Community College Journal - February/March 2010

spokespeople for their local community college, it speaks volumes for the accountability and credibility of that organization,” Guy says.

Still, even at community colleges with successful fundraising programs, private funds cover only a small share of the total costs—less than 3 percent at ITCC and just higher than 4 percent at NMC.

“The fundraising that community colleges do, it’s the icing on the cake,” says CRD’s Binns. “It’s not the cake. Much more is needed.”

Going Public

Community colleges also can aggressively seek federal funds. Federal grants for community colleges roughly doubled between 2002 and 2006, and AGI and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the stimulus bill) provide still newer potential funding streams. The stimulus package, for example, is frontloaded with $750 million in competitive grants in areas such as green jobs, job training, and health care training, all areas of emphasis for community colleges.

How do colleges get the money? Just as institutions require fundraising expertise in the hunt for private dollars, they require grant expertise to identify appropriate grant programs.

“Four years ago, we made a decision
that we needed to be more aggressive
and better planned in seeking federal
dollars,” says Michael Lanser, president
of Lakeshore Technical College (LTC)
in Cleveland, Wis. “We knew we had to
bring on someone with that expertise.”
Enter grants specialist Rebecca Polar.
Polar actively searches the federal
stimulus bill for grants that match
LTC’s strengths, including energy-
sector job training. Deans and other
leaders evaluate the opportunities,
and Polar also works closely with CRD
and the Wisconsin Technical College
System. Polar and her team plan to use
a similar process for AGI if it passes.

Bricks-and-mortar funds are hard to
come by, explains Polar, so it’s important
to know what fits your existing facilities
and capacities. “When we write a grant,”
she says, “we have to ask ourselves, ‘Do
we have the facilities to operate this
program and bring new staff on and do
all the things necessary to successfully
implement the grant?’”
Partnerships are also crucial, and
grants often require them. LTC’s staff is
constantly building relationships with
local economic development organiza-
tions, businesses, and other institutions.
The college currently has a grant appli-
cation to fund industrial lab equipment
and make lab and classroom renovations
for training workers on high-speed
machines. In writing the grant, LTC
worked with the Plymouth Joint School
District, industry partner Sargento
Foods, and the city of Plymouth, Wis.

Under the proposal, LTC provides training, the school district provides space, and the city chips in additional funds for computer-based training— a true collaborative effort.

“We couldn’t do it on our own,” Lanser says, “the local school district couldn’t improve their facility on their own, and the city is investing in it because it has a direct tie to economic development.”

Doug Van Nostran, director of grant development and administration for the Louisiana Community & Technical College System (LCTCS), takes a similar approach to fundraising. LCTCS recently had a 7. 2 percent budget cut, and colleges in Louisiana have been told to expect budget cuts as high as 15 percent in FY 2011. Meanwhile, enrollment across the system is up 13. 4 percent.

In 2009, Van Nostran’s first year on the job, each grant he wrote involved some form of partnership, with entities such as the Louisiana Workforce Commission. When Van Nostran finds a grant he thinks has potential, he also considers which schools in the system have the capacity and partnerships to make it work.

Well-matched grants and programs are
likely to yield positive results, which in
turn increase the college’s likelihood of
garnering more grants in the future, he
says. “History shows that once you are
successful with a project, you’re much
more likely to be funded again for some-
thing similar.”
When it comes to grants, long-term
thinking is key. Even without high-
profile grant programs, such as the
stimulus or AGI, Polar says, there
are consistent sources of funding for
student support and childcare in long-
standing federal grants. And there are
usually opportunities available through
the U.S. Departments of Commerce,
Labor, Education, and Energy.

“Those sources have been around for quite a while, and I think we will see them into the future,” Polar says. Likewise, there will be plenty of work for fundraisers in the future, whether state budgets bounce back or not.

“There’s a lot of attention on us,” LTC’s Lanser says of community colleges at large. “I just feel that we’re part of the solution, that we’re a key component in turning this economy around and sustaining it for the future.”