Paine College, after receiving more than half a million dollars in contributions, announced a partnership with Bank of America, Augusta National Golf Club (ANGC), the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and education consulting firm EAB.
The collaboration entails the launch of a 10-year transformation program that includes raising $30 million over the next three years.
Paine College trustee board members and alumni gathered at the front lawn of its campus’ Haygood Holsey Hall, Tuesday morning, to present the donations and make the announcement.
“We’ve had fundraising campaigns before; what is different today is that we’re not just addressing generating additional revenue,” said Michael Thurmond, chairman of the college’s Board of Trustees. “We are also accessing additional technical support and assistance. This is about a long-term transformation of Paine College.”
The partnership’s inclusion of EAB was a central point in the announcement. The consulting firm, originally founded in 2007 as the Education Advisory Board, and headquartered in Washington, D.C., specializes in using data and research to help improve educational institutions.
“They’re certainly going to bring a wealth of technical and educational support to us,” said Paine President Cheryl Evans Jones. “They will bring in expertise to us to help us retain students, assist in finding, engaging and enrolling students who, indeed, would be a best fit for Paine College.”
Bank of America connected with the college during the pandemic, when it contributed $65,000 to the school toward the development of virtual classrooms. The bank has also sent one of its executives, Tiffani Stewart, from Atlanta to assist Paine in its improvement initiatives, through the bank’s Leader on Loan program.
“As we collectively immersed with various partners throughout the community, we were able to assess that there was some critical expertise available,” said Ora Parish, President of Bank of America Augusta-Aiken, on how this major partnership developed. “ [We thought] if we could partner to bring that expertise to Paine College, through EAB, and bring a coalition of partners in the community together, that we could embark on a transformation plan to drive enrollment, retention, as well as long term success for Paine College.”
The media conference at Haygood Holsey also included presentations of checks from the Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church, with which the college is affiliated, and the UNCF.
After an invocation, Board of Trustees chairman-elect Bishop Thomas L. Brown, who presides over the 6th District of the CME Churches of Georgia, presented Paine with a donation of more than $170,000.
The UNCF then gave the college more than $330,000, with Paine College receiving more than $500,000 on Tuesday morning.
“Our partnership with Paine College is not new,” said Justine Boyd, assistant vice president of regional development with UNCF. “It has existed for decades; we have invested in and supported it, and will continue to do this for decades to come.”
Parish also noted that Bank of America will be making another contribution to the school that will be “aligned with this transformation,” the amount and nature of which, he said, would be announced in the coming days.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
