Talent is universal, but opportunity is not.

Where talent meets opportunity
We find Dreamers, Students, Entrepreneurs, Doctors, Teachers, and Leaders.

But when a young woman stops school to work two jobs,
or when a girl’s family can’t afford transportation or housing,
talent is wasted because opportunity is denied.

U-GO exists to fund higher education scholarships
For talented young women in low-income countries.

Because when you educate a woman,
you transform a community and change the world.

About U-GO

U-GO is the second social venture founded by CU Boulder alumnus and former Microsoft executive John Wood. The first, Room to Read, grew to become one of the world’s largest education NGO’s, reaching over 30 million children in 26 countries. John and his wife Amy co-founded U-GO in 2022 in order to help a generation of ambitious and promising young women to achieve their dream of a university education and a promising career. John is the author of the best-selling memoir Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and served four years on the Advisory Board of the Clinton Global Initiative.

Driven by the purpose of making opportunity as universal as talent, U-GO envisions a world where all women have access to higher education, whatever barriers they face. To achieve this, U-GO's funds higher education scholarships for talented young women in low-income countries at scale, by partnering with ambitious donors. Operating across 9 low-income Asian and African countries through a network of 14 world-class NGO partners, U-GO has to date funded scholarships for 6,715 young women, delivering life-changing impact for scholars, their families, and communities.

For more information on U-GO, please visit our website at www.ugouniversity.org. For inspiring stories from some of the many incredible U-GO scholars, visit our story page or Youtube channel.

Give with Confidence. Charity Navigator, the premier charity evaluator in the U.S., has awarded U-GO its four-star rating—the highest possible—for its financial health, effectiveness and reliability.

U-GO San Francisco Wine Dinner 2026

Delicious food, great wine, fun people, all in support of university education for young women in low-income countries.