A senior tradition kicks off
Senior Class Gift campaign hopes to inspire young UD graduates
1:23 p.m., Feb. 15, 2016--As students make their way through their college years, they inevitably build enduring memories of all they love about the University of Delaware. They assume that the many things they treasure will remain – class after class, year after year, for as long as they can imagine.
What they don’t always realize is that a lot of what they love might not even exist without the generosity of those who came before them.
Campus Stories
From graduates, faculty
Doctoral hooding
Organizers of the Senior Class Gift campaign say that’s the message they hope to instill as they renew UD’s annual effort to inspire a sense of philanthropy in young graduates. Starting Feb. 18 with a kickoff event at the Stone Balloon Ale House and continuing through the coming weeks with a wave of peer-to-peer promotion, the campaign is crucial to funding a campus-wide array of opportunities, from scholarships to study abroad programs.
“Student philanthropy plays a big role in creating the total UD experience. Those donations help pay for lab supplies, help support Greek-life groups, even play a role in keeping the marching band playing,” says Lauren Kirchhausen, assistant director of leadership annual giving at UD’s Development and Alumni Relations Office. “We want students to know that to keep UD great, and to keep these things for future classes, it’s important to give back, even if it’s just a little.”
Jenna DiStefano, a member of the Class of 2016 in the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, knows how crucial those gifts can be. As founder of the fledgling UD Gymnastics Club, DiStefano has leveraged donor support into a squad that placed 15th in the nation last year, and is relying on continued generosity to keep the team’s ambitions moving forward. So far this year, the team’s page on the UD crowdfunding website has brought in close to 90 percent of its $10,000 goal for a trip to California, and is brimming with encouraging notes from donors.
Stories like that demonstrate that people are willing and even eager to give toward causes they care about, Kirchhausen says. Since 2007, the Senior Class Gift Program has taken a similar approach, giving donors the ability to contribute toward specific colleges, departments, student groups, or teams — about 2,200 different gift designations in total.
That has helped generate more grass-roots enthusiasm than the now-defunct tradition of using senior gift funds to buy a campus clock, or replace fallen trees, Kirchhausen says.
“You can give to a part of the University that you care about — give back to your passion,” says Dan Gerber, a 2011 graduate who served as a Senior Class Gift Council volunteer.
In the coming weeks, the 28 volunteers of Senior Gift Council also will be spreading their appeal through informal contacts and presentations to student groups. “A lot of times, it’s just organic, asking friends to make a donation,” Kirchhausen says.
Students need to look at it this way, says Jessica Sorentino, of the Class of 2011, who also served as a volunteer organizer: Many of the experiences they enjoyed during their years at UD were made possible in part by the generosity of the students who came before them.
Getting that message across to a cash-strapped senior can be tricky, but rewarding, Gerber says. “A lot of the feedback I got was, ‘I pay so much for tuition — why should I pay for this?’ ” Sorentino says.
In his pitch to prospective student donors, Gerber would point out some little-known facts — that just 43 percent of UD’s revenue comes from tuition and fees. That just 13 percent comes from state appropriations. And he stressed to students that donations don’t have to be high-dollar. Even the traditional senior gift contribution — $20.16, in honor of the Class of 2016 — can make a big difference for many programs when multiplied over many seniors.
“What really matters is participation," Kirchhausen says. "If every senior made a $20.16 contribution this year, the class will have raised nearly $79,000.” In 2014, the campaign raised $10,545, through the generosity of 510 student donors. In 2015, the total jumped to $16,501 and 649 seniors — a 17 percent participation rate.
Senior Class Gift Council members say it also helps to instill a feeling of competitive spirit — by mentioning to students, for example, that at some universities, more than 50 percent of seniors donate.
As an added incentive for giving this year, donors will be invited to attend Acting President Nancy Targett’s May 18 donor barbecue, and will get to wear a donor recognition tassel at commencement. “That was first done last year, and it was a great success,” Kirchhausen says.
Ultimately, organizers would like to see seniors’ feelings of gratitude carry on to a lifetime of giving to UD. For young alumni like Sorentino and Gerber, it already has.
“They really were the best four years of my life, the UD experience,” says Sorentino, who tries to give to UD every year. “I got to do so many things. I think it’s important to keep the programs growing, so I want to give back.”
About the kickoff event
The Senior Class Gift Campaign kickoff event, featuring free food, prizes, cap-and-gown raffles, and games (first 100 students get a free UD Senior Class Gift tank top) will be held from 6-8 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 18, at the Stone Balloon Ale House, 115 E. Main St., Newark.
For more information, see the website or email studentphilanthropy@udel.edu.
Article by Eric Ruth
Photo by Evan Krape