other aspects of. Of life now.
- [06:51]
Dr. Rob Harder
Well said. And, you know, the theme of the American dream in quotes continues to come up in discussions, right, about education. Now, from your perspective, you know, how do you see students creating their own version of this dream through their academic journeys?
- [07:04]
Yoon Choi
Yeah, I think the American dream, at least as we've come to know it today, is the dream that in this country, no matter your origins, anyone can achieve success and prosperity through hard work. And I think there are echoes of that American dream in what Giselle and Stephanie experienced through their time with College Spring. They began with goals they put in the work, and as a result, they have more open doors to walk through. Whether that's Giselle wanting to explore more and different career paths or Stephanie being able to access more colleges. So this idea that they have different paths from their families, from the original trajectory, that is the American dream. And they're still so young, they're just high school graduates soon, and it's only just the beginning. So success, as you know, it builds upon itself. So hopefully we've helped them establish a pattern of aiming high, accessing new opportunities in pursuit of a. Of a fruitful career and life.
- [08:09]
Dr. Rob Harder
Okay, let's talk about something we don't normally talk about on the show very often, actually, but it's about mergers and acquisitions, and specifically in the nonprofit sector. In fact, I think when we think about mergers and acquisitions, we always think of the for profit world, right, the startup community. But this is a topic I've seen that is growing even more since COVID specifically. Just a lot of nonprofits have really struggled to sustain their nonprofit organization coming out of COVID So you've been involved with things along these lines. And so from your experience, what are some of the key barriers to scaling nonprofits, and how can partnerships help organization really overcome these challenges?
- [08:46]
Yoon Choi
Yeah, you know, this is actually one of my favorite things to talk about, and I've spent a lot of time recently thinking about this, you know, starting with the barriers or the challenges to scale that you asked about. I think there are several factors that make it challenging for nonprofits to scale, and they're all somewhat related. But one that's inevitable for any nonprofit leader at least one point in time, is limited funding. And the reality is it takes funds to make funds, whether that is investing in a strong development team, marketing resources, hiring top talent. And if you look across nonprofits that are looking to scale, there's a lot of redundancy. We're all searching for or paying for the infrastructure I just mentioned, we're likely in the same cities or neighborhoods, neighborhoods running similar or adjacent programs, and we're going after the same funders. And all of us are going to tell you it's hard raising money in one year, but then that hill gets steeper year after year, especially as you've grown your program and your teams. And so I think it's a really good thing for the sector to take a step back and ask how we can make things more efficient, sustainable, and impactful beyond just doing it within hours. Our own organization, I think every leader does, over time, make things more efficient and sustainable, but that doesn't make the broader problem any easier. So I think for College Spring, I always wanted our organization to be the best at one thing and one thing only, because no single organization can be the best at everything. We were not going to be experts in test prep and college applications and financial aid. There were other organizations, frankly, that were. Were better than us at doing that. Right. So I wanted our core competency, which is preparation on these gateway tests, to be unrivaled from an impact perspective, which means we couldn't do some of the other things. But also I wanted to be able to plug into an already existing ecosystem and provide something of real value to other organizations. So while most of our work is with schools and districts, we did forge partnerships with other national college access organizations like College Track and let's Get Ready, which has been great because that takes away the time we spend trying to find those students and then it increases impact if we're working together. So that's one example. But I think partnerships are great, but more formal mergers, in my opinion should be actively pursued and supported in our space. There have been a couple of notable examples, at least in the college access arena, and I'm constantly in inspired and looking to learn more from them. But I think we have a long way to go in our sector because we just lack the financial incentives that the for profit sector has. And for many of us the work we do is so personal. And you know, it would take a transition in leadership or some duress to motivate leaders in the space to then switch to something very transactional. So that's just my take.
- [12:16]
Dr. Rob Harder
We'll be right back. Are you looking for an easy and effective way to boost your nonprofit's donations? Well, look no further than DonorBox, the online fundraising platform that streamlines your fundraising efforts, maximizes donations, and simplifies giving for your supporters. With Donorbox, you can create beautiful donation forms, accept digital wallet payments, track donations, and send auto receipts. And the best part? There are no setup or monthly fees and no long term contracts required. So what are you waiting for? Visit donorbox.org today to get started. That is www.donorbox.org hey friends, thanks so much for listening to the Nonprofit Leadership Podcast. Many of you know that I provide leadership and life coaching. With my 30 years of nonprofit experience, I know firsthand how hard leaders like you work. I also know how important it is to have someone you can call on and to get help with the barriers and leadership challenges you will face, both professional I really want to help people thrive and become all they were meant to become by providing coaching and consulting services. And it's been so much fun working as a coach, working with clients who are leaders just like you, looking to grow personally and professionally. What you may not know is that I also provide consulting services. Currently. In fact, I'm working with an organization to help them create a clear strategy and plan to raise $3.5 million to expand their organization. So perhaps you're an executive director and you sense your organization has hit a lid on growth and you need a strategy as to how you can scale your nonprofit. Or perhaps the culture you set out to create is not the culture you have currently and it's impacting your staff retention. Or maybe you're facing a major resource challenge and you don't know what to do. That's where I can help. I come alongside leaders and organizations to create strategies to grow their organizations and maximize their Impact. If your nonprofit needs help with fundraising strategy or operational effectiveness, reach out today. You can simply email me@robharder.com you can go to my website, robharter.com or you can call me 435-776-5173. I would be happy to provide a free sample coaching session or a consult to see how I can best be of help to you and your organization. Well, thanks again for listening. Now back to the show. Well, I've learned that College Spring has been working for over 15 years now to improve college and career readiness. So how have you seen the landscape of college admissions evolve, especially in light of the changes to standardized testing?
- [14:55]
Yoon Choi
Yeah, Well, I think stepping back a bit from college admissions alone, I think the most notable evolution to date, at least in the time that I've been here, has been a more active debate about whether or not a college degree is even worth it. Right. We have the rising cost of college, you know, how competitive it is to actually get in, you know, high unemployment. So a lot of people simply don't put the same importance on college as they used to. And I think the changes to standardized testing are linked to that. So what we're seeing is that the schools that require tests or maybe make them optional are still the more competitive ones to get into. And the students that are qualified via a better test score and the resources to access these schools, you know, they're going to go that route, the selective colleges. I worry that the students that feel less academically prepared or even motivated, that they're going to take the path of least resistance, and that'll create an even bigger gap between students who have college degrees, those that do not. And while there are always exceptions, research consistently shows us that a college degree has significant value. They earn higher salaries, they experience lower unemployment rates, and overall have better career prospects. So, you know, we're still in the college, you know, prep camp. It doesn't have to be maybe the first thing you do. It's not the only thing that will lead to a prosperous life. But if we can get more college students academically prepared, prepared for that track, prepared via testing, then I'm all for it. That's what we're gonna do.
- [16:47]
Dr. Rob Harder
Well, staying on that same topic of standardized testing, you know, as the admissions landscape changes, how are you adapting College Spring's approach to ensure that students still remain competitive and prepared for whatever challenges lie ahead? What have you seen so far?
- [17:00]
Yoon Choi
Yeah, you know, we've long placed the bet that testing will always be a part of the admissions and career Landscape. And our approach has been to double down and, and continue prep work, but try to be better and bolder at it. So now, and this is different from when we first started in 2008, we're now working with students as early as the ninth grade. We're partnering with larger school districts that serve thousands or tens of thousands of students, and we're trying to serve as as many students in as many states as possible. Meaning we're on a mission to grow, you know, landscapes, whether those are in admissions or society writ large, they're always going to change. That's what landscapes do. Right. But one thing that will not change is that by the time kids graduate high school, they should have a firm foundation in reading and math. And by preparing kids for these exams, guess what? They're all being tested on reading, math, these core subjects. We're ensuring that they're competitive for whatever path they choose after high school period. So we're doing that foundation building work. We're sort of keeping our eye on the ball and just staying very focused and steadfast on what we do.
- [18:18]
Dr. Rob Harder
Well, I'm glad you mentioned that, because in your view, what are the most important factors when it comes to ensuring long term sustainability for mission driven nonprofits like College Spring? Particularly as it relates to fundraising? Because that's really a big issue.
- [18:31]
Yoon Choi
Yeah. Well, our program is free of charge to students, so we have a goal to, as an organization, raise earned revenue. So when partnering with a district or school or school, we ask for a fee and when they are not able to provide it, philanthropy comes in and covers it. So we're however, targeting districts and schools that serve a majority population of low income students. So technically, the students that we know cannot afford a program or test prep outside of, you know, free online resources. And then our next step is we work with schools and districts so that we can serve entire classes. In other words, our program model, our goal, we're designed to serve all students in a high poverty school district, not just a select group of students. And then from there we embed our program in math and English classes for students as early as ninth grade. And we train their classroom teachers to deliver our curriculum and provide our program. So our goal is to not just be a one off program, an after school program. We're trying to embed ourselves in the system for as long a period of time so that we're seeping into the culture and taking as much time as possible to make sure students and teachers are prepared.
- [20:03]
Dr. Rob Harder
Well, certainly, as you mentioned already, your organization helps students succeed on college and career readiness assessments. So I'm curious, you know, your approach on this. How do you balance the need for academic rigor with ensuring at the same time that the process remains inclusive and accessible to all students, especially those who are facing financial barriers?
- [20:22]
Yoon Choi
I would love to be in every state. I do believe that if we can really provide a proof point that this works in metro areas, in rural areas, in big states and small states, then we can really scale it across the US So that really is the ultimate goal for us. You know, we. The digital sat. I'm not sure you aware it's a brand new program. So we're in the process of piloting it in more places, getting more impact data so that we can then take it to other states. But yes, ultimately our goal is to grow. We will never charge a student ever, ever, ever. But we want our value proposition to educators, to districts to be so strong that, that, you know, without college spring, they'll be missing out.
- [21:11]
Dr. Rob Harder
Okay, so this is a nonprofit leadership podcast. So what advice would you have for young leaders in particular that are maybe listening to this podcast? They're really wanting to make a difference in their own nonprofit. Maybe they're not the executive director, but they're on staff and they really want to grow as a leader. What is some of the advice you'd want to pass on to those young leaders? How to grow as a nonprofit leader?
- [21:30]
Yoon Choi
Yeah, I think the non profit space is actually the perfect place for young leaders to learn and explore different career tracks and, and gain experience to emerge as a leader. Lots of nonprofits are small and nimble enough to allow for exposure to different aspects of the work on a daily basis. Our program teams are working with our development teams, our development teams are working with our finance and operations team. So there are lots of opportunities for cross collaboration and learning, observing different leaders. And in a sector that, that's always looking for more help, people rarely ignore the person who raises their hand and says, I want to learn more and do more. So I think my best piece of advice would be to, you know, be as curious and proactive in your own learning as possible. Expose yourself to all different departments and activities that drive the work that nonprofits do, and it'll just be the best playground for you on your career path. At the end of the day, I think really what drives me and keeps me in the nonprofit sector is if you're somebody who's ambitious for social change and you really care about the social impact you're making day to day on people's lives. I do feel like this is the space for you. And I think there's something everything I said about, you know, the hardship of trying to raise money or, you know, all the reasons why people leave the nonprofit space, those are all true and real things. But there is a sense of deep satisfaction and accomplishment when you've sort of gone through the trenches with your small and mighty team. When you know that a student's life has been impacted like a Giselle or a Stephanie, like I can see their faces in my mind. And that is extremely rewarding and kind of building off of what I just said. I if you're a curious person, if you are constantly looking to learn more in an ever changing policy landscape or education landscape, it's really fulfilling.
- [23:43]
Dr. Rob Harder
All right, well, thanks again for all that you share today. How can people find out more about your work and college Spring?
- [23:50]
Yoon Choi
Oh, please check out our website. It is collegespring.org you can learn about our program model where we're serving, and actually hear from Giselle or Stephanie yourself in video clips. And I'd love to connect with your listeners via LinkedIn as well at Yunschoi. You can find me on LinkedIn.
- [24:09]
Dr. Rob Harder
Once again, Yoon, thanks so much for joining us on the show. Thanks for all you're doing to really provide access for college students, or I should say people that are wanting to get into college, particularly those who are underserved and maybe wouldn't have the opportunity otherwise. So thanks for what you're doing to invest in the next generation.
- [24:25]
Yoon Choi
Thank you so much, Rob.
- [24:28]
Dr. Rob Harder
Hey friends. Well, I wanted you to know that this podcast can be found on I iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, Google Podcasts and wherever you listen to other podcasts. I also want to encourage you to like subscribe and share this podcast with others. This will actually help us get this great content out to more nonprofit leaders just like you. You can also join the Nonprofit Leadership Podcast community, find other resources and interviews of past guests, all on my website, Nonprofit Leadership Podcast. Well, thanks again for listening and until next time, keep making your world better. This podcast is sponsored by DonorBox DonorBox, helping you help others with the best donation forms in the business.