Fund Information

HARRY AND ELEANOR D. NELSON VACAVILLE ENDOWMENT FUND

2026 Scholarship Cycle Now OPEN - Deadline to apply is March 30, 2026

The Harry and Eleanor D. Nelson Scholarship recognizes continued academic excellence and community service while attending high school. This generous scholarship is made possible by the Harry and Eleanor D. Nelson Vacaville Endowment Fund, a component fund of the Solano Community Foundation.

AWARD AMOUNT: five $20,000, renewable over four years, made in payments of $5,000 each in the fall of each academic year.

APPLICATION START DATE: January 26, 2026

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: March 30, 2026

ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS:

• Vacaville resident and a graduating senior currently attending Vacaville High School, Will C. Wood High School, or Buckingham Collegiate Charter Academy
• have been enrolled at one of the above schools for their entire junior and senior years

ALL APPLICANTS MUST:  

• have earned a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5 at the time their transcript is submitted
• demonstrate financial need
• provide a verifiable record of involvement in school and community service activities
• be accepted to (and planning to attend) a four-year college or university as a full-time student

HOW TO APPLY: Fill out the Google Form Scholarship Application.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS:

A copy of your most recent transcript from your high school office/registrar and it must include Senior Year Fall Semester Grades
One academic letter of recommendation from an instructor, teacher, employer, coach, or community member

Note: All Scholarship recipients must complete and return a Student Enrollment Verification Form. Students awarded a renewable scholarship are required to submit a verification form each year, to receive renewal payments.

QUESTIONS: Contact Jennifer Saelee, Grants and Scholarships, at (707)399-3846 or scholarships@solanocf.org

2026 Harry and Eleanor D. Nelson Scholarship Guidelines

2026 Harry and Eleanor D. Nelson Scholarship Application

2025 Scholarship Recipients

Click here to view our 2024 Scholarship Impact Report

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NELSON FUND - HISTORY & PURPOSE

Originally named “Vacaville Community Foundation” by Harry and Eleanor D. Nelson in 1967, this fund focused on benefitting Vacaville residents. Technically not a “community foundation,” but a private foundation, the Nelsons promoted education through the granting of scholarships to seniors in Vacaville high schools for college and postgraduate study. The secondary purpose was, and still is to promote public recreation, preservation of the environment, and preservation of historical records and relics.

In 2008, this private foundation dissolved and moved the assets to a new endowed scholarship fund at the Solano Community Foundation. SCF is now the successor and administrator of The Harry and Eleanor D. Nelson Vacaville Endowment Fund and their scholarship program. 

Historically, most of the funds distributed have been as scholarship awards. Initially, grants made were one-time, non-renewable awards of a few hundred dollars to a handful of students.

About Harry and Eleanor D. Nelson

Harry Nelson graduated from the University of California at Davis and was an agriculturalist with landholdings in the Vacaville area.  His wife, Eleanor Dexter Nelson, a native of Lodi, graduated from the University of California at Berkeley.  She began teaching in Vacaville in 1920 and retired from teaching Spanish and English at Vacaville High School in 1951. During her "retirement," Mrs. Nelson devoted her energies to community service, including inauguration of a city recreational program for youth, the organization of Fiesta Days, and the establishment of the Vacaville Museum.