Paine College has launched Growing Paine, its annual fundraising campaign.
The play on words that is the campaign’s namesake occurred to recording artist CeeLo Green, who arrived in 2021 to begin his tenure as visiting professor and artist-in-residence. Green took a tour of the campus and discussed with the administration how he could help with recruitment and enrollment.
“It stuck with us because, in a way, we were, at the time experiencing growing pains,” said Helene Carter, vice president of Institutional Advancement at Paine.
Growth is the underlying goal of the initiative, which kicked off late last month, during homecoming weekend, and seeks to raise $6 million for the 141-year-old historically Black college within 60 days.
Paine College is a private institution, affiliated with the United Methodist and Christian Methodist Episcopal Churches. The funds would go toward offering more, and larger, scholarships, expanding and renewing curriculum, repairing and improving student housing, and efforts to recruit more faculty and increase enrollment.
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“Over 95% of our students are on some sort of tuition assistance,” said Carter. “We’re not state supported. Neither are we a land grant. So one thing that we would like to do is be able to offer far more scholarships to our students so that they will stay in school and don’t have to worry about where the money’s coming from.”
The Institutional Advancement Office reported more than $700,000 in gifts and pledges donated to the school during its second annual Homecoming Open House for potential students. A significant portion of that sum came from over $276,000 in contributions directly to the Growing Paine campaign, including a $150,000 pledge from business owner and Augusta Economic Development Authority treasurer Butch Gallop.
“We really broke fundraising records,” said Michael Thurmond, chairman of the Paine College Board of Trustees. “The momentum and excitement have been palpable, and we’re just excited.”
On Feb. 10, at Paine’s 19th Annual Presidential Scholarship Masked Ball—which featured a performance by Green—the school raised over $130,480. Peter Knox IV, another Augusta businessman who has long been a friend of the college, and Chick-fil-A each donated $25,000.
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Thurmond, who has been the CEO of DeKalb County, Georgia since 2016, is himself an alumnus of Paine College, having graduated in 1975.
“I owe my success in life, my professional success, to the education and experiences I gained while a student at Paine,” he said. “So I’m personally committed to doing everything I can on behalf of the college and this next generation of students who will be graduating in May.”
For more information about the Growing Paine fundraising campaign, or to donate, visit https://paine.edu/web/giving/giving.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
