PROGRAM IMPACT AND HIGHLIGHTS
Since our founding in 1979, we have awarded over $11 million in scholarship funds and over $11 million in grants, impacting more than 135,000 students!
Review our 2024 programs impact press release here. (2025 Coming Soon!)
Review scholarship recipients here and grant recipients here.
2025 Programs Impact:
105 Scholarships = $872,500
15 Course Development Grants = $286,640
37 General Grants = $503,346
34 Internship Grants = $255,000
31 Risk Manager on Campus Grants = $137,890
40 rm challenge travel stipends & awards = $167,956
2024 Programs Impact:
105 Scholarships = $717,500
14 Course Development Grants = $276,287
24 General Grants = $356,979
31 Internship Grants = $229,976
26 Risk Manager on Campus Grants = $106,846
40 rm challenge travel stipends & awards = $140,854
2023 Programs Impact:
103 Scholarships = $690,718
14 CD Grants = $245,652
16 General Grants = $375,529
32 Internship Grants = $227,757
22 RMOC Grants = $61,808
Spencer is committed to supporting students throughout their educational journey as they study to pursue careers in Risk Management and Insurance. Spencer awards Undergraduate, Graduate, Ph.D. and Pre-Instructor of Practice scholarships to students studying at institutions in the United States and Canada, as well as Part-Time Graduate scholarships to risk and insurance professionals continuing their education.
In 2025, Spencer awarded 105 scholarships totaling $872,500 to undergraduate, graduate, Ph.D., and Pre-instructor of practice students. This is Spencer’s highest number of scholarship dollars awarded in our Foundation’s history!
Since 1980, Spencer has invested over $11 million in the Scholarship program, with awards to over 1,700 students. More than 85% of Spencer Scholarship recipients remain in the industry to this day.
Spencer Course Development Grants support the creation and expansion of Risk Management and Insurance courses and programs at universities and colleges in the United States and Canada in efforts to expose more students to the industry and grow an inclusive talent pipeline.
In 2025, Spencer awarded 15 Course Development Grants, totaling $286,640!
Since 2014, Spencer has invested over $1.6 million in developing risk management and insurance courses at close to 70 colleges and universities, exposing approximately 19,000 students to the RMI industry.
Spencer’s General Grants program supports student-centered initiatives at universities and industry organizations that fall into the following two critical branches:
Provide experiential learning opportunities for Risk Management and Insurance students; &/or
Attract new talent to the industry.
Initiatives supported by Spencer include student attendance at industry conferences and symposia; high school outreach programs; programs dedicated to advancing inclusion in risk management/insurance education; and a variety of other unique proposals that aim to expand the talent pipeline.
In 2025, Spencer awarded 37 grants to universities and RMI non-profit organizations, totaling $503,346.
Since 2010, Spencer has awarded over $4.5 million in General Grants to support over 225 student-centered experiential learning initiatives at universities and RMI non-profit orgs.
Spencer’s Risk Manager on Campus (RMOC) program provides funding for universities to bring a practicing Risk Manager on campus to present and engage with students about the risk management profession and insurance industry. The program serves to both provide a real-world perspective to students attending robust RMI programs as well as expose students to the industry at universities with few or no RMI classes. The RMOC Program has received positive feedback from both universities and Risk Managers as an enriching educational experience for students and a rewarding opportunity for Risk Managers to give back to the profession.
In 2025, Spencer awarded 31 RMOC grants totaling $137,890.
Since 1997, Spencer has awarded over 510 RMOC Grants totaling over $1.7 million to universities & colleges across the United States and Canada.
Through Spencer’s Internship Grant program, students gain hands-on experience in the risk management field via a real-world business setting where they can quickly apply what they know, respond to new experiences, and begin to develop contacts in the industry. Spencer provides internship grants of up to $7,500 to Risk Managers to hire interns in the risk management function of their organizations. Employers apply for grants from Spencer, and students then apply directly with the companies for the newly created internship opportunities.
In 2025, Spencer awarded internship grants to 34 companies with Risk Management functions, totaling $255,000.
Since 1999, Spencer has awarded over $3.5 million to create over 650 risk management internships.
The Spencer-RIMS Student Risk Management Challenge is an international student competition in which students showcase their research skills and apply their risk management knowledge to a real-life scenario. The competition requires university/college teams comprising of four students to develop and present a comprehensive risk management report based on a case study. A judging committee evaluates the teams' solutions, and the top eight teams are invited to present their strategies at the annual RIMS RISKWORLD Conference.
In 2025, Spencer enabled the top 8 teams (40 individuals) to travel to RISKWORLD and awarded cash prizes to the top 3 teams (12 students), totaling $167,956.
Since 2023, Spencer has awarded over $331,000 in RM Challenge travel stipends and awards to over 115 recipients. We thank FM and RIMS (the Risk Management Society) for their support for this program.
INCLUSION
In 2024, Spencer awarded over $330,000 in funding.
At Spencer, inclusion is not an initiative — it is a business imperative baked into all of our programs. We strive to attract the best talent to the industry and support our donors in finding diverse talent. We remain committed to driving change and are proud to showcase the significant strides we've made in promoting DEI in the RMI industry. Below are some key initiatives we've implemented since 2019:
Scholarship Application Redesign: We have revamped our scholarship application process to allow applicants to self-identify their race/ethnicity and gender identity. This enables us to track and understand the demographics of our scholarship recipients.
Bias-Free Review Process: Our scholarship application review process has been updated to remove all identifying information (such as names and demographics) during scoring. This change helps eliminate unconscious bias in our selection process.
Investment in Diversity: We are proud to announce the creation of hundreds of diversity-focused scholarships to be awarded over the next ten years, representing a strategic investment of over $1.5 million in cultivating diverse talent within the RMI industry.
Partnerships with Educational Institutions: We work with various companies and organizations to develop Risk Management and Insurance courses at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs).
Risk Manager on Campus Grants: We have awarded grants to several MSIs, providing thousands of students with exposure to the Risk Management and Insurance profession.
Course Development Sponsorships: We work with various corporate partners to sponsor Course Development Grants at multiple MSIs, including prestigious universities such as Fisk University, Savannah State University, Southern University, and several others across the country.
General Grants for Diverse Talent: We provide General Grants aimed at fostering a diverse talent pipeline and support initiatives within HBCU Impact, LAAIA, NAAIA, and numerous other programs focused on diversity and inclusion in our industry.
Collaborative DEI Partnerships: We are actively collaborating with various organizations within the RMI sector to explore partnership opportunities for advancing DEI initiatives. Examples include the American Risk & Insurance Association (ARIA), Asian American Insurance Network (AAIN), Canadian Association of Black Insurance Professionals (CABIP), HBCU Impact, InVest Program, Insurance Careers Movement (ICM), Latin American Association of Insurance Agencies (LAAIA), McGannon Foundation, National African American Insurance Association (NAAIA), Property & Liability Resource Bureau (PLRB), Rising Insurance Star Executives (RISE), Risk & Insurance Educational Alliance, Target Markets Program Administrators Association (TMPAA), University Risk Management & Insurance Association (URMIA), Young Risk Professionals (YRP), and many more.