Community Excellence Grants

Thanks to an outstanding investment by philanthropist and author MacKenzie Scott, the Community Excellent Grant Program at Pasadena City College helps elevate exceptional ideas that advance PCC’s mission, vision, and values.

PCC has established a reputation as an innovator and creative space for educating students. Our faculty, staff, and students uncover new ideas and best practices, and we make a practice of disseminating these to our colleagues and peer institutions. This grant program supercharges these innate qualities of our culture, providing seed funding and experimentation space to nurture, test, and scale up new projects and approaches to educating.

This grant program aims to find the best and most impactful ideas within our diverse community and give them resources and energy to take root and grow. Programs funded with a Community Excellence Grant will be:

  • In service to PCC’s students, faculty, and staff;
  • Avenues for deepened connections between the college and communities across our district;
  • Spaces for intentional enhancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion;
  • Seen as signature demonstrations of PCC’s approach to education, pedagogy, and/or community college administration;
  • Expected to demonstrate results within one year of grant award;
  • Designed to maximize the impact of a one-time grant through this program;
  • Operated in accordance with PCC’s board policies and administrative procedures.

The Community Excellence Fund provides approximately $1 million in funding for this program each year. Grants are made annually with a maximum of two years to successfully complete the project.  A final report/presentation will be required upon completion.

Applications for the next grant cycle, for 2024-2026, have been extended through Friday, March 22nd, 2024, at 11:59pm.  Please review the FAQ's below to access the application, workshops, and other details.  

Community Excellence Grant FAQ's

This grant program aims to find the best and most impactful ideas within our diverse community and give them resources and energy to take root and grow. Programs funded with a Community Excellence Grant will be:

  • In service to PCC’s students, faculty, and staff;
  • Avenues for deepened connections between the college and communities across our district;
  • Spaces for intentional enhancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion;
  • Seen as signature demonstrations of PCC’s approach to education, pedagogy, and/or community college administration;
  • Expected to demonstrate results within one year of grant award;
  • Designed to maximize the impact of a one-time grant through this program;
  • Operated in accordance with PCC’s board policies and administrative procedures.

There may be up to $1 million allocated annually to outstanding new programs and initiatives through this program.  

Think big!  We are looking to fund creative and exciting new initiatives.  There has been no cap determined as of yet.

Applications will open on February 14th, 2024 and are due by 11:59pm on March 22, 2024.  

As of March 14, 2024, there are no more live workshops scheduled.  Applicants are able to view previously recorded workshops on the Foundation YouTube Channel.  

All grant applicants will be notified of their status by April 22nd, 2024.  The celebration event will be held on Thursday, May 30th, at the University Club.  Funds will be available on July 1st, 2024.  

All Grant Recipients must attend a grant orientation session with Foundation Staff before they can begin accessing funds.  Those sessions will be announced in June of 2024.

We fund programs for a two-year grant period.  Projects funded on July 1st, 2023 must be completed by June 30, 2025.  Projects funded on July 1st, 2024 must be completed by June 30, 2026. 
  • We are not funding upgrades to an individual’s equipment, funding individual travel, or granting individual stipends.
  • The grant program was not designed to supplant funding, but rather enhance it.
  • We will not fund anything which violates or is in conflict with district policies.
  • Original, innovative, exciting, different, unique….as it pertains to student success!
  • Details, details, details!  
  • A realistic spending plan
  • Think strategically!  
  • What CAN you do if awarded this funding as opposed to what you won’t be able to do if you don’t have the funding
  • If you are not fully funded, what is your Plan “B”?

Here are the specific questions you will need to complete in the application:

  1. What is your name?  (Please also list the names of all co-applicants and/or co-sponsors.)
  2. What is your email address?
  3. What, EXACTLY, are you requesting?
  4. Please describe in detail how your requested project/initiative benefits students, faculty, and staff at PCC.
  5. How will you make that difference occur? What are the activities that will be involved in your project?
  6. How will you know that the project is successful? How will you measure the attainment of your project goals?
  7. Please upload a document explaining your budget. If possible, this document may be an itemized spreadsheet with detailed information which indicates any matching funds available. (If this much detail is not possible, do not let that get in the way of an application – a budget narrative will suffice.)
  8. Which school/department/division(s) are represented in this request?
  9. Department/Division Reference:  please list a name and email address for your department/divisional director or dean who will oversee the facilitation of your grant request if approved.

Yes!  You can upload up to two files (PDF's, Word Docs, Excel Docs) and two images.

Contact Kris McPeak at kmmcpeak@pasadena.edu to request a Grant Modification Request Form.  Completed requests are forwarded to the selection committee for review.  Submitting a request does not guarantee either an extension or additional funding, but the committee did identify a need to provide this option for grantees.

 The PCC Foundation is using Blackbaud Award Management for the application and review of Grant Applications.  CLICK HERE to access the application.  You will need to login using your LancerPoint credentials.

 YES.   There's an entire playlist of Grant Workshops on our YouTube Channel - which you can find HERE.  We will update this page as new workshops are added.  

Please reach out to Kris McPeak at kmmcpeak@pasadena.edu or you can call her at x7078.