The TCC Foundation awards scholarships to more than 1,000 students per year who have financial needs and academic promises.
Scholarships are a meaningful way to help someone reach their educational goals and career aspirations. With your support, even more, students can receive the assistance needed to become a graduate of Tallahassee Community College.
Donors have two options for the type of scholarship they would like to establish or have the option of giving to our unrestricted general scholarship fund:
Scholarship Fund Types
Named Endowed Scholarship
An endowed scholarship is an enduring gift that will last in perpetuity. An endowment may be established with a minimum gift contribution of $10,000. The donor will work with the TCC Foundation staff to name the scholarship and develop appropriate awarding criteria. The TCC Foundation is proud of the manner in which our Board stewards our endowments. Endowed funds are invested by a consultant and are reviewed by the Finance and Investment Committee of the Board on a regular basis.
Estimated annual award amounts for endowed scholarships:
- $10,000 endowment - $400 annual award
- $25,000 endowment - $1,000 annual award
- $50,000 endowment - $2,000 annual award
- $100,000 endowment - $4,000 annual award
Named Non-Endowed Scholarship
A non-endowed scholarship can be established with a gift contribution minimum of $1,000 per year for a three-year period of time. The scholarship funds will be awarded the year following the final contribution gift. Sustaining a non-endowed scholarship requires continued giving over time.
General Scholarship Giving
If you would like to make contributions to student scholarships but prefer not to establish a named scholarship, you can do so by giving to the Foundation Opportunity Scholarship. This fund is an unrestricted general scholarship that allows the criteria for awarding to be determined annually based on current student needs at the time awarding occurs.
Utilizing Your Scholarship
Naming, Criteria & Awarding Guidelines
Once you have decided to establish either a non-endowed or endowed scholarship at the TCC Foundation the next step will be to work with the Scholarship Officer on naming and establishing eligibility criteria and awarding guidelines.
With both non-endowed and endowed scholarships, donors will work with the TCC Foundation staff to name their scholarships and establish appropriate awarding criteria. In order to take part in establishing recipient awarding criteria, donors must meet the minimum non-endowed contribution amount of $1,000 annually for 3 years. Scholarship contributions less than this will be applied to the Foundation Opportunity Scholarship and awarded by the TCC Foundation Scholarship Committee as deemed appropriate.
Awarding Time Frame
Award amounts and the number of recipients to award are determined in several ways. Both non-endowed and endowed scholarships can be established with criteria that state a specific award amount and/or a specific number of recipients to award. Scholarship agreements with this type of stated criteria will be awarded as such as long as the funds are available. At the onset of each academic year, the Foundation staff meets to evaluate current student needs and academic progressions for which the basis of scholarship awarding goals are set and award amounts are determined for the year.
Non-Endowed Awards
Non-endowed scholarship funds will be awarded the year following the final gift contribution. Individual non-endowed scholarship award amounts are determined based on the fund balance of the account as well as taking into consideration the contribution activity to the scholarship so as not to deplete the funds if being actively awarded.
Endowed Awards
Endowed earnings will be awarded for the fall semester of the calendar after the year the scholarship was established. Depending on the size of the endowment and the earnings it generates awarding of these earnings may be delayed in order to allow the endowment to grow. Individual endowed scholarship award amounts are determined based on only awarding the earnings of the endowment available for the academic year. The earnings amount is calculated by awarding 4% of the 5-year moving average of the value of the fund during the fiscal year.
If the fund does not reach full endowment by the date and amount stated on the signed agreement, the TCC Foundation will have the right to elect to award the principal balance and any accumulated growth earnings for the intended purpose of the scholarship until the funds are fully spent. The TCC Foundation will make its best efforts to contact the donor/party who established the scholarship before this process occurs.
Making Contributions
Contributions to your scholarship can be made online at the TCC Foundation Donation page of the website or by mail. Please contact the TCC Foundation Donor Stewardship Officer, Kendrah Richards at kendrah.richards@tcc.fl.edu or (850) 201-6066 for more information or if you have any questions.
Contributions for scholarships that are endowed will be applied to the fund corpus balance which will assist to increase earnings and annual scholarship award amounts over time. Contributions for scholarships that are not endowed, will be applied directly to the fund balance available for immediate awarding.
The TCC Foundation administers a 3% gift fee on all contributions received. The purpose of this gift fee is to assist in the administrative processing of donations.
Personal Tax Benefit
Contributions made to the TCC Foundation are tax deductible. The TCC Foundation is a non-profit organization designated by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. You will be provided a letter of gift receipt for each contribution made.
Donor-Recipient Connections
Recipient Correspondence
Accepting a scholarship requires the awarded recipient to write a thank you letter to their scholarship donor in order to receive the award. Once a recipient has been selected for a scholarship the donor will receive a thank you letter by mail. Donor thank you letters from recipients awarded Fall semester scholarships will be mailed in mid-August. Letters from recipients awarded Spring scholarships will be mailed in mid-October.
Communicating with Recipients
Applying for scholarships requires an applicant to agree to a consent statement on the scholarship application, acknowledging that if the applicant is selected as a recipient their contact information will be provided to their scholarship donor and/or scholarship liaison if a request is made by one or both of these parties to connect with their recipient.
This recipient consent gives the TCC Foundation authorization to provide only a recipient's contact information to the donor and/or scholarship liaison for the scholarship the recipient was awarded. This information can only be provided upon the recipient completing the full acceptance process. Please note, this consent does not give the TCC Foundation authorization to release any recipient information beyond the authorized contact information to a donor, scholarship liaison, or any other third party, if such a request is made.
All recipient/student information pertaining to scholarship application submission or status, current awarding status, award amounts or award disbursement activity, current course registration, enrollment status, current academic standing or records, or any other financial aid-related information is at the sole discretion of a recipient/student to directly communicate with and/or provide to any and all third parties.
The TCC Foundation is bound to the guidelines of student privacy as outlined by FERPA which you can learn more about at the following link. Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
Donor-Recipient Events
As a donor, you will be invited to a TCC Foundation annual scholarship event for the opportunity to meet your recipient(s) along with other recipients of TCC Foundation and TCC scholarships.
The TCC Foundation strives each year in making the best attempt to connect scholarship donors and recipients by hosting a General Scholarship Luncheon on TCC's main campus and a Donuts with Donors event for Healthcare recipients at the Ghazvini Healthcare Center for Education.
We appreciate your understanding that due to the numerous amount of people involved with scholarship awarding who all have different school, work, and personal schedules, it may not always be possible for a donor and/or a recipient to meet one another at the time each of these events has been scheduled.