Welcome to the 2023-2024 annual report! We are excited to share with you the work the Grand Rapids Community College Foundation has done over the past year.
The numbers are a good place to start if you want a concise summary of our impact. During the 2023-2024 fiscal and academic year, over $1.3 million in scholarships went to 1,608 students.
While the numbers are compelling, we hope you realize that dollar signs and decimal points do not convey the full scope of how your donations impact our students, our college and our community. That’s part of what we hope to give you in this report — a better picture of how your generosity is making a real difference in the lives of students.
Flipping through these pages, you’ll see stories of talented chefs inspiring the next generation of culinary students. You’ll read about young people who are excited to build homes in their communities and students whose dreams are becoming a reality thanks to the generosity of someone they do not know.
Perhaps most importantly of all, we hope you will see that donations are so much more than a financial transaction. Education is a powerful tool that transforms lives, and your contributions have made those transformations a reality. Supporting students through scholarships is not only about removing financial barriers to education. It’s about the hopes, dreams and opportunities those scholarships provide.
The tagline for GRCC’s latest marketing campaign sums it all up rather nicely: “Together, we’ve got this.” One of our campaign objectives is to strengthen connections with our current students, alumni and local community and help everyone feel like a part of the GRCC community — whether they are on or off campus. This tagline is more than just a promise. It’s a rallying cry that encapsulates our belief in the power of community and the collective effort behind every student’s personal and academic success.
Thank you for your continued support. Your generosity paves the way for a brighter tomorrow, where big dreams are not stifled by financial constraints and ambitions are not curtailed by a lack of resources.
We hope you join us in dreaming even bigger for 2025 and beyond.
Together, we’ve got this!
Charles W. Lepper, Ph.D., GRCC president
Kristine R. Babcock, GRCC Foundation board chair