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Information for NCCF scholarship administrators
Last updated: Aug. 27, 2026
Your Role
- Understand NCCF policies and procedures.
- Uphold the specific criteria of the scholarship you administer.
- Promote the scholarship opportunity and ensure equal access to information for all who are eligible.
- Support NCCF’s IRS-required responsibilities by following rules and regulations.
- Operate a fair and equitable process for making scholarship awards.
- Use the Scholarship Procedures Checklist to stay on track throughout the scholarship season.
Required Forms and Key Dates for NCCF Scholarship Administrators
Scholarship Committee Form:
Complete and email to the scholarships team by Feb. 5, 2027.
- To comply with IRS requirements, NCCF must approve scholarship committee appointments.
- You will receive the form from NCCF via email in mid-November and you must complete and submit it by the deadline.
- If you do not receive a Scholarship Committee Form, please contact us at scholarships@nccommunityfoundation.org.
Scholarship Recommendation and Minutes Form:
Complete and email to the scholarships team by May 27, 2027.
- This form documents the scholarship committee’s award recommendations and minutes from the selection meeting and is required for scholarships to be processed.
- The sooner we receive this information the sooner we can send an award check to the student’s college or university.
- Please complete both pages and all required information. It is critical that rationale for selection and documentation of the presence or absence of conflicts of interest are included.
Resources for NCCF Scholarship Administrators
COMING SOON! Register for the virtual Scholarship Administrator Webinar on Jan. 6, 2027.
In our toolkit, you will find templates for flyers, press releases, emails, texts and social media posts to help you promote your scholarship application and awards.
All students will apply online through the NCCF Scholarships Portal, and most will apply for scholarships through our Universal Scholarships Application that makes it easy for students to apply for multiple NCCF scholarships. Learn more about the information students are asked in their application.
All scholarship administrators are sent an email in mid-to late-December indicating the Amounts Available to Distribute (ATD) based on the current distribution rate. Learn more about our distribution practices.
- If additional funds are to be sent to NCCF to supplement the yearly ATD, they must be sent before the closing date of the application and with a note designating them as “pass-through” funds.
Scholarship Administrators must notify all applicants of the committee’s decision soon after materials are submitted to NCCF. Download templates of award and decline emails that you can customize and use.
Students are required to complete a Scholar Information Form and submit it via their account on the NCCF Scholarships Portal before scholarship checks are issued. NCCF is not responsible for missed tuition deadlines for students who do not submit their form by July 30, 2027.
Upon submission of the Scholar Information Form, NCCF issues payment to the recipient’s school, with instructions for funds to be applied equally to the fall and spring semesters. Review a sample of the Scholar Information Form.
Passed by Congress in 2006, the Pension Protection Act established required guidelines regarding scholarship awards from community foundations. All NCCF scholarships must abide by certain procedures. Learn more about the Pension Protection Act and the procedures that need to be followed.
Scholarship award displacement occurs when receipt of one form of financial aid, such as a private scholarship, results in a reduction in other forms of financial aid. There are several reasons why scholarship displacement occurs, and it can cause problems for students, such as preventing them from getting the full benefit of the scholarships they win.
The National Scholarship Providers Association provides more information on why scholarship displacement occurs and tips on how you can help reduce scholarship displacement for your scholarship recipients.
Follow these instructions for using NCCF’s online system to review applications. Review the slides.
Can a committee award a scholarship to a student attending a for-profit institution? Can a committee consider a hard copy application received? These and more questions are answered in our FAQs for scholarship administrators.