As a recent alumna of the MPA program, I am so excited to see the overwhelming support for the Burkhalter-Rassel Scholarship crowdfunding campaign! It is evident that the impact of the educational opportunities offered by this program have left a lasting impression on many of us. 

Over the course of our 66-day campaign, we raised over 2.5 times more than our original goal of $5,000. Together, we contributed over $12,500 toward endowing the Burkhalter-Rassel Scholarship. That is incredible, and I thank each and every one of you who made a contribution and who shared our campaign messaging with your networks. Without each of you, this would have been impossible. 

This astounding fundraising effort leaves the Burkhalter-Rassel Scholarship only $3,500 short of endowment status, where the scholarship will live on indefinitely and provide financial assistance for future local government leaders entering the MPA program. If you would like to host a fundraiser for the Burkhalter-Rassel Scholarship, feel free to contact me (bbumga11@uncc.edu), and I am more than happy to help!

Thank you for being an engaged member of the MPA community of students, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends. I hope that you will continue to be an active part of the program. 

All My Best,

Brittany Bumgarner, MPA '15

What an incredible way to start the week!

THANK YOU for accepting the MPA Faculty challenge and exceeding our first stretch goal of $9,000 over the weekend! As promised, a group of our MPA faculty has also donated $1,500, putting us just over $11,000. I am overwhelmed and so grateful for the support that each and every one of you has shown the MPA program.

When we started this crowdfunding campaign, we set out to raise $5,000. Now, with 10 days left to push out our message, we are just $5,000 shy of fully endowing the Burkhalter-Rassel Scholarship. Once endowed, this scholarship will live on forever, providing financial aid that will help future leaders of our community as they obtain their MPA degree at UNC Charlotte.

We couldn't do this without you. Thank you for supporting the MPA program, and please continue sharing this link (crowdfund.uncc.edu/burkhalter-rassel) with your networks through the end of our campaign on April 14th.

Thank you, again!

Suzanne 

You did it! 

In just two and a half weeks, you contributed to exceeding 80% of the crowdfunding campaign goal for the Burkhalter-Rassel scholarship. As promised, I have made my $800 challenge gift, bringing the campaign within $546 of its overall goal. 

Thank you for supporting this scholarship, the opportunities it will provide future community leaders, and the MPA program. I hope you will continue to share the crowdfunding link (crowdfund.uncc.edu/burkhalter-rassel) with your network and encourage them to share it with their networks. Together, we can far exceed our goal.

Thank you again, 

Gary Rassel

What a great first week for the Burkhalter-Rassel crowdfunding effort! 

After launching our website last Friday afternoon, we have raised almost 70% of our $5,000 goal. And we could not have done this without YOU, so thank you so much for your contribution.

We are so encouraged by the amount of support we have received from alumni, faculty, students, and friends of the program that we have decided to increase our campaign goal to $8,000. This amount is half of what we need to endow the Burkhalter-Rassel scholarship, which will allow us to reward promising public servants in the MPA program in perpetuity. 

Increasing our goal means that we will need YOUR HELP to spread the word about how great our program is and what an impact this scholarship can make for our students. Please share our crowdfunding site link with your personal networks (crowdfund.uncc.edu/burkhalter-rassel) and encourage them to share it with their personal networks. The greater our reach, the greater our impact.

Thank you, again, for your support of the Burkhalter-Rassel scholarship. I look forward to many more exciting updates over the next couple of months.

Suzanne

(Below: The 2015 Fall 6187 group capstone class after presenting their research project to the City of Charlotte.)