Irvine Valley College President Glenn Roquemore, Bernard Osher Foundation President Mary Bitterman, Foundation for California Community Colleges President Paul Lanning and Irvine Valley College Foundation Director Al Tello.

The Irvine Valley College Foundation today announced that it has raised $82,000 so far as part of a three-year campaign to establish new scholarship endowments. Thanks to a matching grant from the Bernard Osher Foundation, the money raised will receive a 50 percent match, thereby creating a total of $123,000 in new endowments that will provide annual scholarships, in perpetuity, to assist low-income students.

Irvine Valley College is the first community college in California to take advantage of the $25 million in matching funds provided by the Osher Foundation! Four new endowments will be created: namely, the Charter 100 Scholarship, Lyle and Ethel Davis Scholarship, Wyoma Hamilton Scholarship and Associated Students of Irvine Valley College Scholarship.

"We are extremely grateful to the donors who have come forward to help us take advantage of the Osher Foundation matching program, said Dr. Glenn Roquemore, President of Irvine Valley College. "These new endowments will help provide financial support to many students for years to come."

"We are pleased to know that our matching program is creating such excitement at Irvine Valley College since that is exactly what the Oshers hoped our gift would do, said Dr. Mary Bitterman, President of the Bernard Osher Foundation. "We are especially proud of Irvine Valley College's donors who have acted so promptly in response to our matching-gift challenge. We have every confidence that they will activate the entire matching-fund pool designated for Irvine Valley College and that their achievements will provide encouragement for other community colleges in the State.

Earlier this year, the Osher Foundation announced that $25 million would be made available through a 50 percent matching program as a way of encouraging people to donate to community college scholarships. This was done as part of a larger commitment of $50 million which represents the single largest gift to a community college system in the nation and one of the largest gifts ever made to higher education.

Irvine Valley College has the #1 transfer rate in Orange County and #3 among all community colleges statewide. Community colleges are a gateway to California's four-year universities. Sixty percent of California State University graduates and 30 percent of University of California graduates are community college transfers.

For information on how your scholarship donation can qualify for a 50 percent match, please contact Al Tello at (949) 451-5290. Donations received by June 30, 2011, will be eligible for the match. The Irvine Valley College Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization (Tax ID # 77-0239916).