The Houston Community College System Foundation was founded in 1976 to provide scholarships to Houston Community College students and to support the college’s efforts to attract and educate Houston-area students—including many non-traditional students and those facing barriers to higher education.
Like virtually all community college foundations, for most of its existence the HCCS Foundation functioned primarily as a clearinghouse for scholarships, accepting funds from donors and awarding them to eligible students. It was not expected to engage in large-scale solicitation of funds.
Much has changed since the HCCS Foundation’s establishment. Higher education has become a requirement for earning a stable living, and businesses have begun clamoring for a more educated workforce. At the same time, tuition and fees at four-year institutions have skyrocketed, and Houston’s demographics have shifted, with the majority of the city’s young people now coming from backgrounds historically unlikely to receive higher education.
Like community college foundations around the country, the HCCS Foundation recognized the need to expand its role and develop more sophisticated fundraising strategies to support HCC and its students. A new executive director was hired, along with a development team who have begun reaching out to Houston foundations, corporations, and individuals to support student scholarships and selected HCC capital projects throughout the city.
In 2007, the HCCS Foundation launched a website, Houston Community College students can now apply online for all scholarships offered through the HCCS Foundation.
Also in 2007, the HCCS Foundation was reclassified by the Internal Revenue Service as a Section 509(a)(1) and 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) publicly supported charity under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.