25 Years of Paying Our Way
EAST PEORIA — It was 25 years ago that a donation to Illinois Central College lead to the creation of the ICC Educational Foundation, and today it has grown into an enormous resource for assisting both the College and its students achieve their goals.
In 1988 local resident Mabel Dingeldine, who had donated land for the formation of the East Peoria Campus back in 1966, left ICC a sizable monetary donation upon her passing. According to Stephanie Holmes, manager of resource development at ICC, the college created the Educational Foundation to manage this sudden windfall.
The foundation was designated to manage these funds to be used for student scholarships and college improvements, and this meant separating these dollars from the rest of the College’s money.
The foundation is now 25 years strong, but it has not survived solely off of that original donation from Dingeldine. The Educational Foundation has continued to grow because members of the community have never stopped contributing to its cause. Foundation papers show that during 2012, these contributions amounted to $2,942,178.90, of which 89.8 percent was set aside for scholarships.
On Oct. 24, ICC hosted its annual community celebration, where the College shows its appreciation to all those who donate to support the foundation, at Embassy Suites in East Peoria. At the beginning of the “Silver Jubilee”–as it was called in reference to the anniversary–ICC President Dr. John Erwin spoke on this milestone.
“It’s been a great 25 years,” said Erwin. “The foundation has assisted the college in acquiring new technology, purchasing much needed supplies and resources and assisting in campus projects, as well as providing, of course, numerous scholarship opportunities for our students. And all of this could not have been accomplished without the continuous, generous support of our community.”
The Foundation is now stronger than ever.
“We are the largest endowment in the state of Illinois for a community college. (An endowment is money that’s invested and we get return interest on.) It’s over $15 million now,” said Holmes.
Holmes explained how the College doesn’t necessarily get to decide how to use these funds.
“Donors have put restrictions on what it can be used for. We keep databases on what the donor purposely gave that money for so that we make sure we use it properly.”
Holmes said that these donations have assisted ICC in projects like building the CourgarPlex, upgrading classrooms with SMART technology, and offering students more than 900 scholarships.
Regarding the future, Holmes said that the foundation trying to raise funds to assist in the construction of ICC’s new sustainability center that is slated to be built next year. And regarding the past, she said the foundation has come a long way since that original contribution from one of ICC’s greatest supporters.