Changing Lives, Building Futures
Your Donor Newsletter Spring 2009 Spring 2010
Foundation News
Message from President and CEO Steven Helfgot These times remain interesting and challenging. Community colleges find themselves with a real dilemma in times like these. With a high rate of unemployment and underemployment, many people return to school looking to upgrade current skills or learn new ones for new jobs. This is certainly the case for the Maricopa Community Colleges. In the fall 2009 semester, enrollment grew by more than 11,000 students district wide as compared to fall 2008. And for spring 2010, it looks like we will see a similar increase over spring 2009. At the same time there are real reductions in the resources that support our colleges. So our very real dilemma is that we have more students with greater need—as you will see in the following paragraph – and fewer dollars to support them.
• Message from the President • New Donor Wall Honors Givers • Student Spotlight Bryanna Cisneros • Maricopa Cares • Getting Together . . . Giving Together
Steven R. Helfgot, Ed.D.
At the Foundation – perhaps like many of you – we see some signs of hope and some reason for optimism. Our Finance and Investment Committee held its quarterly meeting in January and heard some encouraging news from our investment manager on the status of our endowment. For the first time in quite awhile, we are seeing our investments grow and our endowment starting to creep back up. That’s especially good news given that the level of student need seems to be greater than ever before. For the current year, our scholarship applications have more than doubled over the number we see in a typical year. And as we move through the spring, we have opened the application process for fall 2010. —see Message page 2
New Donor Wall Honors Those Who Give
• Our Hero of Education, Mayor Phil Gordon
$1 million and above – PATRON $500,000 to $999,999 – BENEFACTOR $250,000 to $499,999 – FELLOW $100,000 to $249,999 – SPONSOR $50,000 to $99,999 – ADVOCATE
In addition to the fixed display, the wall includes an interactive LCD screen where donors who have given cumulative amounts between $1,000 and $49,999 are listed and recognized as follows: New Donor Wall located at MCCCD
The Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation 2419 W. 14th Street Tempe, Arizona 85281 www.maricopa.edu/ foundation 480.731.8407 If you would prefer our on-line edition of the newsletter send an e-mail to leticia.grahamcorona@domail.maricopa.edu
The Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation unveiled and dedicated a new Donor Wall on November 19, 2009. It is located on the hallway wall leading into the Community Room at 2419 West 14th Street in Tempe. The Donor Wall acknowledges and honors individuals, corporations and foundations that have generously supported Maricopa’s excellence in teaching and learning. A fixed display features all donors who have given cumulative amounts ranging from $50,000 to over $1 million; they are recognized in the following categories:
$25,000 to $49,999 – COLLEAGUE $10,000 to $24,999 – ALLY $5,000 to $9,999 – ASSOCIATE $1,000 to $4,999 – SUPPORTER
The interactive feature also has general information about the Foundation, highlights specific donors and students, recognizes each Heroes of Education honoree, and includes a section for special announcements. Approximately 60 donors attended the Donor Wall Dedication ceremony, which was kicked off by a computer-generated ribbon cutting. Among the large number of attendees were three very special people. Mesa Community College donor, Jinnett Kirk, who now resides in California, sent her two daughters and a granddaughter to represent her. The Kirk family’s philanthropic dedication to the Maricopa Community Colleges is representative of hundreds of our loyal donors. For that we are ever grateful!
Getting Together . . . Giving Together The Women’s Philanthropy Circle (WPC) was created to provide a nontraditional manner for members of the community to join employees of the Maricopa Community Colleges in supporting the women students attending our community colleges. WPC also promotes and celebrates the role women increasingly play in creating change through philanthropic giving. The “Circle” is all about passion. WPC is for active, involved donors who want to learn about both academic and nonacademic barriers faced by women considering higher education, then it designs and funds opportunities to overcome them. In depth, participation means the Women’s Philanthropy Circle will have multiple events each year to conduct business, share ideas, make awards to students, and celebrate its success. For more information about Women’s Philanthropy Circle, contact Anne Halvorson by phone at 480.731.8408 or by e-mail at anne. halvorson@domail.maricopa.edu.
Maricopa Cares It is easy enough to pay lip service to our core mission of teaching and learning, but it is quite another thing to “put our money where our mouths are.” Historically, Maricopa employees have met this challenge in an extraordinary way. By giving generously through the Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation, employees have consistently demonstrated a deep-seated commitment to the District’s students and programs. A million dollars is a lot of money by any measure. And Maricopa employees have contributed more than that over the years! Our employees have supported scholarships, established endowments, enriched memorial tributes, and given to college instructional and student success efforts, among other initiatives. Prospective donors typically ask us to what extent our employees support the Foundation’s mission, and we can unequivocally and proudly respond, “wholeheartedly.”
—Message Continued
Early indications are that the number of those applications will also be “significant.” So even with reasons for hope and optimism in the wider economy, our students face continuing challenges and, therefore, so do we. Our efforts are focused on responding to those challenges and meeting those needs. As always we are grateful for what you provide to the Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation to support our students. At the end of the day we are only able to respond to those challenges and meet those needs because of your generosity and commitment. And even as we say thank you, we ask you to think about doing more: help those thousands of additional students who are coming to our colleges and provide assistance to those scholarship applicants whose numbers have more than doubled. Add to your endowment, fund another scholarship, make an unrestricted gift to support the general scholarship fund. Help however you can . . . and accept our most sincere thanks in advance. These times, indeed, remain interesting and challenging.
Student Spotlight
Bryanna Cisneros, Paradise Valley Community College An alumna of the ACE Program at Paradise Valley Community College and Paradise Valley High School, Bryanna is the first in her family to graduate from high school and attend college. Perhaps even more impressive than her 3.95 college GPA and equally impressive high school GPA, is Bryanna’s drive to help others. Her community service history involves picking up garbage in the community, feeding the homeless, and hosting birthday parties for children from lower income families. In addition to her outstanding academic achievement and devotion to her community, Bryanna greatly values her family. She was the primary source of income for her family during her senior year of high school. Leslie Vogel, ACE Program Coordinator at PVCC, said of Bryanna, “She’s a really organized, responsible young lady with a really good heart.” The Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation was pleased to award Bryanna the APS ACE Scholarship for the 2009-10 academic year.
Our Hero of Education, Mayor Phil Gordon Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon was honored by the Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation at the fifth annual ‘Heroes of Education’ Dinner on April 7, 2010 at the Arizona Biltmore Resort. A 6 p.m. reception was followed by the 7 p.m. dinner in the Biltmore’s McArthur Ballroom. Mayor Gordon was first introduced as the 2010 recipient of the Heroes of Education Award at a September 23, 2009 kickoff reception at Morton’s The Steakhouse. Sponsored by the Maricopa Community Colleges and the Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation, the Heroes of Education dinner honors those individuals who have a proven personal and professional commitment to support Maricopa Community College students. Proceeds from the dinner support student scholarships through the Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation. Nearly 500 civic and corporate leaders from the valley attended the dinner which raised nearly $195,000. “Phil’s been a champion for the Maricopa Colleges for a long time,” said Rufus Glasper, Chancellor for the Maricopa Community Colleges. “It’s an honor to recognize him and the work he’s done as a supporter of and partner with our colleges.” “Phil Gordon has demonstrated his commitment to education and the students of the Maricopa Community Colleges,” said Dr. Steve Helfgot, President and CEO of the Foundation. “He is a superb advocate for education and an ideal person to be honored at our Heroes of Education dinner.”