4Cs Educational Foundation: Always Giving
by Alexis Nawrocki
The Cape Cod Community College (4Cs) Educational Foundation is currently celebrating 35 years of giving to the 4Cs community. Founded in 1983, the foundation is a nonprofit organization with a mission to raise money to benefit students and faculty.
Throughout 35 years of service, this organization has raised almost 35 million dollars. Those funds have gone directly to the college in support of the College’s state-of-the-art Nursing and Dental Hygiene clinics, as well as over $200,000 in scholarships for 4Cs students, according to the Foundation’s financial statements for the year 2018.
The Foundation is about to embark on what will likely be a 3-1/2 year project.
A few months ago, the College received 25 million dollars in state funding towards a new Science and Engineering building. While that is a remarkable amount of money, the College still needs to raise 13 million for this building to become a reality. This is where the 4Cs Educational Foundation comes in.
“To raise money for the new science building, we will be holding a big capital campaign,” said Executive Director Kathy McNamara. “We will be talking to individual donors and working with foundations and local banks who have been very supportive. Our focus will be seeking out major donors for this campaign.”
Raising 13 million dollars is not something that will happen overnight, in fact this will likely take several years. In the meantime, the Foundation also plans on putting its focus on student outreach. The Foundation’s mission is to encourage students to apply for scholarships this year.
“The biggest challenge we face is getting the word out to students that money is available,” said McNamara.
According to McNamara, around 400 students applied for scholarships last year. With approximately 3,300 students enrolled at the College, that means that the vast majority of the student population were either unaware of these scholarships or did not bother applying at all.
“While there is no guarantee that every student that applies for these scholarships will get one, you will never know if you don’t take the time to try,” McNamara said.
There are many opportunities for financial assistance at the College and it is never too early to start thinking about applying for scholarships. Students can begin applying online from February 14 until March 8.
Categories: Student Life,