GCC unveils fifth donor wall
Glendale Community College officials unveiled a donor wall Monday afternoon that has already raked in $21,000 for the college’s Garfield campus that hosts continuing education and certificate programs.
The wall, located in the courtyard of the Garfield campus, features dozens of names of educators, students and others who made donations to the campus and have their names placed on a tile, or who dedicated tiles to honor family or friends.
The new donor wall joins four others placed on the college’s main campus and provides more affordable options to make donations to the college than other avenues the college uses to fund raise. A donor can pay as little as $100 — or at most $2,500 — to have their name or someone else’s name included on the wall, depending on the size of the tile they purchase.
Those prices are relatively low compared to some other ways the Glendale College Foundation drums up donations. In 2012, the college’s board of trustees approved a policy that allows donors to pay millions of dollars to have their names adorn buildings throughout the main campus on Verdugo Road or on the Garfield campus.
For $2.5 million, a donor could have their name attached to the $40 million Lab College Services building currently under construction. A $1.5 million donation could earn someone’s name on the campus’ library.
Other options include naming labs for $35,000, classrooms for $10,000 or offices for $7,500.
Since opening up naming rights to donors two years ago, Lisa Brooks, executive director of the Glendale College Foundation, said the majority of the naming opportunities — and all the big-ticket items — still remain open.
While the donor walls offer more affordable opportunities, the foundation is still intent on filling the walls that still have many open tiles before they install additional ones, she said.
Alfred Ramirez, administrative dean of instructional services in continuing and community education, said the wall at the Garfield campus — where the donations will go toward improving students’ access to materials, textbooks and updated computer software and other technology — the wall has the potential to raise a total of about $40,000.
Glendale Community College Supt. David Viar — whose name is already on one of the tiles on the new wall — said the mission of the Garfield campus, where adults can earn high-school diplomas or complete citizenship courses, is “essential.”
He said the tax dollars that support the college are not sufficient to fund all of its needs.
“We have a chance to say a very public, ‘thank you,’” he added.
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Follow Kelly Corrigan on Twitter: @kellymcorrigan.
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