Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) is a left-of-center, education-focused nonprofit that operates in New York City, elsewhere in the U.S., and around the world. It runs educational opportunity programs for disadvantaged children beginning in high school, with additional programs in secondary and post-secondary education. It also runs programs for young professionals in select fields, such as finance, law, and technology. SEO promotes left-wing principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across its programs and has several initiatives explicitly devoted to DEI. ^{1 2}

Founding and History

Sponsors for Educational Opportunity was founded in 1963 by Michael Osheowitz, a New York-area investment banking consultant. Osheowitz utilized his connections with executives at large finance, law, and advertising firms to recruit mentors for the programs scholars to improve high school graduation and college acceptance rates. SEO’s programs have gradually expanded over the decades to include various high school, undergraduate, and graduate school opportunities to students from low-opportunity backgrounds. As of June of 2024, there had been over 21,000 participants in SEO programs. ¹

Financials

In the fiscal year ending August 31, 2022, Sponsors for Educational Opportunity reported $43,724,114 in revenue, of which $44,656,558 was derived from contributions and grants. It had $39,417,219 in expenses, of which $1,314,026 was spent on grants and contributions, $26,090,708 in salary and compensation, and $12,012,485 in miscellaneous expenses. Total net revenue for the year was $4,306,895, with net assets of $65,358,296. ³

Some notable supporters of SEO include the Roberts Foundation, Deloitte, Bank of America, BlackRock, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Morgan Stanley, News Corp, S&P Global, American Express, Franklin Templeton, IBM, Salesforce, and BNY Mellon. ⁴ Another major sponsor is the Ford Foundation, which has provided six grants beginning in 2015. ⁵

SEO received its largest ever multi-year grant in 2023 from the Pension Real Estate Association Foundation. This foundation was founded to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles in real estate. ⁶

Programs

Sponsors for Educational Opportunity runs a variety of programs beginning with high school students and extending to post-secondary education and career fields, such as technology and law. These programs often incorporate alumni of earlier programs as participants, mentors, educators, and host organizations for participants. ¹

Organization Philosophy

Sponsors for Educational Opportunity embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and works to advance this left-of-center philosophy in its educational programs. In 2022, SEO launched a program for lawyers with the aim of advancing DEI principles in the law field, and in 2023 received an $8 million grant (in addition to a $2.8 million earlier pilot grant) from the Pension Real Estate Association Foundation to advance DEI in real estate. ^{7 6}

Leadership

William Goodloe is the president and CEO of Sponsors for Education. He has a long history of working in educational related non-profits and in fundraising roles. He was previously executive director of the Inner City Scholarship Fund in New York City and sat on the advisory board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. ⁸

1. “Our Programs.” SEO. Accessed June 10, 2024. https://www.seo-usa.org/our-programs/.
2. “SEO’s Law Advance Launches with Program for Diverse Law Professionals.” SEO, October 27, 2022. Accessed June 10, 2024. https://www.seo-usa.org/news/seos-law-advance-launches-with-program-for-diverse-law-professionals/.
3. Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, Return of an organization exempt from taxation (Form 990) Part I, 2021.
4. “SEO Annual Awards Dinner.” SEO. Accessed June 17, 2024. https://www.seo-usa.org/annual-awards-dinner/.
5. “Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, Inc.” Ford Foundation. Accessed June 17, 2024. https://www.fordfoundation.org/search/Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, Inc./
6. “PREA Foundation Invests $10.8 Million in SEO Career to Advance Diversity and Inclusion in Real Estate.” SEO, March 30, 2023. Accessed June 10, 2024.  https://www.seo-usa.org/news/prea-foundation-invests-10-8-million-in-seo-career-to-advance-diversity-and-inclusion-in-real-estate/.
7.   “SEO’s Law Advance Launches with Program for Diverse Law Professionals.” SEO, October 27, 2022. Accessed June 10, 2024. https://www.seo-usa.org/news/seos-law-advance-launches-with-program-for-diverse-law-professionals/.
8. “SEO – Senior Team.” SEO. Accessed June 17, 2024. https://www.seo-usa.org/about-us/senior-team/.