NWACC Sets Fund-Raising Record

Bill Outhouse, executive vice president of the Northwest Arkansas Community College Foundation in Rogers, has pronounced 2000 his organization’s best fund-raising year ever.

The NWACC Foundation received more than $2.5 million in donations, raised an additional $20,000 at its second annual Golden Eagle Golf Tournament at Lost Springs Golf & Country Club in Rogers, and secured new pledges totaling $580,000 that will be received over the next four years.

The most recent donations include $126,775 in early December from CommunityCare Foundation Inc. of Rogers, to be used for the fine arts and allied health departments and scholarships; a $30,000 endowed scholarship for business students given by George Westmoreland, first vice president at Merrill Lynch in Rogers; $44,000 for foundation operations from the Walton Family Foundation Inc. of Bentonville; and $100,000 for various academic programs from Boyce and George Billingsley of Bella Vista Village.

“There is a broad base of support in northwest Arkansas for the community college,” Outhouse said. “We’re deeply grateful for that. It’s great to know people value the college and what it does for the area.”

The only other year the foundation raised more than $1 million was in 1998, when Wal-Mart Stores Inc. investor Pauline Whitaker gave $1 million. The college got its largest single donation ever this year — a $2.1 million contribution from philanthropists Pat and Willard Walker of Springdale. The Walkers were two of Wal-Mart’s original investors.

Pledges received in 2000 include $500,000 over the next four years from the Walton foundation.

“Right now, our biggest need is to raise money for facilities,” Outhouse said. “We don’t try to recruit students, but our enrollment has increased so much we’re running out of room.”

NWACC serves about 10,000 students, including 2,500 workforce- development and 4,000 adult-education students. Ten years ago when the college was founded, it had fewer than 2,000 students.