Thirty dollars over three years – that’s how much the senior class officers are asking 2013 graduates to donate back to Hillsdale College.
The Senior Giving Campaign, the name of the fundraising effort, is part of a push to involve younger alumni and increase the overall number of alumni donors. The senior class officers hope the campaign will become a new tradition for outgoing senior classes.
“We depend on the kindness of others in order to exist,” Coordinator of Alumni Events Joyce Curby said. “If students paid 100 percent for all they received, they’d go to school through Thanksgiving and be done. What it costs for the rest of the year comes from interest off the endowment, or out of donations.”
Each senior will be given a pledge card asking them to donate $5 next year, $10 the year after, and $15 the following year. They will be able to donate by mail, or through an online giving website which will automatically complete their pledge over the next three years.
The seniors will be able to designate what their donation will benefit, meaning they can give to any of the college’s clubs, organizations, Greek houses, or sports teams. They can also make their donation to Hillsdale College in general if they choose, Curby said.
The campaign will not take the place of the senior gift, which is a tangible gift left by the seniors that is expensed through the class budget, president of the senior class Lauren Grover said.
“The $30 amount that we’re asking for over the next three years is not really that significant. It’s really not about the money, it’s about the participation,” secretary of the senior class Hannah Akin said. “By making the pledge over three years, we’re trying to build a habit of giving back, so people will think ‘oh, it’s Thanksgiving,’ or ‘oh its Homecoming, I’m going to give back to my school.’ We want it to encourage participation in the school even after college.”
The push to increase alumni donation stems from a participation concern. Last year, only 12 percent of the senior class gave back to the college. However, Curby said that the campaign is not meant to “cap on last year’s class in any way.”
“We just want to continue to grow. We’ve come a long way in terms of types of students, and our curriculum, as well as other things,” Curby said. “We are at a much higher level than we were even 10 years ago, so this is one of those benchmark things that we’d like to see increase.”
Raising the percentage of alumni donors will benefit the seniors when they graduate, as well as future graduates, because it helps the overall ranking of the college to go up which increases the value of Hillsdale diplomas.
“The percentage that gives back plays a part in the college’s ranking because it shows that people actually enjoyed their time here and they are wanting to give back,” Akin said.
Curby said there are numerous reasons why the percentage of donors is important, including the fact that high enough alumni giving numbers are needed to even qualify for certain grants.
Although the campaign has already started, the underclassmen may not have noticed because there aren’t posters and balloons plastered everywhere. This is because the campaign has been designed to generate its strength through word of mouth.
About 20 seniors will be designated to be what the senior officers refer to as “tribal leaders.” These leaders will be in charge of reaching out to specific seniors to encourage them to fill out a pledge card.
“We divided those who are graduating into sports teams, fraternities, sororities, and clubs, and selected people we know to be proven leaders on campus within each of those groups. We chose those people in hopes of reaching every corner of the senior class,” senior class Ambassador Eric DeMeuse said.
Grover said students are more likely to respond to friends and fellow peers rather than “a blanket email or a letter from someone they’ve never met before.”
“Being at a small school, we have to use the benefit that everyone knows everyone. So this is a completely different approach,” Grover said.
The idea for the campaign was devised by the senior class officers in collaboration with the alumni board.
“The alumni board came to us with the objective of raising participation, and we got to formulate the idea for the campaign,” Akin said. “Because we got to craft it, we think it’s really well suited to our class.”
The senior class officers said they are excited about the campaign, and they are hoping for 100 percent participation from their class.
“I think all of us would say that Hillsdale’s been life-changing,” Akin said. “Pretty much everyone I know loves it here and giving back is a way to show that we love it. I think that’s the most powerful reason to do it.”
The campaign is anticipated to become a tradition to ensure the college maintains a high alumni donor percentage.
“We hope that this is the inaugural year of the program and that the class of 2013 will have a benchmark for other classes to compare themselves to,” Curby said.