An anonymous donor gave $10 million to CPCC. Here’s how the school plans to use the gift.

Central Piedmont Community College just received its single-largest individual donation in the school’s 58-year history.

The anonymous $10 million donation is also one of the largest gifts ever made to a community college nationwide, the school said Friday in a news release.

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“This magnanimous gift will strengthen Central Piedmont’s capacity to educate, train, and empower well-rounded individuals who will understand, appreciate, and participate in the rich and diverse cultural traditions that strengthen the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community,” CPCC president Kandi Deitemeyer said.

CPCC’s previous largest donation came in 2002, the Observer previously reported, when the Leon Levine Foundation donated $5 million to help students pay for tuition, fees and books.

The $10 million gift will be used to transform CPCC’s role as a community resource for arts and humanities programming and learning. According to the college, the plans for the gift include:

▪ Establishing an endowment that provides resources to attract and retain outstanding arts and humanities faculty members.

▪ Creating a scholarship endowment to provide Opportunity Scholarships for students who are pursuing degrees in arts and humanities.

▪ Creating and launching an arts and humanities series which will bring renowned authors, artists, and performers to Central Piedmont for the benefit of students, faculty, staff and the greater Charlotte-Mecklenburg community.

▪ Establishing a public art fund, which will provide resources to commission public art for the enhancement of outdoor spaces at the college, enriching the lives of students, faculty, staff and visitors on a daily basis.

▪ Enhancing instruction in the visual arts.

▪ Creating an endowment to support and expand instruction and learning in the arts and humanities at the college.

“As a result of this gift, Central Piedmont students will gain a greatly enhanced appreciation of the arts and humanities, aiding them as they build productive lives of meaning and service,” Deitemeyer said.

The gift commitment comes to the college as part of CPCC’s five-year, $40 million Powering a Stronger Future campaign, which the school said would end in June 2022.