Hi, my name is Lynn Dougherty, and I am fundraising for Donovan Ray Jackson's college fund.

As you may know, Donovan is a senior at New Roads School with a GPA of 3.6. Besides being an excellent student, he is a gifted artist. It is his dream to train and become a professional working artist in New York City. No one who knows him and has seen his work doubts that he can do this, but first, he needs to pay for college.

Donovan needs to close the gap between what he has and what he needs to go to his first-choice school, Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, one of the top art schools in the US. He has been accepted at Pratt and granted financial aid there, but it's not enough. I am very concerned that Donovan should not borrow so much that the debt crushes him after graduation. He has applied for a number of private scholarships (still pending) and is only now learning about some additional resources that may help him through the California foster care system.

The stated goal is the gap between the $75K cost of Pratt and what he has been offered, not including the large loans they suggest. I will adjust the amount of the goal depending on any increases in financial aid, scholarships or fee waivers he's able to get. Ultimately, whatever funds we raise here will be deposited into a 529 college savings account for Donovan's benefit and spent only according to the rules of that account. He will be able to use them at any accredited school if he has to defer his dream of going to Pratt until graduate school.

Donovan has gone through a lot in his young life. He is 17, in foster care and uncommonly talented, disciplined and hardworking. He is a good friend to others and a lovely young man who has faced painful losses and hardships with a big heart and forgiveness. He has seen the closest adults in his life let him down, and he currently has no contact at all with his birth family. It's my sincere hope that Donovan's community and friends will step up and be there for him now when he needs us.

Let's send this sweet, amazing kid to college! Please give what you can, and then a just bit more! Thanks so much, Lynn (on behalf of Donovan Jackson)