If you’re talking about how far the Promotional Products Education Foundation has come over the years, the numbers alone don’t do it justice – although they’re impressive in their own right.
Since 1989, PPEF has awarded more than $4 million in college scholarships to students in the branded merchandise community.
In 2025 alone, PPEF provided $335,000 in college scholarships for students looking to pursue their goals.
Financial figures are great for measuring success, but when it comes to understanding impact, consider what that money is going toward. That’s more than 2,100 students who have been given financial assistance as they seek higher education. These have been the families of small merch companies or employees of some of the industry’s biggest firms. Even employees themselves looking to attain a college degree are eligible for a scholarship.
That $4 million and counting represents generations of ambition for higher education, as well as the branded merchandise community putting aside competition to support one another. Most people enter a job field for a better life. PPEF has helped this particular industry take that to heart.
Take Jason Nokes. If you don’t know Nokes from his two decades at Distributor Central, then you might know of PromoPulse, the business service provider that has helped distributors run marketing campaigns since Nokes founded it in 2019.
Nokes left a steady, relatively high-paying job at age 48. It was his family’s primary income source just as he was about to send his children to college. Fortunately, PPEF could provide some relief.
“It was just something that hit at the exact right time in our personal lives,” Nokes says of the PPEF scholarship awarded to his family.
Examples like this are a reminder that donations to PPEF and scholarships awarded aren’t isolated philanthropy. They are connected to the industry. They give lifelines to people like Nokes, which makes it easier for them to take risks and use their knowledge to build something that helps branded merch. And if his children graduate and choose to join the industry themselves? Even more growth.
What’s been accomplished is not nearly as impressive, however, as what’s planned for the future. The long-term goal for PPEF is to hand out $1 million in scholarships every academic year.
“The opportunity has no ceiling,” says Drew Holmgreen, CAS, president and CEO of PPAI.
As the foundation grows, the hope is that awareness of branded merch grows alongside it.
‘A Pipeline Of Visibility’
Lindsey Davis, MAS, was raised in the merch industry. In high school, she went to work applying labels to lip balm for her father’s company, Solar Advertising, working the foot pedal label applier like a sewing machine.
“It’s how I paid for my car,” Davis says.
When it was time to apply to colleges, she and her parents knew PPEF would be a resource they could try. Davis was awarded a four-year scholarship through the foundation, which allowed her to attend her first-choice school. She would go on to spend seven years working for Solar Advertising before joining Raining Rose, PPAI 100’s No. 52 supplier. Almost six years later, PPAI would bring her on, eventually making her director of sales. Now, she holds that same title for Charles River Apparel, PPAI 100’s No. 42 supplier.
Along that journey, Davis sat on the PPEF Board of Trustees.
Her story represents what PPEF has been to this industry and how much more it can be. So often, the makeup of the branded merch community is divided into two categories: people who were born into and thus understand its workings and value (like Davis) and people who fell into it by happenstance. Traditionally, there have not been many examples of people intentionally seeking out the industry.
That’s a problem of awareness, and the solution starts with college-aged people coming to understand that merch isn’t just a product – it’s an industry.
“Standard traditional marketing is seen as digital, television, radio, print, outdoor and mixing direct mail and a few other media,” Holmgreen says. “Branded merch isn’t part of that discussion because it’s not necessarily considered a medium.”
Perception, of course, isn’t reality, and regardless of what they end up doing with their careers, PPEF scholars are likely going off to their respective campuses with an understanding of the industry that gave them some assistance to get there.
“We’re pushing for a footprint for them to understand the importance of merch and how large our industry is and the diversity of roles within it,” says Nicki Staats, vice president of vendor management at iPROMOTEu, PPAI 100’s No. 4 distributor, and PPEF Board chair elect. “We’re an industry that can compete just as well as healthcare or aviation or construction and all of the other top options that are out there.”
PPEF scholars are free to pursue any sector they dream of, and yet just by helping send bright young people with an awareness of merch’s breadth to institutes of higher education, there’s a greater possibility of new talent coming back to the industry.
The foundation offers four-year and one-year scholarships on both need-based ($2,500 annually) and merit-based ($1,250 annually) criteria.
To qualify, applicants must:
- Be full-time employees of the branded merch industry or dependents of an employee in the industry.
- Have a GPA of at least 3.0.
- Provide an essay and letter of recommendation.
Applicants are assessed by more than just the PPEF Board of Trustees. Each year, volunteer professionals throughout the industry participate in the process, and each application is reviewed by at least three volunteers.
Lisa Hubbard
VP of Sales, The Vernon Company
“The leadership that you see from applicants is just mind-blowing,” says Lisa Hubbard, VP of sales and marketing at The Vernon Company, PPAI 100’s No. 28 distributor, and PPEF Board chair. “It’s probably one of the most rewarding things that you can do.”
It’s a long process, and PPEF is always looking for more volunteers to help choose who will receive a scholarship – but be warned, it’s not quite the same as approving product samples.
“I would say definitely it’s well worth it, and depending on how emotional you are, I would also say have some tissues handy,” says Staats. “Some of the essays can be very touching and make you appreciate the goal.”
That feeling funnels right back into the higher goals PPEF has set for the future. Awarding $1 million in scholarships is something that PPAI and PPEF want to be able to do for the branded merch community.
Holmgreen believes that could be achieved within the next few years. The question becomes how will the foundation get from here to there? The journey will likely involve the entire industry.
‘Asking People To Help Children Is So Easy’
Every Monday during the week of The PPAI Expo, PPEF hosts the Fran Ford and Glen Holt Golf Memorial Tournament in sunny Las Vegas. It’s the foundation’s largest fundraiser, and for some people in the industry, it’s a can’t-miss event.
It’s all-you-can-eat, all-you-can-drink and teams can purchase as many mulligans as they want –adding to the donations. There are raffled prizes. And a $10,000 cash prize for a hole-in-one.
“You get a little fresh air before three days of being inside at Expo, but also you have a whole bunch of industry people that are coming together for a good cause,” says Dana Porter, MAS, vice president of information services at SAGE, who is joining the PPEF Board next year.
The tournament can get competitive, of course, and Staats is looking to issue a challenge of her own.
“I’d love to see more women,” Staats says. “We only have typically one women’s team compete, so I challenge more women to get out there.”
Still, it will take more than just an annual golf tournament to reach the heights PPEF is capable of. The hope is to get awareness of the foundation in front of every HR director in the industry so that, above all else, employees understand the resources available to them. In fact, PPEF scholarships now include vocational schools as well as “adult learner” awards for those looking to earn certifications.
Awareness, the thinking goes, leads to more applications and more donations. Currently, the Tomorrow Fund makes up more than half of annual donations to PPEF. Becoming a Tomorrow Fund donor means agreeing to a six-year pledge for different tiers of annual donations.
Ultimately, though, even after the golf tournament, even after all the generous Tomorrow Fund donors, there’s still untapped potential. In an industry where competitors so often share trade secrets and lift each other up, raising more money for each other’s families feels realistic.
To Holmgreen, it’s basic arithmetic.
“You’ve got approximately 45,000 branded merch companies in the United States,” Holmgreen says. “We’ve got 15,000 PPAI members. If you start to do some very simple math, a $10 donation from each of those companies becomes a whole lot of money.” It’s really that easy, and the future literally depends on it.
