Tim Snow and the George Snow Scholarship Fund Changing Lives

What if a scholarship didn’t stop at a check, but stood with a student for four years? We sit down with Tim Snow to unpack how the George Snow Scholarship Fund blends financial aid with real-life support—laptops, care packages, emergency funds, mentors, and Monday motivation—to help first-gen and high-need students thrive from day one to graduation.

We trace the journey from a family’s tribute to a hands-on nonprofit serving thousands, fueled by a generous Boca Raton community and events that actually feel fun. Tim shares how the Cowboy Ball, a September golf tournament, and the sellout Boca’s Ballroom Battle turned fundraising into a movement, drawing new donors while keeping the spotlight on student success. You’ll hear what makes their model different: a high school to college transition program, multi-year commitments, and deep partnerships with FAU, Palm Beach State, and Florida Prepaid that stretch every dollar. We also explore workforce scholarships that back in-demand careers like nursing and skilled trades, reflecting a practical path to upward mobility.

The conversation dives into selection rigor—3,000 applications, five reads each, trained reviewers—and why listening to students led to services like a clothing closet and technology grants. Tim breaks down the Broward County expansion, supported by the Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation, and how strategic planning helps scale without losing the personal touch. We talk career readiness, from etiquette dinners to internships, and the long-term goal of keeping talent in South Florida by connecting graduates to local opportunity.

If you care about education access, community design, and turning generosity into measurable outcomes, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves impact stories, and leave a review to help more people find the show.

Transcript

Meet Tim Snow & The Mission

Voice Over 0:00

This is iDesign Lab, a podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style and design. Curator of interiors, furnishings, and lifestyles, hosted by Tiffany Woolley, an interior designer and a style enthusiast, along with her serial entrepreneur husband Scott. iDesign Lab is your ultimate design podcast where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design and its constant evolution in style and trends. Today on iDesign Lab, we are joined by Tim Snow, the driving force behind the George Snow Scholarship Fund, a powerhouse nonprofit helping South Florida students not just reach college, but thrive. Under Tim's leadership, millions in scholarships and life-changing support have opened doors for hundreds of scholars. Today, we dive into impact, opportunity, and the magic behind Boca's Ballroom Battle.

TIffany Woolley 0:55

Welcome to the iDesign Lab podcast. Today, in the studio, we're joined by Tim Snow, who is the force behind the George Snow Scholarship Foundation. And welcome.

Tim Snow 1:08

Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to our conversation today.

TIffany Woolley 1:11

The same. Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and then we can dive into the foundation?

Tim Snow 1:18

A lot of questions. Yeah.

TIffany Woolley 1:19

Yeah, sure.

Tim Snow 1:20

Well, uh again, I'm Tim Snow, so I head up the George Snow Scholarship Fund. And uh I was raised in Boca Ratone. My family moved here in 1958, and uh my dad came down to be a high school math teacher actually in in Del Rey. That was then Seacrest High School, which is now Atlantic High School. Uh, but then later went on into real estate and construction. Um he started building houses as a way to supplement his income as a teacher during the summer months, and then so innovative with the growth of our community, South Florida in general, um, that became his career. Uh he left teaching and then started a construction company, um, which built a lot a lot of homes over the years. Um, and then our family's always been in the aviation, so when he retired at a very early age, he uh started helicopter charter service.

TIffany Woolley 2:24

Okay.

A Father’s Legacy Sparks A Fund

Tim Snow 2:24

And so that's how he was a pilot. He was a pilot, my brother's a pilot, I was a pilot.

TIffany Woolley 2:30

Um so fascinating.

Tim Snow 2:32

Yeah. And unfortunately, that's how he passed, was coming back from a uh mission uh from the Bahamas, and um uh that was in 1980. Um, unfortunately, we never recovered the his remains or the the wreckage of the helicopter. Really? Yeah, a lot of mystery still, even to this day, surrounds that that whole thing. But uh after he passed, we wanted to memorialize him, and he was always helping while he was alive, always helping young people that were trying to help themselves. And so we thought, you know, a scholarship fund would be a really good way to, you know, kind of keep that work alive and keep his memory alive. And so we started that shortly after his passing, about a year after it actually was.

TIffany Woolley 3:26

Like how soon.

Scott Woolley 3:26

So I've known you since the 80s. Yeah, I thought exactly because I remember back in the 80s, us riding motorcycles and you telling me the story, and you had, I think, were just starting out creating the foundation.

Tim Snow 3:38

Right.

Scott Woolley 3:38

And I thought it was just an incredible story, and what a what a thing to do to remember your dad to kind of keep his memory alive.

Tim Snow 3:46

Yeah, well, it was again, he, you know, he he there were things that he was doing, you know. My dad always did stuff and helped people, you know, very behind the scenes and very quietly, and things that we didn't even know about until after he passed away. You know, we get thank you letters from people after he passed, you know, kids that he literally put through college that we didn't even know about.

TIffany Woolley 4:08

Wow, little heaven weeks, that's amazing.

Tim Snow 4:10

Yeah. So um it was very much a natural thing to do, you know, in his memory. And it's grown into you know something pretty substantial over the years.

TIffany Woolley 4:22

It really is. And so what made you decide that this was gonna be like your mission afterwards in a in above the scholarship portion?

Tim Snow 4:33

Um I just, you know, I don't know. It it suits my personality, I guess. I'm not really sure. I was building this houses, you know. I kind of followed in his footsteps a little bit. And when we created this, and then um we kept seeing more and more young people that we wanted to help, but we couldn't help them because we, you know, the initial funding really kind of came from mostly my dad's friends and then, you know, the family a little bit. Um, but my dad didn't leave like a whole large endowment or anything like that, which I think a lot of people think uh is the case, but literally every penny that we've ever given away over the years has been raised in the community.

TIffany Woolley 5:12

It's amazing. So the Boca community obviously is a very important part of that. So, how has that, you know, shaped your life and values growing up in Boca since 1958?

Tim Snow 5:29

Well, the Boca Rutte community has always been a very generous community, and it's I you know, having not lived literally any place else, you know, in my life, um I don't want to say I take it for granted. I don't take it for granted, but you know, I think it's a very unique place. I don't think there's any other place that I'm I'm I'm sure there's other communities around the country that have very much, you know, some similarities. But as a community, we live in a remarkable place. And um and the community, I think, you know, it's one of the things I'm very proud of is that it's really a community organization. It's started very grassroots, even to this day, it's very grassroots. I love that we actually have, you know, some of our original donors, their kids now are involved in our organization. So uh it definitely is a community of people that all kind of have the same thought that you know education is very important, and um, and we need to be able to provide that benefit to the young people that need a little bit of help. And there's a lot of them. As affluent as South Florida is, you'd be surprised at uh how many, how much need there is in the in the community.

Scott Woolley 6:50

The first few years you did this, was it a struggle getting the foundation going, trying to get the word out, trying to get momentum?

Grassroots Growth And Early Momentum

Tim Snow 6:58

Um well, like you say, momentum is a good word. So we would basically what we would do, and this is kind of the evolution of the the scholarship fund, is we would do um we would have a Kentucky Derby party every year, and whatever we raised from that is what we would give away. And and so I I don't want to say we did it, you know, we were running the organization passively, but you know, we had a board of directors, we had we did all the things you're supposed to do with a nonprofit, but we just didn't have any, you know, anybody steering the the boat, so to speak. And um, and we kind of you know stayed at where we were, you know, giving away eight to twenty thousand dollars a year. Um but again we kept seeing more and more young people that we we wanted to help. And so the board of directors really kind of, which I was a part of, my brother was a part of, said, we want to, you know, we want somebody to really run this, and would you consider doing that? And so I you know didn't take a lot of thought because I, you know, kind of enjoy this kind of thing. And so I think it was in 1991 that I actually just started doing this exclusively.

TIffany Woolley 8:16

Wow.

Tim Snow 8:17

Yeah. And so then it's been uh uh you know the growth curve kind of went up a little bit, you know. And you it's true, you you do, you gain, you you end up gaining momentum, and sometimes it takes a long time. I mean, this is our 44th year. Unbelievable that we've been doing.

TIffany Woolley 8:36

That is really amazing. Can you share one story that was like that moment of you know, wow, this is really my calling? Like this is this is sealing the deal. Like this is what's gonna it's really taking off.

Tim Snow 8:52

Yeah, it's well, it's that's a hard question to answer, right? Because every year we see these young people, and that that one moment just gets repeated over and over again, right? Every year, when you the kids' faces are different, but you know, in many ways their stories are the same. They're overcoming these challenges within their families, and a lot of them are caregivers, a lot of them are uh first gen kids, and they're just like amazing I call them rock stars because I mean I remember reading applications and thinking to myself, man, I am such a loser compared to, you know, especially at that age to this young individual. And I had the benefit of growing up in a, you know, I had a mother and father in the same household. My father, you know, was respected in the community, had a made a good living. I had a lot of benefits in my life, and a lot of these young people don't don't have that through no fault of their own. Um, and so you know, that that aha moment just for me always gets repeated every year, and that's what keeps you going, really.

Scott Woolley 10:09

Well, I think that you've also kind of uh really cornered the market or from a standpoint from charity, from the events that you put on. The events that you put on are just phenomenal. I mean, I look at it, we go to a lot of different things over the years. I call them all rubber chicken dinners.

Speaker 1 10:29

Right.

Scott Woolley 10:29

But the George Snow Foundation doesn't put on rubber chicken dinners where you're sitting in a room and it's kind of like, okay, the night went by and all right, we raised some money, but it wasn't that exciting.

Speaker 1 10:40

Right.

Scott Woolley 10:40

You're putting on events.

Speaker 1 10:42

Events, yes.

Scott Woolley 10:43

And I've been involved in a lot of uh sat on the board of Alonzo Morning's Foundation for 12 years and Dan Marino's and Chris Everett's and so many different bandy Roddick, and the events that you do are a lot of fun. Well, and which really enjoyable and the staying power.

TIffany Woolley 11:00

I mean, you haven't tired of it, you know. Like people still look forward to that.

Tim Snow 11:05

Well, and like you say, you gotta, you've gotta keep, you've gotta, you've gotta keep them fun. As long as people are having fun, you know, they they want to come to them. Correct. And like you say, I think I can't remember, but we've been doing uh I think our cowboy balls coming up in March, early March.

Scott Woolley 11:22

Which is a blast.

Tim Snow 11:22

Yeah. And so that we've been doing that for 32 years. And Ballroom Battle, you know, this year will be Which is amazing.

Scott Woolley 11:29

32 years you've been doing the same event. And most events after 17 years or so far.

TIffany Woolley 11:35

Yes, peter away.

Scott Woolley 11:36

Sort of peter off. Yeah. You know, and don't have that.

Tim Snow 11:40

Well, people you you know, the first event we did was a rodeo. Okay. Yeah.

TIffany Woolley 11:47

I remember when it used to be on the polo grounds and they were outside. And yeah.

Tim Snow 11:54

I mean, it and it's been that that that event has its own evolution uh and its own story. Like you say, it goes from polo grounds to old school square to Red Reef Park.

Scott Woolley 12:05

Right.

Tim Snow 12:05

Um, and it just and you just try to, you know, you try to just make it more fun every year. And you know, you people keep coming as long as they keep coming and you keep making a a good return on your investment, then it makes sense to keep doing it.

Scott Woolley 12:22

So the next one coming up is the cowboy ball.

Tim Snow 12:25

Yes.

Scott Woolley 12:25

When when is that?

Tim Snow 12:26

Uh that's March 6th.

Scott Woolley 12:28

And where's that gonna be held?

Tim Snow 12:29

That'll be at the Boca West Country Club. Okay, yeah.

Scott Woolley 12:32

Same as last year, correct?

Tim Snow 12:33

Yeah, that's right.

Scott Woolley 12:34

Yes, which is a fun, a fun event. Yeah. And I think you kind of also capitalized over the fact the um um Yellowstone, the television show.

Tim Snow 12:44

Yeah, you know, for a few years. Exactly. Yeah, that's right. Well, that's we've been around so long before Yellowstone, but you know, listen, everybody it's the what people like about it is they don't have to put on a tuxedo or uh uh a brand new dress, you know, they can just pull whatever they got in the closet, come to the event, know that they're gonna have a good time. Um and you know, we always have a student there telling their story, so um that kind of tugs at people's hearts. So it's been a it's been a good good thing for us.

TIffany Woolley 13:20

So you mentioned the board of trustees in the very beginning, you know, kind of brought you in and was like, are you ready for like let's do this?

Speaker 4 13:28

Yeah.

Community Generosity In Boca Raton

TIffany Woolley 13:29

How like designing, you know, a board of trustees, how does that even like who do you rely on? Are they people that were closer to your dad, close to business operators? Like, how do you even curate that?

Tim Snow 13:45

Well, that's a great question. Um, and in the beginning, they were all people that were close to my dad. And but they were also very um influential people in the community. So, for example, we had uh IBM had a huge presence uh here uh years ago, but their plant manager, you know, my dad built uh a big percentage of the people that moved to Boca Ratone for IBM, he built their homes. So he built the plant manager's home, so they became friends. And uh same thing with FAU. There was a lot of people that came from outside of the area to live here, and they became my dad's friends. And so after my dad passed, you know, a lot of them uh and you know, my brother and I knew them because socially my dad was social with them, so they would come to the house, and so um they were very uh amenable to being on the board and helping us.

TIffany Woolley 14:52

Yeah.

Tim Snow 14:52

And you know, your your question of how do you design a board, you do you really need to get a board that is going to help the organization and drive the organization forward.

TIffany Woolley 15:02

But there is like a certain like you know, nuance to that because not everybody takes it to that level. I mean, it it kind of seems like a pretty special initial group has you know was brought together in the beginning.

Tim Snow 15:19

Yeah, for sure. And it still is to this day.

TIffany Woolley 15:21

To run with it to this.

Tim Snow 15:23

I mean, if you if you look at our board, they're all you know community leaders. And and and you don't, you know, for me, you've got to have somebody that's passionate about what we're doing, right? I mean, there's a lot of people, there's a lot of affluent people in the community you could ask to be on the board, but you've got to have somebody that's committed to the mission. And and there's you know, we again we've got a big family of people that are, and so to be able to then go to them and say, hey, listen, I'd like to ask you if you'd like to take your support to another level and be on the board and really help us with fundraising and governance, and um, you know, everybody has their sort of area of expertise. Um, and so rely, you know, being able to rely on that expertise um is a real blessing to the organization.

TIffany Woolley 16:17

It really is.

Tim Snow 16:18

Um in s in almost every way you can think of, right?

TIffany Woolley 16:22

Right. So who was the driving force between behind you know setting the tone for that mission?

Tim Snow 16:28

I'm sure there was a mission statement from the beginning and yeah, we weren't quite that sophisticated, I don't think, really, in the beginning. And we're actually undergoing a strategic planning process right now, which has really been um we we've we did one a couple years ago, and and this one um uh we're we're starting, uh, you know, uh we we had a session, uh a day-long session not too long ago, a couple weeks ago. And just really I'm really excited about going through that process again um because it sort of redefines, you have the opportunity to redefine your your core values, your mission and your vision, um, and then look at you know, where do you want to be three to five years and really do a deep dive into you know where are our needs, what do we, you know, how how are we gonna get there? Um we've had a lot of growth over the last, I'm sure.

TIffany Woolley 17:26

You know, five, six years. Yeah.

From Small Grants To Full-Time Leadership

Tim Snow 17:29

I mean, if you look at a chart of um, you know, just those scholarships and support services that we award, it's it's pretty crazy. You gotta you gotta do some manipulating to get it on one page, you know. Um so that growth is uh wonderful, but with growth comes you know challenges as well.

Speaker 4 17:54

Growing pains, yeah.

Tim Snow 17:55

You need infrastructure behind it uh to support it. Um and we've been able to stay ahead of that, you know, which is a good thing. Uh we just opened up a 2,400 square foot. Um uh it's not necessarily an addition that is attached to our office, but it's on the same floor as our office in the same building, and that's where now all of our scholar services team.

TIffany Woolley 18:19

Wow, that's that's a big undertaking.

Tim Snow 18:21

Yeah, so but it's a great, it's a great spot. And love that, like I said, love to have you guys stop by and take a look at it. That's where we got our podcast room.

Scott Woolley 18:30

And so tell us about the scholarships. You're raising a lot of money to putting on these wonderful events for the community to come to, all for a great cause. I think it's like over five million dollars in scholarships you awarded this past year.

Tim Snow 18:44

That's right, yeah.

Scott Woolley 18:44

That's like amazing.

Tim Snow 18:47

Yeah.

Scott Woolley 18:47

Tell us about the program and how it's affected. And the process.

Tim Snow 18:50

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, uh, let me give you a little just kind of a little bit of background on it, right? So we already talked about kind of where we started off, eight to twenty thousand dollars a year, kept seeing more kids that we wanted to help. So and is it college scholarships primarily or started that way? Okay, yeah, and and it really is um very much that way still. Um, although now we've got some dedicated money for workforce uh careers, um, and that can be anything from a four-year nursing degree uh to a certification program. So we're doing that as well, um, which we think is really important for the community to be able to help kids that you know um want to pursue those careers because it's very they're very much in need and they're very lucrative. Um so we've kind of we've kind of morphed into that. But the the real thing that kind of sets us apart that as we were making these awards, we were seeing and we were listening to our kids, and we were seeing kind of things that they needed. Like the first thing was I remember a young man who was literally the valuation of his school went away to college and he dropped out after the first year. So he had a hard time making that transition from high school to college. So we developed a what we to this day call our high school to college transition program, and that's a one-day long program. Actually, this year maybe we are gonna expand it to maybe two days, but we bring in and we start, yeah, we talk about look, this is this is gonna be a different world, right? You you know, you're not gonna be talking to your high school teacher, you're talking to a professor now, and what does that look like? And and what's the difference? You know, you got out office hours with professors that you didn't have with teachers, take advantage of them and right so you know, everything housing situations, budgeting, financial management, uh make sure they fully understand their financial aid packages, um, just anything to make that transition easier. Um, and then we just kept listening to the kids. And one of the I remember one year we I don't even know how I came up with it, but I said said to everybody interviewing, I said, if you ask every kid that we interview, do they have a computer to take to school?

TIffany Woolley 21:10

Wow, yeah.

Tim Snow 21:12

And 75% of them did not. So we implemented a program where they have an opportunity to get a computer from us if they want if they need them. And that's really our you know what we call our support services. We've got emergency fund for our kids now. We send them care packages. We actually, what you come by, we'll show you. We've got a a closet, probably the size of this room, that's it's just a closet full of uh clothes and good clothes, you know, and shoes. Uh so the kids um when they when they came home for Thanksgiving break or the holiday break, they're in there looking for winter jackets and stuff that's amazing. Is that donated or are you buying all donated that is just amazing.

TIffany Woolley 22:00

And I don't think I realized like that. That's another level of community outreach and people to be able to partake in the scholarship.

unknown 22:08

Yeah.

Scholars’ Stories And Why Support Matters

TIffany Woolley 22:09

It's way beyond just writing a check for school.

Scott Woolley 22:12

Yeah. No. So how are you finding these the kids? Where are they coming from?

TIffany Woolley 22:16

How how are they so do they have to reach out to you?

Tim Snow 22:20

Yeah, well, that's a great question. So we go, so this in 2026, we're going into Broward County for the first time. So what I'm telling you, uh, the process applies to both now Palm Beach and Broward County.

Speaker 1 22:35

Amazing.

Tim Snow 22:36

But in let's say in 2025, um, let's just say every school that we serve, we visit every school that we serve.

Scott Woolley 22:43

So are they high schools, elementary schools, private, public?

Tim Snow 22:46

All high schools. So we're all right. So we're looking for high school seniors who are going to be graduating in the following year. We'll go see them in October, November of their senior year, and we talk to them about our scholarship opportunity. We also educate them about other opportunities that they might have in the community, different scholarships that are not part of our organization, but we're, you know, trying to help the kids.

Scott Woolley 23:13

So we have three kids in high school. Right. We go like American Heritage.

Tim Snow 23:18

Yeah.

Scott Woolley 23:18

We go, they have what is it, Korea Day, where they have all the different universities and colleges, right? Tables, and you you go meet them.

Tim Snow 23:26

Yes. We we go individually. We we're uh sometimes we'll participate in like a countywide college fair, but what I'm talking about now is our staff individually going into the school. So you call the school, set up a meeting, that's right, and then go in and talk to the kids on how you can support them and help them. Yes. And do you get it like a uh we'll get some in some schools overflow of too many kids when you do that? Or uh some schools, you know, will give us uh 25 kids. Some schools will have 200 kids, you know, in the audience. And now that we're doing these workforce um scholarships, you know, we emphasize to the guidance counselors, look, we're not just looking for your you know top-tier speech. We we want hard worker. Yeah, we want young people that really have a passion about something and need help. And so we get a we get a lot of a lot of kids.

Scott Woolley 24:27

So do you go through those kids and kind of select who fits a certain so what the so the process is our applications online, so of course we make them aware of that, we point them in the right direction, and they have until February uh first every year to complete the application.

Tim Snow 24:47

Um, and then we have like right now we've got over 260 people because we this year we had 3,000 applications.

Scott Woolley 24:56

2,000 applications, 3,000.

Tim Snow 24:58

3,000, yeah.

Scott Woolley 24:58

Wow.

Tim Snow 24:59

Uh right at 3,000. And so um we've got 260 very dedicated people that will go through those applications. Every application gets read five times. Um, and then they they rank them. We've got a matrix, we train the reviewers, talk to them about biases and implicit by explicit biases, and uh, and then we have our own formula of of of uh evaluating um the uh the rankings or the ratings at that point, their ratings, and and then we determine who we're gonna interview. So we kind of know, like, okay, we've got 5.5 million. This year I think we're gonna do 7 million. So we've got $7 million to give away. And uh that kind of translates to you know, X amount of students. And so we for that, we're gonna need to see 500 kids, you know, or or in this case, 7 million, we'll probably see.

Scott Woolley 26:04

Most kids looking for financial support, or most, yeah.

Tim Snow 26:10

They're they're all they all have a financial need of some kind.

TIffany Woolley 26:13

And are they at different levels of the financial need? Do you actually say, like, okay, this person's gonna be getting this much attributed, this one's gonna be that's right.

Tim Snow 26:22

Everybody, everybody is different, everybody gets a different amount, and it's all we do internally within our organization, we do a need analysis on them. And it's really kind of an interesting process because you know, you'll have students um and and this is a you know, this did happen to us. One year we had three young ladies from Belglade, which as you know is a very underserved community. They all were going to Harvard University.

Speaker 4 26:50

Unbelievable.

Events That Raise Money And Joy

Tim Snow 26:52

Um, but they didn't Harvard gave them full rides, but they so they didn't need um, they didn't need money, but we have a what we that that that year sparked this creation of what we call our hometown hero scholarship, which is it's not financial, but it's all these support services, right? So these young ladies are gonna go from the community of Belleglade to the Harvard community, which is completely different, right? And so we're we'll we are there to support them, you know, through that transition, give them the computer that they need, um, the emergency and emergency funding, whatever it might be. And uh with that scholarship, um, you know, they'll graduate debt-free from Harvard, and we'll get them, we'll get them through there. But we give them that support. And in other cases, you know, it just depends on what how much financial aid are they getting from the schools, the federal government, the state government, and then we try to meet that unmet need.

Scott Woolley 28:00

So there's like different categories of what you're you know, funding, support.

Tim Snow 28:08

Yeah, very much so. I mean, we kind of look at it all the same. I mean, we're all of our our our almost all of our kids that we're that we're helping are are getting these these support services, um, along with the financial commitment. And that's and it's a four-year commitment, and that's really important to us too, you know, because we see a lot of scholarships that are like one-year deals, and you know, that's great.

Scott Woolley 28:35

Wait, wait. So you're supporting each one of these students, you're supporting them for the four years. That's right. So they're you're having ongoing communication with them through their four years of college.

Tim Snow 28:46

That's correct, yeah. And it's so we we we have almost a thousand kids in college right now.

Scott Woolley 28:52

So there's like 250 in each year, kind of is probably growing.

Tim Snow 28:56

And it is growing, yes. So that's a lot of follow-up. It's a lot of follow-up. I mean, we you know, a lot of it it's interesting because um, first of all, they hear from us every we send them out uh a Monday motivational message every year, every Monday. Um, so that kind of keeps you know them understanding. Look, we're back here. If you need us for anything, uh, you know, call us. And um, you know, they they all have our staff's uh cell numbers, and our staff might get it called at 10 o'clock at night.

Scott Woolley 29:27

I was just gonna say I gotta I have to ask, how many people are on your team or on your staff?

Tim Snow 29:32

Well, we have 16 people total uh within the scholarship fund. And in terms of the supports, uh the scholarship port team.

TIffany Woolley 29:40

Almost like a foster child in a way. It's like you're fostering them through this experience.

Tim Snow 29:45

Well, that's right. And you know, probably let's say I'm gonna say 70 to 80 percent of the students, you know, they're okay. They they're they're plugging along, they're getting great grades, they're having they've adjusted, they're fine. Um, so you know, we hear from them twice a year when they need money, and uh we send a check to the school on their behalf. Uh, and then that that that 20 to 30 percent of the kids that might have a family issue or some kind of a struggle, those are the ones that that we have the most interaction with. And um, you know, I was just reading some background today on, you know, we had a young lady who uh lost her father, so we we um paid for her flight home through the emergency fund, and the staff actually put together a little care package for her. She they knew she had a dog, so they got her dog food and you know, just uh and and that was waiting for her, you know, when she arrived at her at her family's home.

TIffany Woolley 30:52

This is so much more than a school scholarship. I don't I don't know if that has been like drilled out there, you know. This really is so much more.

Scott Woolley 31:03

I mean, it's one thing just raising money and putting on these events, that's a whole entity in itself. Right. You're running now a whole nother organization that I'm I've been to I don't know how many of your events over the years. I didn't know all this.

Tim Snow 31:18

Yeah, it's uh it's uh well it's a lot, but I tell you, we've got an amazing team uh that that are you know doing this. Uh Leslie uh Cornwell, who's our you know, really kind of heads up our effort and and everybody kind of falls underneath her, but she's been with us for a very long time. And you know, we tell the kids, look, you're now part of our family, and so we're gonna do for you. Like, and that's that's what drives us. Like, if if there's a question, like somebody says, Well, would you, you know, should we do this? The first question we ask ourselves is, would we do that for our own children? And if the answer is yes, then we would do it, we'll do it, you know.

TIffany Woolley 32:02

Do you ever partner with just because of thinking locally, like FAU or like a Lynn University or any online schools, in addition to just the financial component, like helping them even getting into programs?

Building A High-Impact Board

Tim Snow 32:18

We have we do, we partner with um Palm Beach State. Uh we do a little some things with Lynn, we do a lot with FAU as well. Uh, for example, um Van Williams, who's a provost at the Boca campus for uh Palm Beach State College, he hosts a reception for every class of our kids that come there. So uh I think we've got almost a hundred kids at that school right now, but he hosts a reception and he brings in, he brings in all of his deans. So the financial, you know, the dean of financial aid, the uh the student life, you know. So so our kids get to meet those people on campus. Yeah, and so they kind of are like prior a priority for the school. And we do the same thing with FAU, where uh their career services department we work very closely with. They've got a whole team of people that deal with the first gen population, and so those folks, and they come to our high school to college transition program and do you know introductory uh um kind of a little seminar for them. So, yeah, we do a lot of partnerships and we're looking uh to expand that um into not so much the local schools because we've got great relationships there, but we also have out of state. Well, not so much out of state, but University of Florida, we have a lot of students there. Uh all of the 75% of our students stay in Florida because they're getting bright futures and uh what about the like Florida Prepaid?

TIffany Woolley 33:59

Can you as a charity organization do anything buying into that?

Tim Snow 34:05

Or uh you must have done your homework. So uh interestingly, I've been told. So uh the answer is yes. And what what we do is we through we have a partnership with the Florida Prepaid Foundation, and so we're purchasing last year, we purchased a hundred and I'm gonna say 135. It's not exactly that number, but about that number, um, Florida Prepaid programs. And so a lot of our kids are getting four years tuition. That's just part of their award from us. So we purchase that from the state of Florida, they match it dollar for dollar. Um, actually, the value is is uh much more, it's maximizing your money tremendously. And and then we'll piggyback on that more financial aid because they need, you know, they need books. Tuition is really only a third of the cost of attendance.

TIffany Woolley 35:05

Correct.

Tim Snow 35:06

And like housing, housing, food, room and board, all that. So um yeah, that's a that's a big component of what we do.

TIffany Woolley 35:14

I mean, I was gonna say that's such a huge component opportunity to like continuing this and growing it.

Tim Snow 35:21

Yeah. And like I said, I did 130 uh last year, I'll do 200 this year uh because of our move in the Broward County.

TIffany Woolley 35:31

So how did you realize now is the time to now branch out? Well, uh obviously the need is there.

Tim Snow 35:39

I mean is there but to be able to service it's taking on a lot more, taking on a lot more, but we've been very fortunate that we we got funding uh you know to do that, right? And again, it's we it was interesting because um, and I'm I'm probably not answering your question, but um we learned uh well let me ask you answer your question first. I guess going into Broward County, we got it, we uh we had a uh a very generous contribution from the uh Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation.

Speaker 1 36:14

Okay.

Tim Snow 36:14

And so that's going to underwrite a hundred additional scholarships down in Broward County. And so um they also understand the need for infrastructure to support that. So they they've helped us with you know uh adding to our infrastructure, um, which we would not have been able to do it without that, right? I mean, Broward County is a actually a bigger school district than Paw Beach County, believe it or not.

TIffany Woolley 36:42

I don't think I realize that.

Tim Snow 36:43

Yeah, and and it's a different um, it's sort of uh demographics are very different down there. And so, but we've been really embraced. The the school district of Broward County has really embraced us so much. Um, so we've got a great relationship with them. And again, we're going to every school down there, did go to every school down there. Um, I think we got 1200 applications from that county for our first year. That's was crazy. I thought if we got 500 applications, we'd be doing good. Um so yeah, so it's um then that's what's gonna kind of push us over probably the $7 million mark this year.

TIffany Woolley 37:24

It's so exciting. One thing that I appreciate about the foundation too is it's kind of based on such a positive growing step in somebody's life. It's not like a hard luck situation. It's not like somebody coming back from something, it's really giving foundational support to giving a chance to those in need.

Tim Snow 37:50

Well, you're you're a hundred percent right. I mean, it's uh listen, I've been doing this for 44 years, right? Which is crazy to actually say that. But um, and and and I know that you know a baby born in Belle Glade or Pahoke is gonna have the same talent and ability as a baby born in Bobber's own, right? Absolutely. The thing that they don't have is the same opportunities, and so that's what we're here to do is to make to level that playing field out for those young people that don't have necessarily the opportunities that uh someone born uh again. I look at myself, I had all the opportunities and um I didn't have challenges necessarily. Um, but these young people do. And so and I I can tell you without a question, um these young people that I'm talking about, they are amazing young people.

TIffany Woolley 38:54

Well it's like rewarding good behavior. I mean, I love that, you know, to really be able to dive in and support somebody who just needs that extra support because they're willing to work hard. They're willing to believe that they're capable and deserving.

Tim Snow 39:09

And well, and by the time they get to us, they've got a track record of that. Right. That we can see and we know that they are willing to help again, help themselves or and others. And um and so who doesn't want to help somebody else?

Strategic Planning And Scaling Up

TIffany Woolley 39:24

No, and I feel like that's so unique to so many to different foundations that are around today. I feel like a lot of them are, you know, like I said somewhat more of a hard luck story where this is really just you know rewarding good behavior. And I feel like our world benefits from that in a lot of ways.

Tim Snow 39:42

Aaron Powell Well, it does, and we need to we need to give them up that opportunity because our community in the end benefits from it, right? True. When they come back, they're you know, I mean, I I tell you a story about which my uh but you know, young man from Belglade, and now he's back in the community, and his his family literally were working in the fields in in Belglade and the Western communities, and and he's now graduated from the Harvard uh Kennedy School of Government.

TIffany Woolley 40:14

Unbelievable.

Tim Snow 40:15

Uh and he's back in South Florida, uh not only contributing to our community, but you know, selfishly contributing back to the scholarship fund as well.

TIffany Woolley 40:26

That's amazing. So, how many do come back to South Florida? Like, have you been able to track that? Or does it have a lot of people?

Tim Snow 40:32

That's something we would we want to we really want to dive into.

TIffany Woolley 40:34

Almost like an alumni association.

Scott Woolley 40:36

How many have come back to South Florida? How many have you actually helped over 44 years?

Tim Snow 40:42

3,600 students, yeah. So we'll probably we'll probably get over that 4,000 uh mark in 2026.

Scott Woolley 40:51

Wow.

Tim Snow 40:51

Yeah. Um but that that's a good question. It's something we want to know. And um and a lot of a lot of uh a lot of the reason we want to know it is we want to know why they're not back here, right? We know housing is a big issue for a lot of them. You know, so is there something we can do in that arena that might be helpful to them? Um, but we also want to get them internships here so that they make relationships.

TIffany Woolley 41:20

I was wondering too, yeah, partnering with especially with so much growth in South Florida now, right? That I would think there's some strategic growth there.

Scott Woolley 41:30

Yeah. So is that a new initiative that you're working together?

Tim Snow 41:33

It is, yeah. We've just in the last couple of years developed a career development uh department where we've got, you know, um experts really that are guiding our kids and trying to give them hard skills and soft skills that they need to get the best job that they can get after they graduate. So um, you know, a quick example is uh Danielle Rossi in her restaurant um Oceans 234 does a uh dining etiquette course for our kids. You know, and she does an amazing job with it. Um and so they you know they learn the things that they they just don't know, right? Right. And they and uh what I love about the way she does it, she's she doesn't just serve them uh a meal, it's it's things that they maybe have never eaten before, you know, oysters or carpaccio or uh sushi or uh ceviche, right?

TIffany Woolley 42:32

You know, broaden their palate, yeah.

Tim Snow 42:35

They just um and it's fun to go through that with them.

TIffany Woolley 42:38

Absolutely. So would you like using that as an analogy? I mean, there's obviously a lot of mentors then also. Are these people doing this as a community service, or how does like, you know, donating time, how can one get more involved?

Tim Snow 42:55

Well, there's a ton of ways to get involved with us, really. Um and we've got a whole section on our website that folks can go and look and see what the different opportunities are. Uh everything from baking cookies for our care packages that we send to the kids every uh every winter when they they do the right before their final exams, we send it to them.

Scott Woolley 43:20

Uh to sending packages to the schools for the kids.

Tim Snow 43:24

We sent we sent over 700 uh care packages out this year and had I don't I can't even tell you over 150 people baking. I I baked 24 people.

TIffany Woolley 43:35

I was gonna say, I we can I mean I this is all such really great information. I love that because there's so much like even we could be putting our kids involved in.

Tim Snow 43:45

Well, and that that's what the like the bait you talk about that, but that like that's the a lot of our the people that bake, they they engage their kids in it. Yeah. And their kids are writing notes to our kids, you know, saying good luck and It really, you know, it is totally a community deal. I mean, all the way around.

Beyond Tuition: Support Services

TIffany Woolley 44:05

It really is. So how so obviously in addition to the fabulous events that we do attend and and you have obviously the website. What are other ways that you can partake in the community during the year, getting involved? Like do you come to your office or is it donations or mentoring?

Tim Snow 44:27

Donations are a big a big part of it. Um obviously, right? Um people uh you know, people come to us, they they know that we have the infrastructure to uh a lot of people come to create their own scholarship programs with us. Um you know, they they just it's we make it turnkey. They they have to do three things. They have to figure out what they want to name it, how much money do they want to give to it, and what's the criteria of student that they want to help. And we handle everything from from that point on. Uh, and so we have a lot of folks that do that, a lot of people that just make general contributions to us, which we absolutely need. Um and then with our programming, you know, it's I I liked uh it's very hard to you know get specific on um what we need, but you know, like I remember somebody he was a quantitative analyst, and he kind of, you know, he we had lunch together and we talked about his work and we asked him to come in and analyze our selection process.

TIffany Woolley 45:32

Right.

Tim Snow 45:32

Right. And so you can everybody's got something that they can they can offer us to make our organization better, to make our programs better. Um you know, if you've got, you know, um, like I said, we're given computers or there's just so many different ways. I mean, I could go on and on.

TIffany Woolley 45:53

So what's the initial ask, I guess, to create a scholarship underneath your so they should be ready to commit $10,000. Okay.

Tim Snow 46:02

Um, and then it goes up from there. Um a lot of people create endowments with us as well. Uh our average award this last year, 2025, I think was about $14,000. And so we're trying to, you know, get a meaningful financial contribution to the students, uh, again, lasting over those four years. Right. And so um, but ten thousand dollars is what we would look for.

TIffany Woolley 46:32

Two. And that's like creating a foun uh scholarship in in somebody's name. Okay, you know, and and they'll you know, they'll come to the awards reception that we host and present the kids with a medal and get their picture taken with them and and meet the kids, their parents, and feel that gratitude these young people with the face and the absolutely the story kind of on a personal.

Scott Woolley 46:59

Is there a particular story of a student over the years that stands out?

Tim Snow 47:05

That's I mean, we've got so many, we've got people working on the Artemis project right now. We've got at least a couple kids up there. So, you know, we've got uh my dermatologist was uh one of our scholars.

TIffany Woolley 47:20

Wow.

Tim Snow 47:20

Um you know, again, it's just they're they're amazing people and they they come back and they they're they're part of the community, and that that's what we want to just keep going because again, it makes our community better place.

TIffany Woolley 47:34

So you said keep going, and obviously, like the growth has speaks for itself 40 years and continuing and growing exponentially. I know you mentioned you have a podcast coming. Tell us a little bit about that.

Tim Snow 47:49

Well, so we've been doing a podcast for about a year now, and our objective there is, I mean, I don't have any aspirations that I'm, you know, we're gonna be any uh social media uh star or anything, but really all we're trying to do is educate young people and their families about um continuing their education after college, right? Whether that's uh through a uh vote or uh four-year career uh after college. I'm sorry, after high school. Yeah, thank you for correcting me on that. Uh after high school. So we talk about student debt, we talk about financial aid, we talk about you know, writing uh college applications, resumes, everything. Uh, and trying to get you know experts to come in to advise our kids on it. Um and it's it's been it's been it's been fun. And I think, you know, uh the podcast I think is really um it's first of all, it's gaining traction, but it's really giving valuable information to young people who are, you know, who need answers. Who need answers, and they can listen to this and make informed decisions. You know, I talked about the student debt, you know, we educate the kids a lot about the student debt. Well, that's a big thing with college right now, is so many people are coming out in so much debt that like but kids are picking, you know, they're they're maybe not making a wise choice on where they want to go to school, right? They want to go to the University of Alabama, they're gonna have to pay out-of-state tuition, they're gonna have student debt when they can, you know, literally stay in in Florida, get an outstanding education, and maybe graduate debt-free. So those are the kind of topics that we we like to cover with our podcast.

TIffany Woolley 49:44

Which I think is so amazing because everybody's story in general you learn from through communicating and you know, being out there. Everybody has something to share and you can gain something from there.

Tim Snow 49:59

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Scott Woolley 50:01

So you have the cowboy bowl coming up. What else should you have? Events for the public. Because I think that's a place where the more people that attend and learn, yeah, fun in that.

Tim Snow 50:14

So we'll do a golf tournament in September. Okay. We're doing that at roll palm. Um I'm not sure if we have a date for that, but it'll be probably in late September. And then this year, uh ballroom battle, which we normally would do in September, is gonna take place on November 7th.

Scott Woolley 50:34

So tell us about we know what that button is. I know, but I and I do love that. Let's talk about that for a few minutes. Yeah, for sure. That's a very interesting, fun episode event.

TIffany Woolley 50:44

How that came about, how you select everybody.

Tim Snow 50:47

Yeah, well, we it came about So before you come how it came about, what tell us what it is. So people is it's uh we it's called Boca's Ballroom Battle, and we select eight people in the community, recognizable people in the community, uh, to be what we call our community dancers, and we partner with the Fred Esther dance studio in Boca Ratone, and we we pair them up with a dance professional, and they learn a dance routine.

Scott Woolley 51:17

So so dan it's like dancing with the stars, but in Boca Ratone.

TIffany Woolley 51:22

The stars are the stars in it's becomes really a great event.

Scott Woolley 51:26

Living in Boca, South Florida, right?

Recruiting Students And Fair Selection

Tim Snow 51:29

And uh we sell it out every year, we sell out every sponsorship every year. It, you know, there's 900 people over at the Boca Ratone.

Speaker 4 51:38

Wild.

Tim Snow 51:39

Um, and it it it's it's it is such a great event for so many reasons. But what I love about it is all the positive energy that's in the room. So people go oftentimes they're there to support one person, but they end up cheering everybody on because they, you know, look, everybody says every America's number one fears public speaking. Well, that's nothing compared to dancing in front of the 900 people, I will tell you. So it takes a lot of courage to agree to do this, and we've been really fortunate. I think we've got had 144 people do it already. Wow.

Scott Woolley 52:16

Um there's a lot of energy in that room, a lot of positive energy in that room.

Tim Snow 52:22

And uh it's just and they do such a great job. I mean, Fred Astaire does such a great job of um, you know, having them learn this routine and teaching them a routine, and and uh it it's just it I don't know. I can't say enough good things about it.

TIffany Woolley 52:39

I couldn't agree more.

Tim Snow 52:40

Unfortunately, it's not a room bigger locally because we could we could sell more tickets.

Scott Woolley 52:45

Oh, you got to think you could sell twice as many.

Tim Snow 52:46

Yeah, it's uh it's a big it's a big deal.

TIffany Woolley 52:49

How do you go about deciding who to bring on?

Tim Snow 52:53

Well, we we just we kind of keep a running list, believe it or not, of folks, and then we kind of sit down and it's interesting because obviously for us, what we're trying to do is cast a wide net of uh spheres of influence, right? So we're not gonna ask somebody that you know maybe our best friends that they're gonna be calling the same people to raise money because it's as you probably know it's not a it's not a dance competition, it's a fundraising competition. Right.

Scott Woolley 53:26

Who can raise the most amount for their dance?

Tim Snow 53:29

That's right. Yeah. Yeah.

TIffany Woolley 53:31

And so and all the mini events that take place along the way to it's wild.

Tim Snow 53:38

Yeah. Yeah. So it's it's it's it's been a game changer for us. You know, when we started this 19 years ago, we were giving away $330,000 a year, and now we're giving away uh, I think over seven million dollars in 2026. So uh and and a lot of that it's been a it's been a blessing not just from the financial part of it, but it it brings awareness to the organization and what we're doing. Um, and again, it it's people that maybe have never heard of us before. They come to that event, they hear one of our kids speak, they hear about the numbers, they hear about the support services, and uh it's just been a remarkable benefit to us to be able to spread the word and then to grow our our population of people that help us.

TIffany Woolley 54:26

So is that your biggest event of the year? Yeah, definitely.

Tim Snow 54:31

Okay, definitely by far.

TIffany Woolley 54:33

Well, that's a fun one.

Tim Snow 54:35

Yeah.

TIffany Woolley 54:37

Well, that's exciting. And then the cowboy ball, as Scott mentioned, is coming up.

Tim Snow 54:42

Coming up, yeah, March 16th.

TIffany Woolley 54:44

And then you do the golf.

Tim Snow 54:46

The golf. So we do we do three fundraising events. Yeah. And we our events, we've got um some great people in our events department, but we do other events like our awards reception, which is really not open to the public, but you know, to our donors. And then we do two guidance counselor appreciation breakfasts in both uh one in Broward County and one in Palmich County. And so that really is our opportunity to get the guidance departments teed up. Look, we're gonna be coming into your school. These are some new initiatives that we're you know promoting.

Scott Woolley 55:19

So you're looking for, I would guess, volunteers to help you with these events.

Tim Snow 55:23

We're looking for volunteers to help us with it. We're looking for sponsors to help us with it, too, right? Because those those things are programmatic, but they still cost us a lot of money to host 150 people at a hotel down in Broward or Palm Beach.

TIffany Woolley 55:39

So where do you see the scholarship, George Snow scholarship going in the future? Obviously, you're going into Broward County. Is your hope to see this go throughout Florida? Do you partner with any other scholarship funding in other states?

Scott Woolley 55:58

Do you have future plans, aspirations, and goals?

Tim Snow 56:01

I I think really looking at it, at least for me realistically, is because we we are so hands-on with our kids. That's the most important thing for us is the quality of our programs. So we're not going to expand unless we're able to continue that same level of service to our kids. And so that that's what really determines our growth to me. I I somebody could say they want to do a scholarship in Dade County, but unless we were able to really, you know, because it let's let's say somebody wanted to do that, I'd have to go to every school in Dade County, and I can't do that. So it's really a function of maintaining the quality of service to our kids, and then, you know, uh and then you know the funding to to send them to school.

Speaker 1 56:52

Right.

Tim Snow 56:53

And um and then we take it, we just take a look at, you know, everything in that in that kind of lens and make a determination on that uh from there.

Scott Woolley 57:05

So for people who are listening or watching, where should they go to learn more?

Tim Snow 57:10

Uh we've got a great website, scholarship.org. Um, and they can go there and learn everything they want to know about us. Scholarship.org. Yeah.

TIffany Woolley 57:21

Well, that was wonderful. Thank you so much for your time today.

Tim Snow 57:25

I appreciate you guys sitting down and talking with me. Yeah, having a lot of fun. Yeah, well, we we certainly welcome that. We appreciate all that you do for us. And like you say, you know, uh known you guys for a long time. We have a lot of history together. Hey no, we've done a lot of stuff.

TIffany Woolley 57:47

We're glad stewards and everything. So thank you.

Tim Snow 57:50

Thank you guys for coming.

TIffany Woolley 57:52

You've been thank you for listening to iDesign Lab.

Voice Over 57:57

iDesign Labs Podcast is an SW group production in association with the five star and TW Interiors. To learn more about iDesign Lab or TW Interiors, please visit TWinteriors.com.