By Susanne Reynolds

The goal has been met and the bar continues to rise.

With the support of its generous donors, the “Deeply Rooted. Future Driven.” Capital Campaign for Bainbridge State College has reached its goal of $1.3 million, making it a monumental accomplishment for the Bainbridge State community.

Last year Bainbridge State decided to create its first capital campaign to focus on four project areas: a fund for excellence, student scholarships, an arts and lecture series, and a new global perspective. After a year of planning and creating campaign goals and initiatives, “Deeply Rooted. Future Driven.” was successfully launched.

Community leaders and difference makers in the community, such as Dewey Robinson, Charlie Kirbo, Jr. and Dan Ponder, Jr., were selected as co-chairs of the campaign.
From the beginning, strong support from the college community was given. A ninety-nine percent commitment came from the Board of Directors, 100 percent commitment from the President and his Cabinet, along with the faculty and staff increasing their commitment from 24 percent to 99 percent.

The campaign’s initial goal was $1.15 million, however the Board voted to raise the bar to $1.3 million when it received the largest gift ever made to the BSC Foundation– $250,000 from the Kirbo Family Charitable Trust.

By June, seventy percent of the goal had been met and the campaign went public. After the public announcement was made, representatives took the campaign out into Decatur County and the surrounding counties BSC serves. The generosity and support of the communities took the campaign to the next level and helped ensure the success of the campaign’s project areas.

“Our region’s citizens have demonstrated a clear level of support for the mission of this institution, and the hundreds of individual donors who have participated in this first-ever capital campaign of its kind at BSC have made a lasting contribution that will benefit students for generations to come,” said BSC President Richard Carvajal. “Their gifts will make an immediate impact on the work our faculty do educating students and the end result will be new and better academic programs, higher graduation rates, an improved regional workforce, and more families changed for the better.”

At the conclusion of the campaign’s solicitation period, a total of $1,353,707 was raised. Approximately 506 donors made contributions, with 334 people being new first-time donors to the BSC Foundation.

It is because of these generous donors the campaign was a success and BSC can begin implementing its projects.

Jeff Findley, BSC Foundation President, was pleased with the results of the first BSC capital campaign.

He said, “We are extremely grateful and happy that we exceeded the goal of the first ever capital campaign at Bainbridge State College. The results from this campaign will be felt for generations in Southwest Georgia and we couldn’t be more pleased.”

The funds will be used to benefit the students in various ways, such as through scholarships (to date, 14 new scholarships have been established with eight being endowed), building new programs, innovative technology in the classroom, sustaining the Carter Arts and Lecture Series and developing BSC’s study abroad program.
Lauren Harrell, Director of Institutional Advancement, is proud of the milestone in BSC Foundation history and what it means for the future of Bainbridge State students as even more goals are set and accomplished.

“We are proud of the accomplishment and we are proud of the promise that we have made to the SWGA community: A promise of an enhanced accessible, affordable and excellent education,” said Harrell. “However, I’m most proud of the fact that the dollars we have raised will directly benefit our students in ways that they have never seen.  Lives will be forever changed and we will continue to push forward.”

“Deeply Rooted. Future Driven.” will officially conclude December 31, 2019.