How To Start a Scholarship Program
For a successful scholarship launch, follow these key steps:
- Define Your Purpose and Goals
Clarify what you want to achieve, whether it’s supporting future talent, giving back to your community or advancing your workplace equity or CSR strategy. - Establish Clear Eligibility and Selection Criteria
Set guidelines that align with your mission and ensure a fair, inclusive process for applicants. - Plan for Program Administration and Compliance
Running a scholarship involves more than funding; it requires application management, secure data handling, fund disbursement and regulatory compliance.
Launch Your Scholarship Program With Confidence
For 40 years, ISTS has been one of the most trusted scholarship management companies in the United States. Whether you’re just getting started or looking to scale your scholarship program, we provide everything you need to run a successful, compliant and high-impact initiative.
With ISTS, you get:
- Full-service scholarship management
- Custom solutions for application management
- Transparent fund disbursement and detailed reporting
We support your program from start to finish:
Strategic Program Design
We partner with you to define program goals, build eligibility criteria and establish policies that reflect your values, target audience and business objectives.
Professional Program Setup
Our team handles the operational details that make your scholarship program launch smoothly. We configure your program using proven processes trusted by 300+ organizations.
Full-Service Approach
Our intuitive scholarship management system streamlines the user experience and reduces administrative effort. Collect, organize and manage applications with ease and security.
Efficient Selection & Disbursement
We verify applicant information and manage fund disbursement all while maintaining transparency and data integrity. Track everything through our client portal.
Ongoing Support & Compliance
Our scholarship management information system ensures compliance every step of the way with real-time reporting, secure data handling and a dedicated support team.
Corporate-Ready Solutions
Whether your goals are tied to HR, workplace equity or CSR, our experience in corporate scholarship management helps you build a program that reinforces your brand and delivers measurable impact.
What our clients love about working with ISTS:
“ISTS and their Program Team do an incredible job supporting our scholarship program. We can always count on the administration to be reliable and if an issue arises, we are informed promptly and offered recommended solutions to resolve the matter. The partnership is so very appreciated!”
“ISTS is extremely welcoming. The relationship that I have developed with ISTS is like an extended family, which makes the partnership invaluable.”
“ISTS […] takes all of the guess work out of managing our scholarship and communications. Our scholarship administrator provides detailed timelines and checks in regularly with reminders of upcoming deadlines. The team is very responsive to any questions I raise and provides quick support to scholarship applicants as well.”
“The services provided by ISTS makes offering a scholarship program easy. The customer service is best in class. We are a proud partner of ISTS.”
Join 300+ HR and CSR Leaders Driving Impact Through Smarter Scholarship Program Management.
Whether you’re launching a new program or improving an existing one, ISTS provides trusted scholarship program management services that save time, ensure compliance and deliver measurable results.
Reach out to learn more →