Guilford has received several large grants recently, many of which will directly benefit students. The grants have been a large factor in helping the school reach its Our Time in History campaign goal. Students will be the recipients of a lot of the grant money in one form or another.
The largest single grant that Guilford has received from a foundation in its history is the Lilly Endowment Grant. It is a $2 million ‘Grant for Initiative on Faith and Practice’. The idea is to enhance and strengthen programs that enable students to discern their vocations and become effective leaders in the world.
The three major objectives for the grant as stated in a press release are:
- To strengthen the Quaker Leadership Scholars Program and Interdisciplinary Leadership for Social Change Program with additional resources
- To offer resources for faculty to add components on faith and vocation to existing courses or create new courses, including additional support for students seeking a call to traditional ministry
- To improve first-year student programs and career development services, fund visiting lecturers, and support work camp programs.
Junior Robbie Hiltonsmith, who majors in philosophy and mathematics, has mixed feelings about the goals of the Lilly Endowment Grant. “I’m a big fan of the third objective, those are areas that need more attention,” Hiltonsmith said. “I don’t support adding religious objectives to regular classes. It would basically be mixing classes and faith and forcing one faith on the people who do not want that.”
The Freeman Foundation gave $1,072,816 to Guilford to support activities related to East and Southeast Asia for the next four years. Included in these activities are: scholarships for students studying abroad in East Asia, the purchase of additional Asian materials for classrooms and the library, the introduction of self-instructional Chinese in the fall, and an Asian Arts Festival. The Asian Arts Festival will host artists, musicians, and puppeteers, among others from various Asian countries in the next four years.
“I’m really glad that many people here are studying about Asian history. Even though I am from Japan, I don’t know that much about it either and am interested in it. I am glad this school has so many students who are interested in it as well,” sophomore Yuki Masuya said.
Grants can be challenges or competitive. A competitive grant, like the one from Lilly Endowment, Inc., involves faculty and staff writing lengthy proposals in order to convince the foundation or corporation that the school deserves the gift. They also must include details about how the money will be used. The competitive grant is more common because “many colleges and universities are trying to get a piece of the pie,” according to Ty Buckner, director of college relations at Guilford.
Under a challenge grant, such as the one from the Kresge Foundation, the recipient is required to raise a certain monetary amount in a specified time period before receiving the grant. In this case, the amount to be raised was $7,816,379 between Sept. 2000 and Dec. 2001. The goal was exceeded by several million dollars, with a total sum of $14 million. The $1 million from the Kresge Foundation will go toward construction costs of the recently completed Frank Family science center.
Meanwhile, the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Foundation gave Guilford two grants totaling $42,000 for need-based financial aid. The goal is to strengthen and expand the extensive financial aid program at Guilford College with these grants.
The Collaborative Alcohol Management Project for University Success (CAMPUS) funded an $8,000 grant to develop programs to combat high risk drinking by students. Its goals include: increased enforcement of campus policies regarding underage alcohol consumption, limiting of alcohol availability on campus, working with local businesses to reduce illegal alcohol sales near the campus, and addressing the campus policy that allows pony kegs on campus.
Throughout the construction of the Frank Family Science Center, many grants were received. Among those were: $75,000 from the Cemala Foundation, a $1 million challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation, a $75,000 challenge grant, $20,000 from the Hanes Foundation, $25,000 from the Prickett Fund, and the $100,000 Hillsdale Fund Gift.
Additionally, the Weaver Foundation gave a $150,000 grant in support of the building of Frank Family science center. This gift was made in honor of Joseph Bryan, Jr. in recognition of his long-time support and work on behalf of Guilford College. That is how the auditorium in Frank got its name. Bryan was a 1960 graduate of Guilford and is now a trustee of the college.
In Dec. 2001, a new record of $3,592,758 was reached in cash funds raised. The previous record of $3,438,830 was set the December before. Both of these figures more than tripled the amount of cash gifts Guilford received in December of 1999.
The capital campaign, to which many of the grants were applied, ends in December but the same fundraising efforts will continue. “We will hopefully continue a pretty steady flow of gifts from corporations in the future, they are a major part of our fundraising,” Buckner said.