The Clock is Ticking

The campaign to raise $50 million for the California Community Colleges Scholarship Endowment is reaching its halfway point, and we are reminded every day of why this effort couldn’t come at a more critical time. State budget cuts to the largest higher education system in the nation topped $840 million over the last two academic years, enrollments are surging at every college in the state, and our students continue to struggle with the cost of higher education.

At the recent Network of California Community College Foundations Symposium in Manhattan Beach, Dr. Mary Bitterman, President of The Bernard Osher Foundation, provided a firm reminder that the clock is ticking in this critical campaign, urging the colleges in attendance to take advantage of the $25 million in match dollars before the campaign and the match opportunity end on June 30, 2011.

With just 18 months remaining, now is the time to engage and take advantage of the opportunity made possible by the Osher Foundation’s unprecedented $50 million commitment to the California Community Colleges. Success in this effort is critical to helping every college throughout the state in their current development programs, both by opening the doors for other donors with the match opportunity, and creating an Endowment that will provide substantial return on investment due to its sheer size.  

At press time, the Foundation for California Community Colleges and local college foundations had raised a total of $4.7 million toward the $50 million goal, with an additional $3 million in verbal commitments pledged to the Endowment.

“While we still have a long way to go as a system, it is encouraging to see the momentum building these past few months,” said Kerry Wood, Vice President for Resource Development at the Foundation. “We are seeing more colleges and their foundations, despite competing priorities and other challenges, becoming more engaged and seeing the value of this effort in connecting with donors who might not otherwise provide support."

As a reminder, the Foundation for California Community Colleges has developed a number of communication tools and resources for colleges to use in their fundraising efforts, all of which are available at www.SupporttheEndowment.org. If you have ideas for additional tools that can help in your fundraising efforts, please contact us.