CCS Foundation Facts
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Leadership
• 32 volunteer community leaders serve on the Board of Directors
• 2007-08 President, Brian Jones
• Executive Director, Gail D. Stevenson
Financial Information
• Assets currently total more than $22 million, of that $16 million is unrestricted.
• 61 endowment funds total $4,407,078.
• General administrative cost is only 8 percent of total expenditures.
Annual Projects and Events
Touch the Future House
CCS Foundation teams with students and faculty at SCC, and with area businesses, to build and sell a house every year. This project provides hands-on experience in the construction trades and in horticulture/landscape design for SCC students and has generated over $510,000 for scholarships and program support over the last 10 years.
Bigfoot Golf Classic
The foundation and the CCS athletics department host a golf tournament each spring, raising money for student athletic scholarships and community activities. A sold-out field of golfers, outstanding sponsors and a great group of volunteers have raised $86,000 over the past four years. The 2008 Golf Classic is Friday, June 20, at Downriver Golf Course.
Annual Wine and Gourmet Gala
The foundation hosted is second annual Wine and Gourmet Gala in March 2008 at Spencer’s Restaurant in Spokane. The event featured a four-course dinner prepared by students and faculty from SCC’s hospitality management department and Inland Northwest Culinary Academy, working alongside the renowned chefs at Spencer’s. Regional wines complemented each course, and a live and silent auction rounds out the event. Proceeds benefit the Inland Northwest Cat SCC and the CCS students through the Foundation's Emerging Needs Endowment.
Annual Mini-Grant Program
The CCS Foundation Board of Directors introduced a new annual mini-grant program in 2006, funding CCS projects that support student learning and cannot be funded by the colleges and the IEL. The program funds smaller grant requests, typically ranging between $250 and $1,500. Any CCS instructor or staff member can apply. The program is monitored by a grants committee that chooses recipients and monitors the progress of projects. In fall 2006, the
foundation awarded $10,000 to 14 outstanding projects.
Annual Campaign
CCS Foundation’s Annual Campaign seeks to obtain gifts on a yearly basis that help ensure the quality of programs and services provided by CCS, while offering scholarship support to students. Our goal for 2007-08 is $1,000,000. To maximize the effect of annual gifts, the foundation is offering a 3-to-1 match on all donations directed to the Emerging Needs Endowment during 2007-08. This endowment enables the foundation to better meet the pressing needs of students and CCS on a continuing basis.
Funding Priorities
The SCC Entrepreneurship Program
CCS Foundation is partnering with SCC’s business, hospitality and information technologies division to develop an Entrepreneurship program, offering a hands-on approach to training future business leaders and entrepreneurs. Students from a variety of business disciplines at SCC participate in a year-long interdisciplinary business experience where they create a business from the ground up. Local business and community leaders and college instructors guide student teams through the process. Students master academic material by producing deliverables in a real business environment. CCS Foundation is conducting a campaign to raise funding to provide the infrastructure and resources needed to meet this program’s goals.
SCC Medical Imaging Core Curriculum
In partnership with SCC, CCS Foundation is conducting a $200,000 fund-raising initiative to expand educational offerings in medical imaging. SCC’s goal is to offer a full complement of diagnostic imaging programs, including cardiology, radiology, sonography, nuclear, pulmonary and radiation therapy. A core curriculum must be developed, followed by curriculum for each specialty area. The foundation’s goal is to equip an energized radiology technology laboratory and a sonography laboratory, and to develop a medical imaging core curriculum that includes an ultrasound program.
Scholarships
Supporting students is at the core of everything the foundation does. We are proud to have awarded $2,687,987 in scholarships to 12,203 students over the last 10 years. We are acutely aware removing financial barriers for students is a critical, ongoing effort. While the foundation manages a variety of projects and seeks funding for key initiatives, securing private support for
educating men and women in Eastern Washington is its top priority. CCS Foundation awarded 1,631 scholarships — valued at $326,245 — to community college students in 2005-06.
Community Colleges of Spokane Alumni Association
When you study at and graduate from one of our colleges, you become a partner with Community Colleges of Spokane for life. Our alumni association is a great way to maintain, even enhance, this special relationship. Managed through CCS Foundation, the alumni association builds and fosters ongoing relationships with alumni and supports and promotes CCS’ mission by advancing higher education. If you graduated from one of our colleges — or earned 30 credits or more at one of our institutions — and left the college in good financial standing, you’re eligible to join. For information, call 434-5063.