The college’s 2014 senior class officers have officially kicked off a three-year student giving campaign for the senior class.
Senior Class President Josh Andrew explained that the campaign is an effort to increase the percentage of alumni donations given to the college.
“Historically, people who graduate from Hillsdale don’t seem to give back very much,” Andrew said. “This impacts our rankings. If people gave back $30 over three years, it will drastically impact our rankings for the better.”
The idea for this three-year campaign began last year with the class of 2013. During the course of their campaign, 40 percent of the class signed a pledge to support the college over a three-year period.
Colleges across the nation continually seek to increase their alumni giving rate. U.S. News & World Report publishes an annual report of the top 10 colleges with the highest two-year average percentage of alumni donations.
According to U.S. News and World Report, the college with the highest alumni giving rate was Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, Calif., which averaged 63.7 percent.
Hillsdale College Director of Alumni Relations Grigor Hasted explained that the senior class campaign is part of an effort to increase the college’s alumni-giving rate, which has remained at 25 percent.
“Fifty percent is a good level for some of the best schools in the nation. We are among those schools, but our alumni giving rate is not commensurable with that,” Hasted said. “If you wait to cultivate that type of alumni support after the students graduate, even within the first two years, it is very hard to reach them.”
In an effort to increase student participation in the campaign, the senior class officers are exploring new marketing efforts.
“Last year, the officers really restricted their marketing to sitting at a table above Saga. We thought that as long as people know about the campaign they are going to give,” Andrew said. “Putting it online and making the campaign more interactive will increasing our participation base.”
Officers are encouraging students to participate in a video contest where seniors can submit a short video explaining why they will continue to support the college. The videos will be shown at the Senior Class Gala later this year.
In addition, the officers plan to launch a website where students can sign up for the three-year pledge. The site will allow donations to be given to specific departments, organizations, sport teams, or clubs.
“The donations are essentially going right back to the students. We want to emphasize that students can fund their particular interests,” Andrew said.
“We want to stress that it doesn’t have to be a lot of money,” Hasted said. “Just remember Hillsdale each year and what you are able to give, and that would a tremendous help to the college.”
