Shelby and Gale Davis are one of UWC’s greatest-ever supporters, and their family’s involvement with the UWC movement goes back to the year 1998. With a highly successful investment and fund management career, Davis devoted his personal and financial energies to a number of philanthropic aims, focusing on education. 

 

 

The Dare to Dream programme empowers talented young people from all backgrounds to access a world-class education at UWC. With full scholarships for students facing financial hardship, it breaks down financial barriers for some of the world’s most promising young leaders.

Founded by UWC patron Shelby Davis, his wife Gale Davis, and Phil Geier, the programme has already impacted over 1,000 students from 150+ countries. Its unique scholarship matching initiative doubles donors’ impact, expanding the number of full scholarships and growing UWC’s global community.

In 2024, Shelby and Gale Davis, increased their support for the UWC Dare to Dream scholarship programme to USD 15 million per year. This increase in funding will enable up to 350 UWC students from less advantaged backgrounds to attend UWC schools and colleges each year and further incentivises the UWC community and its supporters to join the Dare to Dream initiative, helping to expand UWC’s model of education and impact even further.

Timeline 

• 2018: Dare to Dream launched, supporting 100 students annually.
• 2021: Dare to Dream 2 expands, increasing support to 200 students and introducing a full scholarship match programme 
• Since 2023: Over 70 donors — including philanthropists, alumni, friends, institutions, and giving circles — support students through Dare to Dream 2, leveraging the match system to amplify their support.
• 2024: Shelby Davis boosts match funding to support up to 350 students annually, expanding opportunities for donor involvement.

Impact

• 1,000+ students supported from 150+ countries
• Full scholarships providing access to a world-class education
• Increased diversity and global perspectives at UWC schools
• Scholars making a lasting impact at top United States universities as part of the Davis UWC Scholars Program

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The Davis UWC Scholars Program provides scholarship support for UWC graduates to study at 100 selected partner US colleges and universities.

Launched in 2000 with five pilot universities - needs-based scholarships are awarded to every UWC graduate who has gained acceptance and matriculated at one of the participating universities and colleges. Shelby Davis and former UWC-USA Head - Philip Geier - created the Davis UWC Scholars Program to advance international and cross-cultural understanding on United States college campuses and, ultimately, throughout the world. Since its inception, the program has provided scholarships to more than 14,000+  scholars from over 160 countries and is the largest international scholarship program for undergraduates in the world. 

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FINISHED PROGRAMMES

 

An exceptional match-funding initiative by UWC Patron Shelby M C Davis that was launched in 2015 and was completed in 2020, when UWC schools managed to unlock a total of USD 17million in matched funding.

The Challenge was designed to encourage and increase donations from new UWC alumni, parents and other UWC supporters. To that end, Mr Davis offered USD 1m in matched funding to each of the seventeen participating UWC schools, which could claim the sum once they had increased the number of individual donors year-on-year. In 2020, UWC Mahindra College and UWC Red Cross Nordic were the last two schools to unlock their full USD 1m match funding and complete the Challenge, for a total of USD 17million in matched funding across all participating schools.

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Davis-Mahindra Scholarship Award

Launched in 2014 as a renewal and extension of the then in place Davis International Scholarships, the Davis-Mahindra Scholarship Award was created by Shelby Davis and UWC Mahindra College’s Governor and Chairman of India’s Mahindra Group, Anand Mahindra. It was a joint initiative that awarded outstanding UWC students for their exceptional contributions to their respective UWC school or college community. With this programme, Mr Davis funded each UWC school with an annual contribution of USD 40,000 to support their development and their philanthropic activities. 

The programme's highlights in recent years include:

• "Fuel for the Future" - In 2018, UWC Li Po Chun used its Davis-Mahindra Scholars Award funding to develop a solar panel project that will improve the school’s sustainability practice in what will be the largest school-based solar panel project in Hong Kong, generating approximately HK 1.9m per year.
• "Decolonising our Education & Giving Back" - In 2017, Pearson College UWC’s initiative on indigenous reconciliation involved re-developing the school curriculum and how to recruit and fundraise for indigenous student scholarships.
• "Targeting Diversity within the region" - In 2016 UWC Changshu China focused on scholarships, fundraising and nomination of minority ethnic groups in China.

The impact of the Davis-Mahindra Scholarship Award, which came to an end in 2019 to leave space for the wider Davis-UWC Dare to Dream Programme, went far beyond the projects or the UWC schools that it funded. It has inspired a culture of giving towards the UWC movement as a whole, and the true extent of its impact is yet to come.