We find promising students with specific passions

Students learn about Wishbone from their teachers and apply online. Students must meet these criteria:

• Current high school student (grades 9 through 12)
• Living in New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and Connecticut
• Low-income
• Passionate about a particular interest, such as music, science, leadership, or athletics

Students apply for a program that fits their needs

Students start by selecting their interests from our list of over 60 subjects. This data is used to curate a selection of high-quality programs that are personalized to the student’s interests and organized by location, duration, and degree of competitiveness. This format makes it easy for students to compare programs and select their first, second, and third choices.

Once students have selected their program choices, they complete a full application, including:

• Contact information
• Two short essays
• Consent from a parent or guardian
• A recommendation from their Advocate

Every Wishbone student has an adult Advocate. In addition to submitting the recommendation, the Advocate helps the student fundraise their program fees using Wishbone’s crowd-sourced fundraising platform.

We enable program affordability through a combination of fundraising channels

Through exclusive tuition discounts from program partners, crowd-sourced campaign funding, and negotiated corporate and foundation sponsorships, we’re able to help a growing number of students afford program opportunities to pursue their passions.

We share success stories to inspire others

Our students share updates about their experience with donors online and by email. After finishing their program, they return to classrooms more engaged — inspiring peers with a heightened sense of personal motivation and involvement in their education.