First-time and multiple recipients of GCSF scholarships on stage with GCSF trustees in the Joseph Urban Theatre, Hearst Tower, New York City.

“We saw that there needed to be a future workforce for the graphic communications industry, and we saw that we needed to do something about it.”

With that simple but far-reaching plan in mind, Bill Dirzulaitis and the other founding members of the Graphic Communications Scholarship, Award and Career Advancement Foundation (GCSF) set out to finance their vision of a self-sustaining scholarship fund for the industry’s next generation of creative talent. On June 20, GSCF marked the tenth anniversary of the realization of that goal by presenting $40,000 in grants to 27 students commencing or continuing college-level studies in graphic communications.

The presentation ceremony at the Hearst Tower in Manhattan also featured the bestowal of a GCSF Service Award to Dirzulaitis as well as the recognition of Matthew McDowell (Pantone Inc.) as this year’s recipient of GCSF’s Champion of Education Award.

The student scholarship winners either attend or are entering colleges and universities with degree programs in graphic communications. Their areas of study include advertising, design, interactive media, printing, publishing, journalism, digital asset management, and photography.

Conceived by a small group of metro area industry members who wanted to coordinate fundraising for graphics education, GCSF is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit group that channels 100% of the money it raises to scholarships. To date, the group has awarded $313,000 in 94 grants endowed by a long list of graphics industry donors. Most of the 2012 recipients are in their second, third, fourth, or fifth years of qualifying for the stipends.

GCSF has no professional staff and relies entirely on the voluntary efforts of its officers and trustees. Its scholarship selection committee picks recipients by examining their SAT scores, grade-point averages, portfolios, letters of recommendation, and application essays.

GCSF also provides advisement, mentoring, internships and work-study opportunities for students enrolled in graphic studies degree programs at Pratt Institute, New York University, Rhode Island School of Design, The School of Visual Arts, and Carnegie Mellon University, among other institutions. (See video.)

As Pantone’s national sales manager, McDowell has spearheaded that company’s steadfast support for GCSF since its earliest days. In his acceptance remarks, he told the student recipients that in order to stand out among the 720,000 graphic designers now at work in North America, they would have to work hard at building their portfolios, their reputations, and their brands.

“Become lifelong learners,” he said, “and be sure to be proud of your work.” McDowell also urged the recipients to “network, network, network” at the many industry meetings and events where participation by students is welcome.

David Luke (left), president of GCSF, congratulates Matthew McDowell (Pantone Inc.) on his receipt of the foundation’s Champion of Education Award.

“Bill made it happen,” said Mark Darlow, a GCSF founder and trustee, of Dirzulaitis’s leadership in getting the foundation off the ground. Accepting his service award, Dirzulaitis—a president of the New York metro area’s principal trade association for 15 years—said that one of the drivers was the realization that while the industry was changing rapidly, its traditional workforce was aging at the same pace.

Meeting in borrowed space and keeping handwritten records on tablets (the paper kind), the founders raised and distributed $5,000 worth of grants in the first year. They also consolidated a number of existing scholarship funds that were not being actively managed. Since then, said Dirzulaitis, who served as the foundation’s first treasurer, GCSF has raised more than a half a million dollars to underwrite industry education.

Bill Dirzulaitis (left), founding treasurer of GCSF, accepts a Service Award from GCSF trustee Mark Darlow.

GCSF’s present slate of officers includes David Luke (president), Steve Kennedy (vice president), Ellen F. Hurwitch (second vice president), Jerry Mandelbaum (treasurer), Nick Patrissi (secretary), and Richard Krasner (immediate past president). The foundation (www.gcscholarships.org) may be followed on Twitter as @GCSF1.