FUTURE Foundation of Sacramento transforms lives by empowering students to attend and graduate from college. This nonprofit provides scholarships to high-achieving students from at-risk backgrounds who are first-in-family to attend college. FUTURE Foundation awards scholarships up to $5,000 per year, totaling $25,000 per student over a five-year period. Depending on fundraising, four or five students are selected as scholarship recipients each year from the Greater Sacramento area. 

Launched in 2010, FUTURE’s impact since inception includes 156 annual scholarship awards distributed, $780,000 of scholarship funding to local students and $2.9 million in financial aid grants and other scholarships accessed by award recipients. Success is evidenced by a 97% college graduation rate by FUTURE scholarship students. 

“Our scholarship recipients don’t have the advantage of any college experience in their families, so the application process can be daunting,” says Vice President Robert Luke. “That’s where we step in and guide them, teaching them how to fill out college applications and FAFSA forms, how to provide their financial information, what to emphasize in their essays and more.”

Mentorship is at the core of FUTURE’s structure, and each scholarship student is paired with a mentor through high school and college. If a student has a chosen course of study, every effort is made to find a mentor with professional experience in that field. “Our mentors act as inspirational guides for these students,” says Luke. “Not every student knows which path to follow yet, but 75% of them do and we try to align them with mentors who can give real-life perspective and expertise in their chosen subject.”

One FUTURE student success story recently came full circle. Manh Huynh was a FUTURE scholarship recipient who graduated from San Juan High School in 2015 and went on to earn an engineering degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Now an engineer managing the construction of large offices buildings and hospitals, he has taken a seat on the FUTURE board, giving back to the organization and lending a helping hand to students today. 

“It’s so important that the community understands how we are transforming lives by giving hope and education to those who otherwise might not have access to it,” says Luke. “These top students, with the grades and the drive to succeed, just need some guidance and funding. Through contributions, individuals and businesses not only help these students to achieve their full potential, but also build a foundation of success for others in the students’ families. Younger siblings and future children of these scholarship recipients are far more likely to pursue and succeed in college as well.”

Fundraising is critical to empowering these students. FUTURE’s cornerstone fundraising event is Fairway to the Future, an annual celebrity golf tournament that brings local golfers together with renowned sports luminaries including professional ball players, prizefighters and other athletes. The 2024 tournament was the largest yet, with nearly 150 golfers from throughout the region and 20 celebrities. 

Sacramento native Jerry Royster, a former Major League baseball player and manager, has been the face of this star-studded event for the past two years and has helped bring other sports standouts on board — many of them in the Sacramento Sports Hall of Fame. Participants have included Dusty Baker, Bill Cartwright, Jerry Manuel, Loreto “WBA Champion” Garza and Rowland Office, among many others. In 2025, Fairway to the Future will expand to a two-day event with a meet-and-greet on day one and the tournament the following day to be held at Catta Verdera Country Club on Sept. 28 and 29. 

FUTURE Foundation also welcomes everyone to the Braxton Cook Quintet jazz performance at the UC Davis Mondavi Center on Feb. 8, 2025. This acclaimed saxophonist-singer-songwriter has toured the U.S, Europe and Asia, and now brings his unique sound to the Sacramento area. Ticket proceeds go directly to FUTURE Foundation scholarships and programs. 

To support and learn more about FUTURE Foundation’s mission at any time of year, please visit futurefoundationsacramento.org.