At the end of every school year, the three Tahoe Truckee Unified School District high schools — North Tahoe, Truckee, and Sierra — hold their senior awards night. In addition to honoring students for their achievements, millions of dollars in scholarship money from community organizations are given out to local graduating seniors.
“These are really life-changing scholarships,” North Tahoe High School Principal Joanna Mitchell said. “They make the difference between college and no college, between a community college and four-year college. They literally change students’ plans for the future.”
The majority of scholarships flow through the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation, which hosts more than 110 community scholarships each year. The foundation’s scholarship funding has increased by 400% since 2017, with three organizations giving out the lion’s share of money — the Tahoe Donner Giving Fund, Tahoe Mountain Resorts Foundation, and Martis Camp Foundation.
Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation
TTCF began awarding scholarships in 2011. That first year, it gave out $18,000. In 2025, the amount grew to over $1 million for 149 students.
One reason for this massive growth is that starting in 2017, TTCF purchased software to streamline the application process. Now, the organization offers a single form for students to apply to multiple scholarships.
“The growth of Tahoe-Truckee’s scholarship awards shows we have a community that truly believes in its young people and their futures,” said Phyliss McConn, TTCF community impact officer. “When TTCF created the common application as a community asset, we were amazed by the community’s responsiveness. So many people leaned in to create new scholarships and work collaboratively to address our students’ growing financial need for higher education.”
Not only did the dollar amounts increase significantly; there was also a rise in the number of scholarships offered.
“We’ve had many more donors realize the importance of supporting the scholarship process, and then both new scholarships have been created and existing ones increasing their award amounts,” McConn wrote in an email to Moonshine. “We’ve really advocated for multi-year awards so students know what they can count on throughout their college years.”
Tahoe Donner Giving Fund
The Tahoe Donner Giving Fund, established in 2014, raises money from its 6,500 members through two annual fundraising campaigns to carry out its mission: to inspire generosity and charitable giving among Tahoe Donner members to support deserving programs and youth in the greater Truckee community.
The TDGF offers two kinds of scholarships: traditional and IMPACT, both of which are needs-based and provided to Tahoe Truckee Unified School District graduating seniors. The first traditional scholarship of $1,000 was granted to one student in 2015. Those scholarships have since increased to $5,000 and are awarded to several students with the possibility of a second year of support.
This year, TDGF has $75,000 allocated to traditional scholarships, according to chair Toni Moore, for as many as nine students.
The fund’s IMPACT Scholarships are funded by a single anonymous Tahoe Donner member, who in 2019 started contributing $200,000 a year, which increased to $240,000 in 2024. Originally, the fund gave $50,000 scholarships to four students, but because of the increased donation, that amount rose to $60,000 each over five years.
“We look at students who have financial need,” Moore said. “We also prioritize students who have strong grades and a nice balance between academic and extracurricular activities and work experience.”
For the IMPACT Scholarship, the fund prioritizes first-generation college students.
In 2025, Tahoe Donner Giving Fund scholarships totaled $300,000.
“We have an extremely generous community that is really committed to students and particularly those students with significant need and motivation,” Moore said.
Tahoe Mountain Resorts Foundation
The Tahoe Mountain Resorts Foundation is a consortium of three developments: Old Greenwood, Gray’s Crossing, and Northstar. Its mission is to enrich the quality of life in the Truckee/Tahoe region through cultural, environmental, educational, and charitable pursuits. It is the only one of the three big donors that gives scholarships to students not just from TTUSD but from any high school in the area.
TMRF’s scholarships are funded by a small fee that is tacked on to the sale of any property in the three developments, thus its total giving capacity varies, ranging annually from $80,000 to $125,000, according to TMRF Scholarship Committee Chair Isabel Domeyko.
While TMRF used to offer a variety of scholarships in different amounts, a few years ago it changed it to a single $100,000 scholarship over four years to a student who is committed to combating climate change or improving the human condition.
“The reason we decided to do this was we felt like it was enough money to be able to pay most or all of the fees associated with, or as close as we can get, to funding a kid’s entire education,” said Domeyko. “We thought the impact would be more meaningful to really support one student.”
TMRF gave out $475,000 in scholarships between 2017 and 2024.
Martis Camp Foundation
The Martis Camp Foundation is the largest provider of scholarships in the region. This year, it will award $420,000 to graduating seniors, for a total of $12 million in scholarships and grants since 2011. The money is generated by Martis Camp members through several annual fundraising events.
“It’s such a delightful opportunity for us to give back to the community,” Martis Camp Foundation Executive Director Morgan Steel said, “and a highlight for the season to review what these kids have been able to accomplish, and we’re just so honored to help send them on their way with our different scholarships.”
The MCF offers four scholarships. The Committed Scholarship is for up to $60,000 over four years and is awarded to a strong, first-generation student who wants to return to Tahoe/Truckee to give back to the community. The Changemaker is for the same amount and is given to a high-achieving student who has been accepted to a top university but faces challenges paying for tuition. Both are available to one student a year only.
The Ambition Scholarship is for up to $40,000 and is granted to five to seven students a year, with preference given to foster children or children from single-parent homes. The Denise Martinez Scholarship, of which two are awarded, is for up to $20,000 and honors the spirit of Martis Camp’s first head golf professional, who exemplified hard work, fair play, kindness, and integrity. Preference may be given to golf players or other athletes.
“They work so hard, these kids that we provide these scholarships to,” said Steel. “You read their stories and their applications and it’s just so inspiring to see what they’ve overcome and what they dream to do, and we want to be a tiny little part of that to make it happen.”
