Graduates from the last decade raised more than $250,000 this fall for the College's Annual Fund, by stepping up to a generous challenge made by an anonymous member of the Board of Managers.
When October was declared the first annual Young Alumni Giving Month, members of the classes of 2001 through 2010 learned that all gifts (and pledges for recurring gifts) made during the month would be matched three-to-one by an anonymous donor. Young alumni responded with dramatic increases in participation from previous years to take advantage of this opportunity to quadruple their gifts.
More than 700 Fords who graduated over the last decade donated a total of $66,667, which maxed out the matching gift of $200,000. This represents a quarter of the College's Young Alumni body, and a 226% increase in participation over fall 2009. At least fifty members from each class gave in October, and the class of 2009 had more than 100 participants.
The challenge was announced via email blasts, which also directed alumni each week of the month to a new video on the Haverford website. The videos were inspired by top reasons to“Fall for the 'Ford”: Customs, the Honor Code, Academics, and Global Citizenship. The four two-minute films were produced by Danny Bedrossian '13, who also wrote the music for the song performed by classmate Mary Hobbs '13 (lyrics by Ann Wolski '13).
The excitement built over the course of the month, and on October 31, three alumni in particular came forward with gifts of unanticipated generosity. A $5,000 gift was made through the family foundation of an alumna of the class of 2010. And when Andy Ray '01 and Randy Ko '01 learned that the College was just $6,574 short of maxing out the matching dollars from the anonymous donor, they decided to make up this amount themselves.
“Three-to-one leverage can be a beautiful thing,” said Andy Ray, who—like Randy Ko—works in the hedge fund industry.“We deeply appreciated the gesture of this generous donor, which was effective in increasing not only the depth (dollar amount) of gifts, but also the breadth of participation (number of donors),” said Ko. Andy Ray added,“We're hopeful that our gift might also make the College more willing to extend the definition of Young Alumni out another few years, so, as members of the class of 2001, we can avoid becoming Old Alumni six months from now.” Ray and Ko's suggestion:“Maybe we could be called ‘Tween' alumni.”
“What an impressive showing by our young alums,” said Michael Kiefer, the College's vice president for Institutional Advancement.“In the wake of the world financial crisis, income from tuition and the endowment are compromised, so the College must rely even more on gifts to balance our operating budget. We also want our youngest graduates to realize that their gifts of any amount make a difference. Their level of participation—which was so high for this challenge—serves as a referendum on the overall quality of their experience at Haverford. And yes, we are profoundly grateful for the generous incentive provided by our anonymous Board member.”
In addition to the challenge, the designation of the month of October as Young Alumni Giving Month helped these younger donors establish a pattern of giving early in the College's fiscal year, which is a great help to Haverford. Next October, Haverford will stage the second-annual Young Alumni Giving Month, which is sure to build upon the success of this year's high levels of participation.
