Alumna named Purpose Prize Fellow

Civic Ventures honored Virginia “Ginny” Donohue ’88, executive director and founder of On Point for College, as a 2010 Purpose Prize Fellow at a November ceremony in Philadelphia. Purpose Prizes honor Americans over age 60 for making an extraordinary impact in their encore careers.

Donohue was named a Purpose Prize Fellow based on her founding On Point for College, which has enrolled 2,723 inner-city youth in more than 200 colleges and universities.

Virginia “Ginny” Donohue ’88 of Syracuse, at right, executive director and founder of On Point for College, was honored as a 2010 Purpose Prize Fellow.

“I am grateful to the Purpose Prize for this honor,” said Donohue. “On Point for College has never turned away a single student.”

“I never knew what tenacity meant, what courage meant or what loyalty meant until I met our students,” she said. “If we can make the road easier for these amazing young adults, it is an honor.”

In July 2009, SUNY Oswego President Deborah F. Stanley honored Donohue for her work with On Point for College by awarding her a Presidential Medal, calling her an “inspirational activist.”

In April 1999, after eight years of helping students from a local homeless shelter to enroll in college, she left the corporate world and her position as chief financial officer in order to launch On Point for College out of the trunk of her car.

On Point for College has expanded to 13 staff members and 160 mentors and volunteers, and has enrolled 2,723 teens from inner-city Syracuse in more than 200 colleges and universities. The not-for-profit boasts more than 350 college graduates in addition to several young people who have obtained or are pursuing post-baccalaureate degrees.