Start a Bonner Program
Is your campus interested in intensive and meaningful service in the community? Would your students like to participate in a four-year, service-based scholarship program with dozens of their peers on campus? Would your faculty and staff like to be part of a national network that shares best practices and models across the US?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes, we encourage you to complete the Request for Follow Up below and reach out to Robert Hackett at the Bonner Foundation (rhackett@bonner.org).
Replication is not duplication
The Bonner model is the first service-based scholarship program in the US. Over the past three decades the Bonner Foundation has helped more than 40 colleges and universities — both public and private, including small liberal arts colleges and large research intensive schools — launch their own version of the Bonner Leader Program. Each campus we partner with tailors the program to local conditions and priorities, bringing new ideas and adaptations to our network.
What are your first steps?
The Bonner Foundation has developed a start-up guide that schools can think about as they begin explore this process. We also host an orientation for new and prospective Bonner Program staff in Princeton each summer.
We recommend that representatives interested in the Bonner Program discuss it with other members of their campus community, including senior leadership in academic and student affairs, including the president and provost. In addition, schools should consider what model of service-based scholarship program they can afford.
Community Service Work-Study. The Bonner Program model leverages the work opportunities that schools provide as part of a student’s overall financial aid package. They use Community Service Work-Study, fulfilling the school’s 7% minimum requirement, or institutional work-study funds. The chart below shows a range of options by hourly wage and number of hours served. While the Bonner Program Model demands the most amount of time, other less intensive models are more common.
Combination of Community Service Work-Study & Scholarship Support. Some schools package students with both Federal and/or College Work-Study awards (as shown above) and a service-based scholarship. This combination provides additional financial aid support and motivation for participating students who have to work their way through college.
Service Scholarships — Other schools provide only scholarship support to students engaged in community service. The amount of these service-based scholarships needs to be sufficiently large to replace work requirement for students who need to work their way through college.
To pursue the Bonner Program model, campuses will need to have the following in place:
Federal and/or College Work-Study to pay students who will be doing community-service work 8-10 hours per week for 14 weeks each semester (225-280 hour);
Someone on staff who can coordinate the program, for example managing relationships with local nonprofits where students work and holding weekly meetings with the Bonners for training, education, and reflection.
Transportation is another consideration, since Bonners will be traveling to and from their service sites several times per week. We also ask all schools to attend our annual series of national meetings for staff and students.
We know the Bonner Program model is demanding and that there are other effective models that require fewer hours by students. However, the Bonner Foundation remains committed to seeding intensive, high impact service-based scholarship programs across the country. We welcome conversations with institutions dedicated to offering this type of opportunity to their students.
These two reports from the College of Charleston and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill tell the story of their Bonner Program start-up years.
These two anniversary celebration annual reports from the College of Charleston and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill tell the story of their Bonner Program start-up years.
