Dr. Carreón Foundation Scholarship Program a Big Hit

From Carreón Foundation: During the recently concluded scholarship season, in which many Coachella Valley organizations grant assistance to high school seniors who aspire to go to college, Dr. Carreón Foundation (DCF) initiated a new partnering program. The “One For 4” Scholarship Program consists of a community partner, such as a Rotary Club, making a donation which DCF matches one-for-one and the total of those amounts is matched again on a one-for-one basis by OneFuture Coachella Valley. The result is a scholarship which is four times bigger than the community partner’s contribution.

The impact of this new program was felt for the first time during the annual DCF Scholarship Banquet, held on May 26, when DCF was able to award 25 students with a total of $109,500 in scholarships. Being able to solicit donors with the knowledge that their donations will make four times the impact they would be able to make on their own has helped DCF in increasing the number of donations they receive each year.

Ricardo Loretta, Executive Director of DCF said, “We found great acceptance for this concept. A perfect example is the scholarship Palm Desert Pines to Palms Rotary Club (P2P) gave to Braulio Ramirez, an honors student from Xavier Prep High School who is going to UC Irvine this Fall. P2P Rotary donated $1,250 and DCF matched that for a total of $2,500. OneFuture matched the $2,500 with an equal amount for a total scholarship of $5,000. This scholarship will be of far greater value to Braulio than a $1,250 award, which is what he would have received under P2P’s traditional way of handling their scholarship program. Like many awardees receiving DCF scholarships, Braulio is first in his family to attend college, and without the assistance from this enhanced award, he would not be in a position to achieve his dream of a post high school education.”

Loretta went on to say that he is now connecting with local organizations who may want to partner with DCF for next year’s scholarship awards: “Through this partnering mechanism, more award monies are available to more students, and that is good for the community.”

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