Sinclair Community College has started its annual campaign to “build brighter futures” by changing the lives of students who otherwise wouldn’t have the funds to go to college, according to Sharon Smith, annual giving and scholarships officer.
“The annual fund is our campaign that we run every year to raise unrestricted dollars in support of student’s scholarships and programs. It can also fund things like technological advances, equipment, and really anything where the need is across the college,” according to Smith.
For 41 years, the Annual Fund has been a part of Sinclair, but in the last 15 years the foundation has made a huge impact and has taken an active role of soliciting new members, Smith said. Overall, the goal of the fund is to help raise money for students trying to get an education.
“All gifts to the annual fund can go to any scholarships if the donor chooses to. You can either give unrestricted, which means that the foundation can use it where the need is greatest,” Smith said. “Or, a donor can restrict their gifts to a particular scholarship or program.”
The money from the donor goes toward more than 270 scholarships, through STARS (Scholarship Tracking and Review System), an online application process. Once inside the STARS database, the program will take the students information and match it to the criteria for Sinclair’s scholarships.
“Essentially, if the student is a Business major with a 2.5 GPA and has completed 12 hours, it will match it with all the scholarships that are for that particular type of student. All that students need to do at that point is click apply, and they get put in a queue of scholarships applicants to be reviewed for that particular scholarship,” she said.
Merit based scholarships often do not go through STARS, Smith said. These scholarships include music, theater, and art scholarships because they often need a portfolio or audition to be awarded the scholarship.
An endeavor the foundation is working on is the Students Support Sinclair Fund, also known as the Class Gift of 2011. The Class Gift of 2011 is a way for students to donate and show their support by donating their money to the collection cans. All money that is donated will be counted and put into an unrestricted fund to help students who lack the funding to provide for their education. The collections cans are located throughout the campus in all Aramark locations, Starbucks, Main Street Café in Building 10 and the Cantina in Building 8.
The foundation is also in the middle of its Employee Campaign. The Employee Campaign is a campaign that allows for the employees of Sinclair to donate their money and show their support of the college. To date, the campaign has raised $72,500 from four hundred employees to put students first, Smith said.
“Being able to help students and raise money for them to fulfill their dreams makes it all worthwhile. Also, I encourage students, faculty or friends of Sinclair to consider giving to the annual fund,” she said. “There are so many students out there that need the help and encouragement to attend college and without the assistance from the foundation they wouldn’t be able to attend. Please consider that as an option in your giving plans.”