EMPLOYERS NEED a pool of well-educated workers to remain globally competitive, while high school students need some college to succeed. But college remains unaffordable for many high school students, especially low-income minority students.

Bob Craves, a founding officer of Issaquah- based Costco Wholesale Corp., wants to change that. In his new mission as chairman and CEO of the nonprofit College Success Foundation, Craves is attempting to raise $1 billion to help low-income and minority students attend college. To say he's serious about this mission is an understatement. "I just know it's the right thing to do," he says, adding that, as a society, we have to "educate our way out" of poverty.

So far, the Issaquah-based College Success Foundation, which manages six scholarship funds, has raised more than $300 million and awarded 4,500 college scholarships, primarily to students in Washington State.

While the nonprofit provides financial aid, it also approaches the issue comprehensively, providing support and mentoring to the students, beginning when they are still in high school and into college. The idea is to help students who may not have the highest grades, but who have potential and who need the financial help to pay for college.

Other states are already replicating the model built by the College Success Foundation. Two years ago, Arizona launched a similar program with guidance from Craves, and in March, the nonprofit launched a $116 million initiative in Washington, D.C., where it will offer scholarships to 175 juniors at six high schools in some of the city's most depressed neighborhoods.

The foothold in D.C. is part of the College Success Foundation's larger ambition: "The goal is to be in all 50 states," says Susan Pollack, director of advocacy and marketing for the organization. Meanwhile, the nonprofit has recently rolled out new programs to help Washington state bolster math and science education to meet demands by employers for workers skilled in related fields, and to make it easier for corporations and private donors to help low-income students.

The bulk of the funding for the College Success Foundation comes from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Some comes from Costco. Craves wants more businesses, civic groups and private donors to join his cause as the nonprofit expands.

Those who know the 65-year-old Craves say he is propelled by an unstoppable work ethic and unwavering optimism about what people can accomplish in life. Affable and easygoing, Craves quickly gives credit to others, including his wife, Gerri, a registered nurse, and Ann Ramsay-Jenkins, both of whom helped Craves found the organization, known as the Washington Education Foundation until 2006.

Craves says that although businesses may complain about the failure of government to properly educate children, they can't sit on the sidelines and watch the problem get worse. Gerri Craves puts it bluntly: "Besides just jobs, it is a moral issue, it is a social justice issue."

Bob Craves grew up in Bay City, Mich., the eldest of five children whose father worked two jobs and whose mother took care of all the kids.

Early on, Craves was on his way to becoming a priest, earning a bachelor's degree in philosophy from The Catholic University of America. He then changed his career goal, earning his master's degree in the school's Institute of International Law and Relations, and thought about joining the Foreign Service.

At 25, though, he grew restless, and felt he needed to jump out of academia and into an arena where, as he puts it, he'd have the "freedom to move on projects." The opportunity to do that came by way of Wickes Corp., an aggressively expanding national building materials company, where Craves quickly climbed the ranks.