Give Back to the College That Built You
You remember the first time you drafted a pattern that actually worked. The first shoot where the lighting finally sat right. The first time a client paid you for something you made with your own hands.
You also remember what it cost to get there and how close you came, more than once, to not being able to continue.
Somewhere in the workshop on Muindi Mbingu Street this morning, there is a student in exactly that position. Same talent. Same hunger. Same math problem.
You are now on the other side of that problem. This is an invitation to do something about it.
Why alumni giving matters more than any other kind
A corporate sponsor writes a cheque. A foundation runs a grant cycle. Both are welcome, and both are essential. But neither carries what you carry.
You know what the money buys, because you spent it. You know that the 4,500 KES starter kit is not a line item, it is the difference between cutting your own fabric and watching someone else cut theirs. You know that a student who misses two months of fees does not “pause”; they usually disappear.
When an alumnus gives, it tells a prospective donor something no brochure can: the training worked well enough that the graduate can now afford to fund the next one. Your gift is proof of concept as much as it is money.
Giving at the level you are actually at
Let us be direct: most Delight graduates are early in their careers. Some are freelancing. Some are running a workshop with two machines and a growing order book. Very few are in a position to write 132,000 KES.
That is fine. Alumni giving is not built on large gifts. It is built on many small ones that arrive reliably.
The 1,000 KES Circle- one starter kit a year, shared
A standing gift of 1,000 KES a month is 12,000 KES a year. Five alumni giving at that level fund a full year of weekend-mode training for one student. Nine fund a full year of Media and AI training. Eleven fund a full year in Fashion and Design.
Most graduates can find 1,000 KES a month. Almost none can find 132,000 KES. The Circle exists because the second number is the wrong way to ask.
The Starter Kit Gift- 4,500 KES, once
The single most useful one-off gift an alumnus can make. It buys the needles, scissors, tape measure, bobbins, tetron cotton, chalk, threads and holding bag for a Fashion and Design student or the SD cards, reader, flash drive, earphones and notebook for a Media and AI student.
It is the gift that stops a student starting the term already behind. If you remember borrowing someone else’s scissors for a week, you know exactly why this one matters.
The Admission Gift- 8,500 KES, once
Covers the full one-time cost of joining: registration, ID card and branded T-shirt, starter pack, bag and locker, equipment maintenance and student activity fee. For a student whose family has scraped together the first month’s tuition and nothing more, this is the gift that gets them through the door.
Sponsor Your Successor- a full year
For alumni whose businesses have grown: fund one student in your own programme, for a full year, at 132,000 KES (Fashion and Design, full-time) or 111,000 KES (Media and AI, full-time). Part-time and weekend modes cost less (102,000 KES and 78,000 KES respectively).
We will match you with a student on the same pathway you took. You will know their name, follow their results, and meet them at graduation. Several of our alumni sponsors have gone on to hire the students they funded.
Class-year giving challenges
Giving is contagious when it is visible and specific. Each year we run class challenges: the Class of 2021 against the Class of 2022, Fashion against Media, weekend cohort against full-time cohort.
The rules are simple. The class with the highest participation rate wins, not the largest total. A class where forty graduates each give 500 KES beats a class where one graduate gives 20,000 KES. This is deliberate. We are building a giving habit, not chasing a number.
The winning class is named on the donor board at the campus and chooses the programme their combined gift is directed to.
What you get back
You are not buying anything. But you are not giving into a void either.
- A named student, if you want one– Direct sponsors are matched with a specific student, with that student’s consent, and receive termly progress updates.
- An annual alumni impact letter– setting out how much the alumni body gave, how many students it carried, and what happened to them.
- A standing invitation– to graduation, the Global Fusion Fashion Show, exhibitions, screenings and runway nights. Alumni donors sit as guests, not as ticket-holders.
- First call on our talent– Alumni donors running businesses get early access to graduating students for attachment and hiring.
- Recognition on the alumni donor board– by class year, unless you ask us to keep it quiet. Some do. That is respected.
How to set it up
For a recurring gift: send the amount by M-PESA to Paybill 522533, Account 8023637#YourSurname, on the same date each month. Then email [email protected] with the subject “Alumni Circle” and tell us your name, graduating year and programme so we credit it to your class.
For a one-off gift: the same paybill, or bank transfer to KCB Bank Kenya, Biashara Street branch, Delight Technical College, account 1296930947. Use your name and graduation year as the reference.
To sponsor a full student: email [email protected] with the subject “Sponsor My Successor”. We will send you two or three anonymised student profiles from your own programme and let you choose.
One last thing
Delight has been running since 2018. Eight years of graduates now work across Kenya’s fashion houses, media production companies, tech firms and their own workshops.
If a meaningful share of them gave 1,000 KES a month, no qualified student would ever again leave this college because of fees. Not one.
That is not a slogan. It is arithmetic. And it only works if you are in it.
Give back. Fund the next one. They are already in the building.
Delight Technical College, A TVETA-accredited institution (TVETA/PRIVATE/TVC/0080/2022)
Muindi Mbingu Street, opposite Jevanjee Gardens, Nairobi CBD | P.O. Box 12988-00100 GPO Nairobi
[email protected] | +254 722 533 771 / +254 724 566 088 | www.delight.ac.ke
M-PESA Paybill 522533, Account 8023637#YourSurname | KCB Bank Kenya, Biashara Street, Delight Technical College, A/C 1296930947
