Funding Student Success: Project Grants From University Advancement

If you had $10,000 to make a change to your college campus for student success, how would you apply the funding? That’s the question Wright State University community members are presented with each spring in the application for the Students First Fund.

The fund, managed by the Wright State University Foundation, distributes funds annually to individuals or groups who want to make an impact in student success work—including student thriving, retention and graduation. Projects over the past seven years have targeted student mental health and well-being, academic achievement or sense of belonging, as well as equipment needed for campus activities.

The impetus for the initiative is to foster a campus culture of innovation for student success at the Ohio public research institution, truly placing students at the start of new ideas and putting money behind it.

The fund: The Students First Fund began in 2019 as the brainchild of the Wright State Foundation board, says Bill Shepard, vice president for advancement, as a way to enhance student success.

Any student, faculty or staff member at Wright State is eligible to apply for the Students First Fund. In their application, community members complete a budget worksheet and answer questions including the challenge addressed by the project, students served and measures of effectiveness.

The ideal project is a unique approach to assisting students as they progress toward completion that is self-sustaining within two years.

Projects are evaluated on the number of students who will be impacted and initiatives that make a difference in the lives of students, as well as does the project align with university goals including recruitment, retention and relationships, according to the application.

The Wright State University Foundation Board of Trustees reviews applications each spring and awards funding to recipients that summer. The maximum award is $10,000, with a total of $50,000 distributed each year, and anywhere between 11 and 15 recipients get selected, depending on the funds requested, Shepard says.

What makes it work: The project serves as an incubator for student success, fostering problem-solving solutions in a grassroots manner that is supported by top-down leadership.

The initiative is widespread on campus, with dozens of grant applications each year from various campus partners. Shepard estimates around one-third of the applications are from individual students or student organizations.

Funded projects have also been maintained over the past six years and many have grown and scaled, due in part to the institutional buy-in for student success.

“We’re trying to still provide that institutional infrastructure that the great ideas of the students don’t just impact their class, but they’re also impacting the institution long term, and I think that’s really where the role of administration comes in,” says Amelia Salazar, vice president of student success.

Outside partners or donors have added their own support for seed-funded projects to scale efforts, as well.

“I’ve even had great success of students who will benefit from a program, graduate, and then be the alumni donor that goes back and gives to that same exact program,” Salazar says.

The impact: Since launching in 2019, the program has awarded almost $300,000 in grants to various projects.

In 2024, of the 29 applications, nine projects received funding with awards ranging from $500 to $9,200 each. Initiatives for this award year included a premed boot camp for Wright State students, mental health first aid training for employees and résumé-building experiences at the Lake campus.

In 2019, the Department of Theatre, Dance and Motion Pictures launched an initiative to refurbish six pianos and purchase a new instrument to benefit around 200 students who use the pianos for classes, singing lessons, rehearsals and performances. The Students First Fund awarded the department $6,000 for this goal, and department staff acquired an additional $6,000 in donations and student fees to accomplish their goal.

Another purchase from the fund was a 300-pound seal of Wright State that was installed on the Dayton campus. Students realized that few on campus were aware of the university’s seal, and having it in a prominent place would assist in feelings of pride and school spirit.

More recently, the university allocated $9,200 to provide faculty and staff with mental health first aid training, a new requirement based on student data.

A group of students also asked for funding for their esports program, which first started as a handful of learners meeting to compete in an engineering classroom and evolved into the team winning competitions in a dedicated arena in the Student Union, which is featured in every campus tour. In 2021, the club applied funding to host larger and more frequent events and has seen upward of 500 members in the club to date, Shepard says. An outside company has also sponsored the club, helping fund equipment upkeep and invest in the sustainability of the program.

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