Jeff L. Pittman

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, community college leaders have faced challenges related to enrollment; funding; identifying and retaining qualified faculty and staff; and continuing to meet the demands of our students, employers, and communities. Now, we must plan to address declining birth rates combined with unprecedented vacancies in high-demand jobs in several employment sectors. In addition to these issues, we also see potential threats of reduced funding from federal, state, and local governmental bodies that we depend upon to provide affordable educational pathways to students.

Enrollment is surging at the four St. Louis Community College (STLCC) campuses. We are realizing rapid growth in on-campus and online education modalities and early college programming. Perhaps these increases are a sign of the times, with higher living costs and the recent public perception that the traditional university experience is beyond many Americans’ financial reach.

While increasing enrollment is good news, community college leaders are also at a significant crossroads to remain financially strong. We will likely see higher enrollments with less state and local funding. Hence, new funding sources need to be identified. While many colleges have been engaged in finding alternative funding sources outside of local and state tax support, at STLCC, we have discovered, through private fundraising efforts, that many of our community partners are interested in supporting our mission and assisting students in fulfilling their educational objectives.

Over the 30 years I have been involved in fundraising campaigns for community colleges, I have seen a shift in benefactor perceptions and expectations that should be considered when pursuing fundraising efforts in today’s highly competitive environment. Earlier in my career, a campaign typically focused on a new building with naming rights or more general funding of student needs. Today, that strategy will not work, at least not with the potential donors in our market.

We recently completed a $24 million campaign through the STLCC Foundation. A great deal of planning was involved in the campaign before its launch, and we discovered the need to diversify our approach to attract the most interest from a wide range of potential donors. We learned that donors are interested in how the campaign will benefit their organization as well as ours, which is a significant shift in fundraising philosophy. The campaign was divided into four components: health sciences, information technology, workforce training, and student assistance. In evaluating campaign subtotals, we found that most donations supported workforce training, or short-term career training, and student assistance in the form of wraparound services such as childcare or transportation. We learned that donors considered how their gifts would align students in a manner that would advance their mission or objectives, such as hiring our graduates for their organization.

We will soon launch a new campaign to raise $15 million. With this initiative, we will take a different approach based on insights from employers and potential donors during the feasibility study phase. This new campaign will strive to create more synergy among the college and its many key stakeholders, including employers, K-12 districts, and local foundations. The key components of this campaign are high-impact degree completion, real-world learning (aligning K-12 districts with careers), essential student support, and legacy gifts.

One of the features of the campaign is to support a new Real-World Learning initiative, convened by STLCC. Real-World Learning aims to provide regional high school students with a market value asset, such as an internship, entrepreneurial experience, industry-recognized credential, or early college credits. This allows us to pursue funding on a much broader scale that will benefit the college and K-12 districts, their students, and employers. Another key campaign element will be paid apprenticeships in several industry sectors for our current students.

While such campaigns are not replacements for key core funding elements such as a local tax levy, they can greatly assist colleges with filling in financial gaps or providing innovation funds for faculty and staff. Campaigns also tremendously benefit college CEOs by providing more opportunities to interface with key stakeholders and other leaders in the community.