Say Yes to Education

Say Yes to Education ceased operations as of July 30, 2021. Four of the six chapters transitioned to self-sustaining organizations, ³ relying on donors such as  American Institutes for Research, Ford Foundation, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Winnick Family Foundation, ⁴ JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Network for Good, ⁵ and the George Gund Foundation. ⁶

Background

Say Yes to Education (Say Yes) was a nonprofit organization with a goal of increasing high school and college graduation rates for inner-city youth. ⁷ It was founded in 1987 by hedge fund manager and philanthropist George Weiss when he promised 112 fifth graders at poverty-stricken West Belmont Elementary School in Philadelphia that he would pay for their college education if they graduated from high school. ⁸

Several colleges and universities partnered with Say Yes to provide scholarships to eligible students including George Washington University, ⁹ Yale University, ¹⁰ and Notre Dame. ¹¹

Say Yes was organized around local chapters and operated in the northeastern United States. Over time, Say Yes to Education’s commitments became unsustainable. Its tax return for the period ending June 30, 2019 reported a loss of almost $9 million and the prior year reported a loss of almost $12.5 million. ¹²

As of July 30, 2021, the national Say Yes to Education, Inc. was dissolved. Say Yes Syracuse, Say Yes Buffalo, shift_ed (previously Say Yes Guilford), and Say Yes! Cleveland remains as independent organizations. ³

Chapters

Say Yes Syracuse was launched in 2008. Ahmeed Turner is executive director of Say Yes Syracuse. ¹ In addition to Say Yes Foundation, donors include American Institutes for Research, Ford Foundation, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, and Winnick Family Foundation. ⁴ Say Yes Syracuse was transitioned to an independent organization in November 2020. ³

Say Yes Buffalo was launched in 2011 to support students in Buffalo, New York. David Rust is CEO. Donors to Say Yes Buffalo include Google Foundation, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, and Network for Good. ¹³ Buffalo became independent and fully operational as of July 2020. ³

Say Yes Guilford was launched in 2015 and was managed by the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro from 2018 to 2022. ¹⁴ Effective August 2022 it was renamed to shift_ed and continues to support students and families with services and scholarships. shift_ed president and CEO is Wendy Poteat. ¹⁵ Donors include the Walton Family Foundation and Z Smith Reynolds Foundation. ^{16 17}

Say Yes! Cleveland launched in January 2019 as the fourth community chapter of Say Yes to Education, which provided startup experience and funding. Diane Downing is executive director. ¹⁸ Donations to Say Yes! Cleveland are funneled through the Cleveland Foundation. Donors include the George Gund Foundation, the Cleveland Foundation, and Agnes Gund. ⁶ Fiscal responsibility for Cleveland was transitioned from Say Yes to Education to Cleveland Foundation as of July 2021. ³

The original Harlem and Hartford chapters transitioned into Say Yes Buffalo in June 2021. ³

Financials

The tax return for the fiscal year ending June 2021 showed revenues of $7,124,455 and expenses of $11,993,230. Net assets were listed as $2,727,156. ¹⁹ This was the last full year of operation for the national Say Yes to Education organization. 2021 donors to Say Yes included the Education Trust, Schwab Charitable Fund, Jewish Communal Fund, and Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund. ²

The tax return for the fiscal year ending June 2022 showed revenues of $425,294 and expenses of $598,178. Net assets were listed as $4,471,085. ²⁰

A final tax return for the period ending January 25, 2023, showed negative revenue and expenses of $4,471,071. ²¹ Of this amount, $4,465,527 was a final dissolution distribution of Say Yes to Education to the Weiss Family Foundation. ²²

Since 2008, American Institutes for Research was a pro bono investment partner of Say Yes, providing research, evaluation, and implementation support. ²³

Leadership

George A. Weiss was founder and chairman of Say Yes to Education. ²⁴ In 1978, he founded and continued as CEO for hedge fund Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisors which is closing its operations as of March 2024. The fund managed $3.1 billion as of the middle of 2023. ²⁵ He graduated from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is a Trustee Emeritus. ²⁶

Mary Anne Schmitt-Carey was the former CEO of Say Yes. She obtained an MBA from the Wharton School and had five years of political experience at the national level including positions with the Democratic National Committee and working for former U.S. Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN) and former Vice President Al Gore. She was a senior director at the United States Department of Education during the Clinton administration. Schmitt-Carey was an executive at New American Schools which merged with American Institutes for Research before moving to the position of CEO at Say Yes to Education in 2006. In 2019, she founded tech and health care company Carey Health Solutions. ²⁷