114: Montgomery County Community College (PA) Legacy Fund

Sarah Rudich, ’00, Senior Director of Institutional Advancement at Montgomery County Community College, talks about the Montco (PA) Legacy Fund, the official and only MCCC-affiliated philanthropic arm established to advance MCCC’s mission and strategic priorities. She’ll also talk about the importance of donating to the College and ways you can give. For more information, visit mc3.edu/LegacyFund.

Recorded and editied by Quinn Szente from the College's Sound Recording and Music Technology Program

Transcript

Speaker 2 0:15

Hello and welcome to the Monco and the Mood podcast. I'm Dr. Jared Brown, Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs at Monco's Potstown campus. To mark its 61st Founders' Day, Montgomery County Community College announced the launch of the Monco PA Legacy Fund and inaugural board of directors. The Legacy Fund is Monco's official and only Monco-affiliated philanthropic arm established to advance Monco's mission and our strategic priorities. The Legacy Fund will enable Monco to continue to put students first by providing the resources they need to thrive, strengthening our academic programs, expanding faculty development, and enhancing campus initiatives that improve the quality and accessibility of higher education for all. These investments ensure every student has the support and opportunities to excel in college and beyond. Joining us today on the show is Sarah Rudich. She is the Senior Director of Institutional Advancement here at Monco and a great friend. She's going to talk more about the Monco PA Legacy Fund, how it ensures the continued success of the college, and even better and more importantly, how you can support the college financially by making a donation. I'm so excited to have you back on the podcast.

Speaker 1 1:42

I'm thrilled to be here, Dr. Brown.

Speaker 2 1:44

You know, it's always a pleasure, even though we don't get to see each other too much.

Speaker 1 1:49

We don't, and that's so unfortunate for me. I love seeing you when you pop in through Bluebell and you have wonderful charisma and energy every time I see you.

Speaker 2 1:58

Same friend, same friend. And I appreciate the work that you do. I think sometimes we don't always know what institutional advancement is doing. But I do know that you're out in the community making very important partnerships with the goal of supporting what we do here at Monco. Absolutely. So I know that you're doing that. Yes. Thank you. You always have something going on, which I do appreciate. We do. So before we dive in, why don't you share a little bit about yourself and your connection with our beautiful college.

Speaker 1 2:32

Wonderful, yes. And thank you again for having me on today, as always. It is a pleasure to see you again. And I am thrilled to be on this podcast. It's been a couple times I've been on the podcast show here, which is great. And my connection to the college goes way, way back. I am a Monco graduate. We love it.

Speaker 2 2:50

A Mustang for Life.

Speaker 1 2:51

Mustang for life. That's right. So I graduated from Cheltenham High School, came here in fall of 98, graduated from here in May of 2000. So I've just dated myself there.

Speaker 2 3:02

I was like, you were 12. Right? Were you 12 years old taking some classes?

Speaker 1 3:07

Yes. Wonderful. And while I was here, I was actually part of a pilot program that was in operation at the time. Monco was partnering with Temple University to try something they were calling a dual admissions program or a dual enrollment type program. Yeah. And this was if you came to Monco and received your associate's degree, you could transfer directly to Temple with all your credits and go directly in as a junior.

Speaker 2 3:31

And see, that was very innovative at the time. At the time.

Speaker 1 3:35

It was.

Speaker 2 3:44

Yeah. To ensure the success of our students. So that's incredible that you were part of that pilot program.

Speaker 1 3:50

Aaron Ross Powell It was fabulous. And it's now led to we have, I think, over 37 partner institutions where our students can do that. And probably more than that every year, exactly. So I'm thrilled to have been a part of that guinea pig project that really has taken off and has been wonderful. And as the oldest of four kids, it was really scary thinking of student loan costs when I would graduate from college and not knowing how to pay it back. So Monco gave me that pathway. And when I finished at Temple, I had a bachelor's degree in history and I went right into the museum field for about 17 years. Wow, I did not know this.

Speaker 2 4:22

Look at these little nuggets of information you're sharing.

Speaker 1 4:26

So history nerd at heart here.

Speaker 2 4:28

But really How about history experts?

Speaker 1 4:30

Oh, that's an even better way. But I don't mind the nerd component to it either. But yes, it was a wonderful pathway that Monco and Temple gave me into the nonprofit field, working in the museum area. And I did the nonprofit administration fundraising, development work, board work for about 17 years. And then an opportunity popped up in spring of 2019 where the college was looking to fill a position within their advancement office.

Speaker 2 4:56

See, we started around the same time I was fall 2019.

Speaker 1 4:59

Yes, yes. So we yeah, I'm coming up on my seventh year this July crazy happy.

Speaker 2 5:05

It's like, wow, this will be your seventh graduation ceremony.

Speaker 1 5:11

So it's wonderful to come back and work for the college and help promote what the college does for the community and our students. And I'm a walking billboard of that, having been a graduate of that early on, and I get to go and talk to potential donors and tell them how wonderful the programs are that we have and how they can help support the students in those programs. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Speaker 2 5:31

If I could have a wish, it would be that every student start their career at a community college, but more importantly at Monco because the value of the experience that you're gonna gain. I mean, I've spoken to so many students that they will finish with us and go to a four-year and they'll say, I miss Monco. This is so different. This is not what I expected it will be.

Speaker 1 5:57

Absolutely.

Speaker 2 5:57

But they figure it out. You know, that's the transition. They're used to the community college studying and where there's ton of resources, there's a ton of support.

Speaker 1 6:05

And there's faculty though. I mean, that's another part. The faculty and the staff are at a whole other caliber.

Speaker 2 6:10

We're in it to win it.

Speaker 1 6:11

It's really that Monco family feeling when you're here on the campus. Yeah.

Speaker 2 6:15

But starting here and then working here, you're an example of that.

Speaker 1 6:19

I love it. It's great.

Speaker 2 6:21

It's a great story. All right. So let's talk about the reason you're here is to learn more about the Monco PA Legacy Fund. So what is it? Why is it important?

Speaker 1 6:32

Well, thank you. And again, just the opportunity to be able to talk to prospective donors about how they can help support our students and the programs here. My office, the Institutional Advancement Office, supports the Monco PA Legacy Fund board of directors. And we are the sole philanthropic arm to help support the college in student need, community initiatives, and faculty and staff development. And that's very important this time. Coming out of COVID, higher education has seen a lot of volatility within its fundraising, traditional and typical fundraising methods have really had to change. Adjust. Adjust. That's a great way, not to use the word innovate even more. But the college coming out of its 60th year anniversary, the leadership took a look at going forward for the next strategic vision and strategic planning to be able to do that. Always thinking forward. They are, absolutely. It was vital for there to be a philanthropic arm that could help support the college in its next 61 years. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Speaker 2 7:31

Well, and what I like about the three areas where the financial support will go, they're all intertwined, Sarah. They're all they sort of all need each other in order to thrive and move forward and be successful. So I'm glad that the fund is really focused on those three areas.

Speaker 1 7:51

And that was in very important because it's not just scholarships that students need. They need a holistic support network. And we have an amazing wellness center here that supports our students not just in food pantry, personal hygiene, mental health, emergency need, transportation support. And it was important for the philanthropic arm of the college to be able to work in that space as well. So that broader support outside of just scholarships.

Speaker 2 8:18

So I'm a very action-oriented person. So what are some of the actionable outcomes that this fund is going to produce? What's the fund's intention and the board? What do they hope to do or provide?

Speaker 1 8:32

Trevor Burrus Sure, they hope still to continue to provide scholarships for students that need that. Absolutely, that's not going to change. But besides that, there are areas that our students need additional support with. So for an example, because I am thinking coming out of the lunch hour, I'm going to think about the culinary and hospitality area here at the college. So our students that are enrolled in our culinary programs, part of what they need to be successful is they need to have the equipment, not just the scholarships to help pay their tuition, but the equipment for them to be successful in that lab space in the culinary institute. And that equipment would be a knife set, a chef's jacket.

Speaker 2 9:08

Well, and what I have found with equipment here and tools, Monco is not one to choose the sale items, if you will. We want the best, the state of the art. And I don't know if you've heard this from students, but they'll be in our experiential labs all across the campus. And then they go into the workforce and they're like, wait a second. We're more advanced. We have better tools at Monco than we do at the workplace or at the four-year institution where I transfer to. Yes. It's very interesting. So they're getting the cream of the crop.

Speaker 1 9:46

Yes, they are.

Speaker 2 9:46

And then they sort of, not always, but sometimes they have to backpedal a little bit of like these tools are not what I'm used to because of my Monco experience. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Speaker 1 9:56

And that's why I think Monco is so such a standout institution, because they're not just wanting the students to be able to meet that standard. They want them to be able to excel. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Speaker 2 10:05

And be like, I use these tools.

Speaker 1 10:07

Absolutely. And just because you're coming to a community college doesn't mean you shouldn't have the same access and ability to have technology and innovation at your fingertips the way maybe a four-year institution would have that. Yeah. Exactly. So the legacy fund is set up to help with those auxiliary needs outside of just that classroom tuition fees. It's to help with that. It's also community initiatives. The campus itself is more than just the students that are enrolled here. We have programs, we have the ability for retirees to come and take classes here and audit the classes. We also have facilities here that people utilize between the child care center. We have the athletic areas with the tennis courts or pickleball courts now. There's township use as well. And also at our Potstown campus, there's recreation that we have out there.

Speaker 2 11:00

Oh, and the art displays high schools. Yes. I love walking into North Hall and seeing the fantastic art from not only the community, but our high school shows. It is, I'm like, oh my gosh, I can't even draw a circle. And these students are like phenomenal.

Speaker 1 11:19

The talent just flows absolutely.

Speaker 2 11:22

So again, another prime example of where the community comes in and really takes access, has access to their community college, which is what we are. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Speaker 1 11:33

And that's what the legacy fund will be looking to help support those community initiatives and the growth to allow the community to utilize the campus even further in new ways. And then the last area is I mentioned before, our faculty and our staff are so incredible here. And a way for us to be able to help support their growth and development and skilling up in a way, that's another part that the legacy fund is going to be able to help with is provide that resource to advance the faculty and the staff here so we can continue to give our students the best experience in the classroom.

Speaker 2 12:05

So how will the legacy fund operations be supported? Who are the players in ensuring that this fund is not only funded but successful? Like who are those individuals?

Speaker 1 12:17

Aaron Ross Powell Yes, wonderful. So we have not just a fantastic staff in our institutional advancement office, but we have a wonderful core of six that helps support our fantastic legacy fund board, which is a board of seven. And our board is well diverse between business, entrepreneurial, community, tourism. It's a board that represents leaders in all of the areas that our college students are going into, whether it's workforce or degree. So that was very important to be able to do that. Again, thinking ahead and thinking forward. We also have college leadership on there. So it was important for the college to have that leadership piece on the board to be able to help share what are the priorities that the college is facing and what are the needs the college has so that the legacy board can work closely with the college to meet those three pillars. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Speaker 2 13:03

So, Sarah, can you tell us a little bit about the board of directors for the legacy fund? Who are they and how will they be leading this initiative for the college?

Speaker 1 13:12

Absolutely. So, Jared, we're so thrilled to be able to have the board led by our board chair, which is Dr. Celeste Schwartz.

Speaker 2 13:19

Aaron Ross Powell A Legacy in herself.

Speaker 1 13:21

She is. She has been over 50 plus years connected to the college.

Speaker 2 13:24

As a student.

Speaker 1 13:25

As a student and an employee, retiree, and a supporter as a donor as well. So she just checks all those boxes.

Speaker 2 13:32

Sort of supervised me a bit. And I will say she was phenomenal as a leader and a supervisor.

Speaker 1 13:38

Well, you'll be seeing a lot of her around as she is now chair of our legacy board, which is wonderful. We also have our vice chair of the legacy board, Suzanne Ryan. Suzanne comes to us from PICO, so she not only herself very well connected with the college and has known the college for many, many years, but she also, through her role with PICO, PICO itself has supported our students through scholarship, grants, and hiring out of our workforce programs.

Speaker 2 14:03

I know many have transitioned from the college to working at PICO, and I think it's a phenomenal partnership.

Speaker 1 14:10

Yep, absolutely. We also have Dr. Victoria Bestecki Perez. Our leader. Our leader, the sixth president of Montgomery County Community College. Absolutely. Absolutely. I think she's coming up on her 30-year anniversary this year.

Speaker 2 14:27

And her son graduated from Mongo.

Speaker 1 14:30

Yes, yep. So we're we're thrilled to have thrilled to have her on our board, obviously. And we have a new VP of finance, Bill McDonald.

Speaker 2 14:39

I met him at Potstown. He was delightful, and I'm excited to see what he can bring to the college.

Speaker 1 14:45

Wonderful experience in his role. And it would be great to work directly with him on the legacy board, in addition to our department also reporting up to him. That's great. Then we have Vijay Katani. So VJ is wonderful, he's an entrepreneurial individual that has such personal connections to the region. But what I've also learned from him is he is a big traveler and also in the culinary area. So we had a fantastic conversation recently that he was able to participate in two Michelin star level restaurants for dinner in Mexico City. Within two hours apart from those reservations, he went to two of those at once. So what he brings to the board is his experience both as an entrepreneurial individual but also local to the area. Good. And his travel. So we're thrilled for that. We also have trustee Don Lyons on our board.

Speaker 2 15:35

Trustee Lyons has been on the podcast, a delight and really student focus, which I appreciate.

Speaker 1 15:42

Absolutely. And he himself graduating from a community college, not Monco, but from a community college. He himself recognizing how important community colleges are. Yeah. And then last we have Jake Marzon. So Jake comes to us from Valley Forge. Valley Forge also a longtime partner of the college. Absolutely. Supports us with student scholarships and program support, but also hires out of our employment. Employment, yeah. Yeah. So we're thrilled to have the legacy board members supported by our institutional advancement staff.

Speaker 2 16:11

Aaron Ross Powell You have a lot of leadership, which I'm excited about, and I think you have a lot of individuals on this board that are goal-minded, initiative, and will get things done.

Speaker 1 16:23

So I can tell you that's my team. Absolutely. You got it.

Speaker 2 16:26

Trevor Burrus, yeah. So what about those in the institutional and advancement office? Who is the incredible staff? Can you give them a shout out? I certainly will. Because they'll be, I'm sure, supporting this legacy fund as well in their own position and roles.

Speaker 1 16:41

They will, absolutely. We have a fantastic staff in our office, and some of them have been with us for many years, and some of them are recent hires, which is fantastic. So I'm going to give a shout-out to each one of them. We have our major gift and plan giving officer. His name is John Santa Barbara. We also have our assistant director of annual giving, which is Brendan Harvey. We have our manager of donor relations, which is Janine Perry. We have a position that may not be familiar to people, institutional advancement. And what that means is that role is important for all of the gift processing. Sure. And they make sure compliance is done. And we have a wonderful individual, Natalie Green, in that role. And then the one that holds us all together, the mother of the department for us, is our administrative assistant Shelby Kirchner. So we have a fantastic team. Some of them are new, and some of them have been with us for a little while, and we're all excited to be working with this new board.

Speaker 2 17:32

I have no doubt that they'll be instrumental in supporting the goals and the meeting the goals of the legacy fund. So if a community member, a recent grad, if someone wanted to support the legacy fund, what is a great way to go about that? Like do you have to be an ultra-wealthy donor? Absolutely not. Or can I say I'm fresh out of my job, I'm making a little money, but Monco meant the world to me and I want to figure out how I can give a little bit back.

Speaker 1 18:03

Absolutely. Absolutely. And there's really no cap, no minimum, no maximum as well, but no minimum on a gift. Every gift can help our students. So even if you're looking to make a dollar, a dollar a week, it's $52 a year, that can help support filling the personal hygiene product shelves in our wellness center, which is so vital. And that's something that the college has taken on a couple years ago to make sure that those hygiene products are dispersed between both Bluebell and Potstown equally and available in all of the restrooms for our students to use. So a dollar a week, $52 a year can help support the shelves staying stocked with those hygiene products. You can also do myself included, I do this. It's $83 for uh twice a month. I do it through payroll deduction here at the college, which is another opportunity for our faculty and staff to support. But I do a payroll deduction, $83 through that goes to support a student scholarship. So our average student full-time tuition is just about $6,000 a year. And a student may have need that comes out to about $1,000. Well, if you're doing $83 per month, you're looking at covering that student's remaining $1,000 need. Absolutely. And donors can set it up where they can give one-time. They can also give monthly, they can give quarterly, so we can work with them no matter what it is they're looking at. And I did mention payroll deduction is another opportunity for internally our staff and faculty to support. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Speaker 2 19:24

So you covered this a little bit. You talked about how the fund will support like a knife kit in the culinary arts or hospitality institute, maybe support students in the tourism and hospitality management if they have to travel. What are some other ways that the fund is hoping to meet some needs of our student and faculty?

Speaker 1 19:46

So absolutely. And um an example is our students in our cultural center building that we have here on the Bluebell campus. We have students that are in the music and dance program, and so they put on performances each year. Well, they need things, costumes for those performances. They're going to need equipment for those performances. And so the legacy fund will be able to help support those needs. And so it's not coming from the individual students' pockets if they're needing that support. We also, in addition to the support for our students financially, we also love to hear from our alums and their stories because we love to showcase where our alums are and especially if they receive support when they were here. Right. We love to hear how that support has helped them to support. I talked about my start here and going into the museum field. So if there are alums out there that would like to connect with us in our office to talk with us about how they were supported at Malco, we would love to be able to get that story from them.

Speaker 2 20:41

Well, Sarah, I have to say I am so thankful that this fund is here at the college and will support so many different areas that are integral to each other and will support each other. But if a listener wanted to support either a dollar or more, what is the best way for them to get a hold of your fantastic staff or go about that?

Speaker 1 21:08

Absolutely. So the best and easiest way, because they can get all of the information on how they can make a gift, whether one time or multiple times, they can go right to mc3.edu backslash legacy fund. They can also give a call to our office directly, and that is 215 641 6350. And if they do wish to connect with us a little bit further and they feel more comfortable in sending an email, then they can email us at legacy fund all one word at mc three dot edu.

Speaker 2 21:43

Sarah, thank you so much for sharing this important opportunity for our faculty, staff, community members, alums, those in industry to really give back to the great things we do here as the communities college in Montgomery County. I know how hard you work to build relationships, but also share your own personal journey as a student, I think is so important because you're a product of Monco and here you are giving back and ensuring that other students have opportunities and being supported not only through our faculty and staff, but also through financial and need to ensure that they have the journey that they should have. So thank you for all that you do and your team. And I look forward to learning more and hearing more about the Monco PA Legacy Fund. And I encourage anyone listening to give a dollar or more to this amazing fund that will support our faculty, students, and of course the college overall.

Speaker 1 22:43

Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 22:44

Yep. So let's close it out. Thank you so much for joining us today on the podcast. Special thanks goes out to our Sound and Recording Music Technology alumnus, Quincenta, and student Hutchbreck, who produced today's show. And thank you again for listening to the Monco on the Move podcast. Check back soon to hear more stories from our Monco family. Until next time, I'm Jared Brown. Thanks again for listening.

Speaker 23:08

Thanks for listening to Monco on the Move. Students at Montgomery County Community College working in the sound recording and music technology program record, edit, and produce this podcast. Check out mc3.edu forward slash on the move to listen to our latest episode or download our podcast on your favorite podcast app. You can also learn about the latest episodes by following us on social media. Have a guest in mind you think would be great for the podcast? Email Eric Devlin at edevlin at mc3.edu or Diane van Dyke at dvandyke at mc3.edu. And come back next time to find out more about what's happening at your community college and catch our Mont co Momentum.