Make a gift.
Start a new story.
Students, faculty, alumni, donors... each member of our community has a unique ECC Story to tell. And many of those stories begin thanks to the vital support provided by our generous donors' gifts. Gifts make a crucial impact on SUNY Erie students and the entire ECC community every day. There are three ways donors may give: to our Annual Fund, to our Student Emergency Fund, or by starting a Scholarship.
Please consider making your tax-deductible gift today by clicking below or by calling 716.851.1990. Your donation will make a difference to student lives for many years to come.
Annual Fund
The SUNY Erie Community College Foundation continues to be strongly committed to providing a high quality, affordable education along with the services that support the needs of a diverse student body. You can help by supporting the SUNY Erie Community College Foundation’s Annual Fund.
Without our SUNY Erie alumni and friends, it would not be possible for SUNY Erie students to fulfill their dreams. But with your help, the Erie Community College Foundation can continue to provide support for SUNY Erie students’ and create educational opportunities for all.
Student Emergency Fund
Many of you have reached out to see how you can help during this time. Last year, the SUNY Erie Community College Foundation committed $15,000 to provide support for students facing emergency situations on an as-needed basis.
As inflation continues to affect our community, we are facing greater demand, and the Foundation has continued to provide assistance to SUNY Erie students through this fund. Your donation is designed to support the students’ short term emergency financial needs during these trying times.
Any support you can provide will be deeply appreciated - by us, and more importantly, by the SUNY Erie students who will be helped by your generosity.
Create a Scholarship
Your gift goes a long way towards helping our students realize their dreams. Importantly, the Foundation does not assess an administration fee, which means 100% of your gift goes directly to students!
Scholarships are created in two different ways:
Endowment
An endowed scholarship requires $20,000 donation (the principal) which is then invested. Our 5-year rolling average return on our investments (the interest) is approximately 5%. The interest earnings are removed from our investments annually, and those funds are then given out as scholarships. The principal is never touched.
Donors are able to determine the criteria for who is selected for a scholarship, the value of each scholarship awarded, and if they want multiple scholarships to be given out. How the market performs will impact the total interest earned and how much money can be awarded to scholarship applicants. The minimum scholarship is $500.
The benefit of this type of scholarship is that new principal does not need to be contributed annually (although, as noted below, donors certainly may choose to), because only the interest is distributed to scholarship recipients. The principal is retained in the scholarship account to ensure funding of your scholarship in perpetuity. You may also choose to grow the principal through annual giving, allowing you to give more scholarships over time.
Term Scholarship
A term scholarship requires a minimum donation of $1,500. In order to keep this scholarship active, a donor will need to donate annually as all the funds are distributed each year. The donor can determine the number awards given from this type of scholarship as well as the criteria a recipient must meet, with a minimum scholarship award amount of $500.
Note: Scholarships break out into awards. For example, if a scholarship has $1,500 to be given away, it could be given out as 1 award at $1,500, 2 awards at $1,000 and $500, or 3 awards at $500 each. Each award goes to a student.
For more information and to get started today, call our Scholarship Coordinator at (716) 851-1990 or email at scholarship@ecc.edu.