Giving to educational organizations reached $43.32 billion in 2007, according to the GivingUSA Foundation, yet fundraising efforts in California’s community colleges are still in their infancy. As we have seen with the challenges posed to our colleges by this year’s state budget mess, community colleges must rely upon more than public funding to meet the needs of their students, programs, and facilities.
At the quarterly board of directors meeting of the Foundation for California Community Colleges earlier this week, we had the great honor of welcoming philanthropist Bernard Osher and Mary Bitterman, president of the Bernard Osher Foundation. Last May’s announcement of Osher’s $50 million pledge to launch a statewide community college scholarship endowment changed the paradigm for philanthropy at the community college level, revealing what’s possible for our system and other two-year systems nationwide.
Next week in San Diego, more than 225 district chancellors and trustees, college presidents, foundation board members, fundraising professionals, and others from throughout our system will gather at the annual Network of California Community Colleges Symposium. This is a remarkable growth in participation over last year’s event, particularly considering the economic climate we all face today. However, it is in part because of these difficult times that this year’s Symposium takes on added significance. It has never been more readily apparent that we must diversify our forms of support for community colleges and look beyond state budgets and bond issues to fulfill the needs of our campuses and students.
This year’s Symposium will focus heavily on the importance of philanthropy as a means of achieving institutional goals, and will provide building blocks for success as colleges look to build and benefit from their fundraising efforts. We’ll hear from Mary Bitterman about the Osher Foundation’s interest in providing scholarships to as many community college students as possible throughout California, and their motivation for creating the Osher Initiative. We’ll learn from Eduardo Padrón, president of Miami Dade College, about how he led efforts that have resulted in tremendously successful alumni relations and fundraising programs, and how we might apply some of those lessons at institutions in California. We’ll also unveil a new statewide community college alumni magazine and website, the first of several tools we are introducing to our colleges for their use in cultivating alumni engagement and giving.
Thanks to the efforts of difference-makers like the Bernard Osher Foundation, and thanks to the enthusiasm of the leaders in our system who will convene in San Diego next week, we’ve never had greater momentum or opportunity to improve our futures than we have today. By integrating philanthropic support with state funding, community colleges can diversify funding streams and grow even in difficult economic times. The Foundation for California Community Colleges is committed to working with the Network of California Community College Foundations, our 110 colleges statewide, and motivated administrators and volunteers throughout our system to ensure that community colleges have a seat at the table when it comes to philanthropy, following the model that four-year institutions have pursued so successfully.