Last year, Georgetown met its capital campaign goal of raising $1 billion. The University had raised its goal from a $500 million campaign announced in 1995 as the program’s success far exceeded expectations. This fundraising is an integral part of the University’s strategy for the coming years, as it will fuel both endowment growth and the construction of new facilities, a process that is already well underway, with the Southwest Quad getting broken in by this year’s residents and ground already broken on several other projects. Funds raised will also help cover current program costs.
Universities flush with cash get there in a variety of ways. The occasional school gets one huge donation and never has to look back. Most, however, use a broader strategy that involves keeping alumni closely tied with their university and successfully soliciting a large proportion of them for donations over the decades after their graduation. Even if the average value of individual contributions is only in the hundreds of dollars, schools can make it up on volume. Georgetown University, for example, has 133,000 alumni that it can contact to draw on. Moreover, the experience of attending the institution is implicitly enhanced for graduates and students alike. Students have the benefit of a better-developed alumni network, and graduates find that the university experience continues long after they’ve graduated. A high giving rate and the connection with alumni that it entails is not only good for a school’s fiscal position, but also good for the campus community itself.
While Georgetown University’s alumni giving rates have historically been quite low for a top-tier school, ranging in the 20-30% range, the school has recently made significant progress. The announcement that the $1 billion mark had been met was paired with the news that giving rates have climbed to 35% from 30% last year. The strategy behind this success indicates that rates should continue to rise for the coming years.
Ultimately, keeping giving rates high depends on starting early. Once you’ve lost an alum, you’ve probably lost them for good. People who haven’t thought about their alma mater in years probably won’t react to a few letters asking them what they’re up to and would they mind contributing a few hundred dollars. The same thing applies to working Georgetown into graduates’ wills. Forget about them, and they will forget about the University, or at least stop seeing themselves as partners in its growth.
To this end, Georgetown has spent the past decade developing a comprehensive alumni relations strategy, a process that Jeff Donahoe, senior director of advancement communications at the Office of Alumni and University Relations, describes as a “professionalization” of the University’s efforts. The first step was getting students to consider their post-graduation relationship with the University before they had even received their degree, and to that end, in 1994, the senior class gift program was founded as a way to get seniors in the habit of giving to the University. The gift relies on small donations of approximately $20, and the funds are typically used to build a small addition to the campus-the clock in Red Square, for example. That year, 12% of the senior class gave to the gift. For the class of 2003, the rate had risen to 72%.
Following this same line of thinking, the University recently established the Graduates Of the Last Decade Program, which, according to Matt Reilein, a recent SFS graduate and chair of the GOLD committee, is “an umbrella organization for volunteer alumni for the last 10 years out. We want to provide resources and a support infrastructure to young alumni.” To that end, the GOLD Program has organized events for graduates in cities around the country where alums are concentrated. Professors and University administrators make visits, graduates organize events and the cumulative effect seems to be that the University is enjoying “increasingly large numbers of support from young alumni,” according to Matt Lambert, associate director for class advancement at the OAUR. While the overall giving rate reached 35%, many recent classes had giving rates in the 60-70% range.
Lambert, Reilein and others involved in the GOLD Program have focused in particular on developing homecoming into an event with broader appeal. Traditionally, the weekend has been all about tailgating at the football game, with the result that young alumni from the area are the largest returning group. This year, homecoming included, in addition to tailgating, a five kilometer run, faculty seminars, a Southwest Quad tour and other events. Their promotion of the event had immediate results; 5,000 alumni attended the weekend, well over the average of 2,000. While most were from recent classes, older alumni were out in force as well.
All this organizational effort has paid off over the past eight years with the University’s successful fundraising drive. This past year saw a major additional push when an anonymous member of the board of directors pledged to give an additional $1 million to the campaign if the giving rate would crest 34%. Graduates responded, getting on the phone, contacting each other through e-mail and at events, and successfully pushed the rate to 35%.
Much of the money the University has raised is actually in pledges; according to Donahoe, within five years most of the pledged money will have made its way into the University’s coffers. Of the total funds, just under $300 million will go towards the endowment itself. The endowment currently fluctuates in the neighborhood of $650 million, so the additional funds should put Georgetown in the $1 billion ballpark. The remaining funds will cover current programs and physical plant additions. Even more valuable, though, is the system the University has developed for effectively reaching out to its alums and keeping them close to the school. With a few more successful years, Georgetown’s financial strength should match its academics. So fork it over when you leave.
Bill Cleveland is a senior in the College and a contributing editor of The Georgetown Voice. He thinks he has a strong chance in the Iraqi primaries. Bring it on!
