MCLENNAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION

The goal of the MCC Foundation is to provide support to ensure student success. Sometimes this support takes the form of a scholarship to cover tuition and fees; sometimes it requires a mentoring program; and sometimes, that support involves helping a student handle a short-term financial emergency that could negatively affect his or her ability to stay in school. Our aim is to ensure that the Foundation either provides direct support or helps a student access help through the college's other wraparound services, including success coaches, the food pantry, or the counseling center.

The MCC Foundation employs the following strategies to ensure it is meeting its goals:
1. Increase overall Foundation giving and awarded grants. By working closely with donors, we help define needs and match those needs with donor intent.
2. Increase employee participation in Foundation giving. This strategy is particularly focused on emergency fund and food pantry support.
3. Increase net proceeds of two annual fundraisers. This strategy is focused on support for athletic, academic, and fine arts scholarships, capital projects in athletics and fine arts, and emergency support for fine arts students.
4. Increase total Foundation invested assets. This strategy focuses on sound investment policy to maximize returns on Foundation investments.

The MCC Foundation has a staff of four (4) full-time professional staff members, plus one full-time administrative support staff members to accomplish its goals. These professional staff include:

Executive Director: 26 years in higher education, BA and MS degrees
Coordinator of Scholarships and Operations: 7 years in higher education, BA and MBA degrees
Coordinator of Special Events and Alumni Engagement: 5 years in higher education, BBA and MBA degrees
Director of Resource Development: 3 years in higher education, BS and MSHA degrees

The Foundation's assets under management are $24.7 million; these assets are managed by staff and a Finance and Investment Committee who oversees investment policy.

The Foundation has been highly successful in building its fund balance with individual donor support of scholarships and capital projects, corporate support of events, and employee support of student-focused services. A corporate gift has helped the Foundation meet 75% of its $350,000 goal of endowing the emergency fund. Adding in a second scholarship application period has increased the number of scholarships awarded by more than 100 per year. In 2018, the MCC Foundation board voted to dedicate $50,000 of an estate gift to endow the Food Pantry fund for long-term stability of that program. In late 2020, a major gift enabled the Foundation to initiate 17 new endowed scholarship funds for MCC academic programs leading to employment as well as transfer-oriented programs in Presidential Scholars, Honors College, and Engineering. In 2021, the Foundation is launching a capital campaign to upgrade campus facilities; these upgrades will improve the college experience for students as well as contribute to the local economy through increased facility use by outside parties.