Friends of the College Can Now Support TC Online

The Office of Development has launched a new Web site, and beginning with the TC home page, viewers will be given an opportunity to learn how they can help support the College -- without leaving their computer.

By clicking on "Support TC" on the left side of the TC Home Page (www.tc.edu), viewers can access information on giving opportunities, including the TC Fund and Scholarships, along with news about new gifts and stories of how TC donors are having an impact on the lives of students. But that's only the start. The site will soon go further than simple providing the "how" and "why" found on many development sites, taking users to the "do" stage.

"Our goal is to make this site a web destination that alumni and friends of the College will want to visit regularly," said Michael Sclafani, director of the TC Fund and coordinator of the website project. "The most exciting element of the website will be its new online giving feature.  This is something our donors have been asking for and we are thrilled to provide them with this capability. By simply clicking the words ‘Make a Gift', donors can make a gift to the TC Fund using their credit card."

Sclafani, along with Laurie Dorf, Executive Director of Development Programs, and Requel Russell-George, Assistant Director of Gifts & Records, have been working with both the External Affairs Web Development Team and Revathi Joshi of Computing and Information Services to develop a seamless, attractive and useful web site.

"Many people have been working on this project and it has been a great step towards integrating both the look and feel of the current Teachers College website with interactive features like online giving," said Paul Acquaro, Teachers College's Web Editor.

The Development office sees this as just phase one of the site. "As time goes by, we really look forward to using the web as a tool to communicate with prospective and current donors.  We also look forward to receiving input on the new site and utilizing that input to grow the site for the future," said Sclafani.

The new development site can be accessed directly at http://www.tc.columbia.edu/supporttc. Feedback on the new site is welcome, and should be sent to Sclafani at msclafani@tc.edu.

Published Wednesday, Mar. 23, 2005