National Rainbow College Fund

Volunteer to Support LGBTQ+ Scholarships

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Volunteer

as a scholarship evaluator.

Shape a brighter, more inclusive future.
Volunteer scholarship evaluators make a direct impact on the lives of LGBTQ+ students. As an evaluator, you will help review scholarship applications and play a crucial role in selecting deserving recipients.
Sub­mit Vol­un­teer Form

Why

volunteer?

Support educational equity.

Help us pro­vide oppor­tu­ni­ties for LGBTQ+ stu­dents to achieve their edu­ca­tion­al goals.

Give back to the community.

Use your skills to make a mean­ing­ful dif­fer­ence in the lives of young peo­ple.

Be part of a supportive team.

Join a net­work of pas­sion­ate indi­vid­u­als ded­i­cat­ed to fos­ter­ing inclu­siv­i­ty and diver­si­ty in edu­ca­tion.

Sub­mit Vol­un­teer Form

What

you’ll do

Review applications.

Assess schol­ar­ship appli­ca­tions based on set cri­te­ria, includ­ing finan­cial need, per­son­al state­ments, and aca­d­e­m­ic achieve­ments.

Provide feedback.

Offer con­struc­tive feed­back to appli­cants to help them improve their appli­ca­tions and future prospects.

Maintain confidentiality.

Ensure all appli­cant infor­ma­tion is han­dled with the utmost pri­va­cy and respect. Appli­cant names and iden­ti­fy­ing infor­ma­tion are masked from vol­un­teers dur­ing this review process.

This video pro­vides an overview of the schol­ar­ship eval­u­a­tion process for vol­un­teers, high­light­ing how to fair­ly assess appli­cants’ essays, per­son­al sto­ries, and achieve­ments while main­tain­ing pri­va­cy and min­i­miz­ing bias. 

National Rainbow College Fund Application 2025 – 2026
Evaluation

If you are a Schol­ar­ship Eval­u­a­tor, please click here to log in and access your appli­ca­tions.

Eval­u­ate Your Appli­ca­tions

Join our Scholarship Evaluator Team

Inter­est­ed in a hands-on vol­un­teer oppor­tu­ni­ty to read, eval­u­ate and make schol­ar­ship deci­sions for our local San Diego Coun­ty stu­dents?

Then you may be a great fit as a schol­ar­ship appli­ca­tion eval­u­a­tor with the San Diego Foun­da­tion Com­mu­ni­ty Schol­ar­ship Pro­gram!

With near­ly 140 schol­ar­ship funds, 3,000 appli­cants and more than 900 recip­i­ents annu­al­ly, we rely on our eval­u­a­tors to make informed and thought­ful award deci­sions. We are inspired by the com­mit­ment our eval­u­a­tors have made to stu­dents and are excit­ed to work togeth­er to award a record amount of schol­ar­ships each year.

Timeline

  • Jan­u­ary 15, 2025: Com­mon Schol­ar­ship Appli­ca­tion Opens
  • March 5, 2025 at 2:00 P.M: Com­mon Schol­ar­ship Appli­ca­tion Clos­es
  • March-April 2025: Foun­da­tion staff qual­i­fies appli­ca­tions
  • April 2025: Schol­ar­ship Appli­ca­tion Eval­u­a­tor train­ing and assign­ments begin
  • April-May 2025: Appli­ca­tion Eval­u­a­tors read and score appli­ca­tions online
  • June 2025: All stu­dents are noti­fied of award

Responsibility

The schol­ar­ship selec­tion process runs from Jan­u­ary to mid-May. Schol­ar­ship eval­u­a­tors are typ­i­cal­ly respon­si­ble for:

  • Review­ing and scor­ing appli­ca­tions online
  • Attend­ing in-per­son or remote inter­views with appli­cants

Scor­ing appli­ca­tions will take an aver­age of 1–2 hours per pool. Each pool has an aver­age range of 10 – 20 appli­ca­tions, though some may be larg­er or small­er. Eval­u­a­tors may sign up to score as many pools as their sched­ule per­mits.

FAFSA Changes

To apply, stu­dents must com­plete the FAFSA or CA Dream Act Appli­ca­tion. If stu­dents can’t com­plete either, they must use the Fed­er­al Stu­dent Aid Esti­ma­tor Tool at studentaid.gov/aid-estimator, com­plete the Esti­mat­ed SAI page and sub­mit it. Stu­dents are also encour­aged to share details about their finan­cial sit­u­a­tion in the “Oth­er Finan­cial Cir­cum­stances” sec­tion of the appli­ca­tion. If extreme finan­cial chal­lenges pre­vent stu­dents from doing any of the above, they can explain their sit­u­a­tion in the same sec­tion. If they are eli­gi­ble, we may request more infor­ma­tion for clar­i­fi­ca­tion.

We will cov­er the FAFSA in more detail when we host our eval­u­a­tor train­ings in ear­ly April and will announce dates when they are con­firmed.

 

Frequently asked

questions

What are the responsibilities of a volunteer evaluator?

Vol­un­teer eval­u­a­tors review schol­ar­ship appli­ca­tions, assess them based on set cri­te­ria, and pro­vide con­struc­tive feed­back to appli­cants.

How much time is required to volunteer as an evaluator?

The time com­mit­ment is flex­i­ble and depends on the num­ber of appli­ca­tions you choose to review. Most eval­u­a­tions take place between April and May each year.

Do I need any specific qualifications to become a volunteer evaluator?

While no spe­cif­ic qual­i­fi­ca­tions are required, expe­ri­ence in edu­ca­tion, coun­sel­ing or relat­ed fields is ben­e­fi­cial. Train­ing will be pro­vid­ed.

How will I receive training and support?

Com­pre­hen­sive train­ing is pro­vid­ed through vir­tu­al ses­sions, and ongo­ing sup­port is avail­able from the NRCF team.

Can I volunteer remotely?

Yes. Most eval­u­a­tions can be com­plet­ed remote­ly, allow­ing you to vol­un­teer from the com­fort of your own home.

Is there a confidentiality agreement for evaluators?

Yes. All vol­un­teer eval­u­a­tors must sign a con­fi­den­tial­i­ty agree­ment to ensure the pri­va­cy and secu­ri­ty of appli­cant infor­ma­tion.

How do I apply to become a volunteer evaluator?

Fill out the Vol­un­teer Appli­ca­tion Form. Our team will con­tact you for next steps.

Volunteer to be a Scholarship Evaluator

Still have ques­tions? Con­tact us and we will be hap­py to help!

Email Roge­lio Espinoza

He/him/his
Man­ag­er, Nation­al Rain­bow Col­lege Fund

Call us

(619) 814‑1366

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