The Story of the Alumni Fund

THE FUND IS A FUNDAMENTAL RESOURCE UPON WHICH ADEQUATEFINANCING OF THE COLLEGE IS BASED

THE ALUMNI OF Dartmouth in the early years were devoted to the College, solicitous of her welfare and anxious that she should pursue the straight and narrow path of educational advance. In the controversies of those days the graduates took a prominent and not always helpful part. In the period of dissension culminating in the Dartmouth College Case, the alumni were sharply divided, the older element generally taking the side of John Wheelock, while the younger men tended to support the trustees. There seems, however, to have been little or no feeling of financial obligation to the institution and little tendency for alumni gifts to appear.

In those days, aside from tuition charges, there were four possible sources of income: (x) from the state, (2) from church relationships, (3) from alumni, (4) from the public at large. After the initial gifts at its founding, during the first fifty years of College history little money came from any of these sources—what donations were available came mostly from land grants from the states of New Hampshire and Vermont. The Dartmouth College contest removed this source of endowment from the realm of possibility, and at the same time cast the College very definitely under the protection of the Congregational Church, both for spiritual guidance and for material aid.

EARLY CAMPAIGNS FOR FUNDS

So it was that the first concerted drive for endowment, entered upon by President Tyler in 1824 and yielding about $BOOO, was designed for ministerial scholarships, and the appeal was to the Congregational constituency. Although somewhat more general in its nature, much of the same could be said of the subscription instituted by President Tyler in 1827 and completed by President Lord, yielding $25,000, which provided for the erection of Thornton and Wentworth Halls. During the administration of the latter president, three other "drives" for funds, one of them completely abortive, the other two falling far short of their goals, were instituted. In the first, in 1834, the appeal was to the "churches and clergy of New England and the liberal members of the public at large," but in the third, twenty years later, alumni participation was more definitely kept in mind. To aid in that purpose the general Alumni Association was organized in 1855, "with reference to more effectual raising of money." The effectiveness of the movement was not high, as only $16,000 was secured of the $lOO,OOO asked for, but the necessary organization was instituted and has continued to the present day.

During the administrations of Presidents Smith and Bartlett, while gifts to the College increased, a fair proportion of them coming from individual alumni, little chance of success existed in appealing to the graduates as a whole. That was the twenty year period of acute agitation and controversy concerning alumni representation upon the board of trustees. While under President Smith this controversy was kept within reasonable bounds, with the accession of his downright and emphatic successor it became an open, even embittered quarrel, and a very large portion of the alumni body was alienated—not, perhaps, from the College but from those who administered its affairs. When we consider the smooth operation of the system finally installed, which has now worked without friction for over forty years, it seems almost incredible that so many persons could have cherished seriously the prognostications of evil which were advanced so earnestly by the opponents of that plan. The explanation, aside from the natural objection of old men to the diminution of their authority, was their sincere dread of the deviation of the College from the course of strict theological orthodoxy which, although sentimental rather than legal, had marked its career from the days of its origin. Incidentally it may be said that these fears were well grounded, that the College did break completely away from the theological bonds which had been no less strong because entirely intangible, and no one, except the rapidly disappearing older men, was disturbed thereby.

In the year of Dr. Tucker's assumption of the presidency this controversy was settled by the acceptance by the trustees of a fair degree of alumni representation. Nevertheless, much remained to be done to bring the alumni into a truly co-operative relationship to the institution as a whole. It had always been true that the graduates cared much for the College, but it is no exaggeration to say that in the hundred or so years of its existence up to this time this affection was largely manifested by careful watchfulness of College management and stern criticism ot its course. In none of the many great movements of his administration did Dr. Tucker show higher wisdom or more supreme tact, nor in any branch of administration did he accomplish results more beneficial than in, his treatment of alumni relationships. With profound insight he perceived that the question of contributions was a secondary matter which would take care of itself if the alumni body came intimately to know the problems of the College and the measures which were being advanced by the administration to meet them; if alumni advice was sought and alumni co-operation welcomed; if problems were frankly discussed with alumni groups; if, in short, the graduates were made to feel that they were a living and vital part of the institution. To attain that end Dr. Tucker put forth his most energetic, continuous, and skilful efforts. So well did he succeed that, from an attitude too often of carping criticism, alumni feeling became one of happy cooperation; instead of objecting from the outside to what was being done as they thought wrongly, the alumni became united in the business of active promotion of what was being done rightly. Perhaps no change which has ever come over the spirit of the College has been more beneficial than this.

DARTMOUTH HALL EMERGENCY

In their agitation for trustee representation, the alumni had made large promises of financial aid, which were hardly justified by the immediate results. In 1893 appeals were made for $75,000, partly for athletic and gymnasium purposes and partly for a water system. But $17,000 was obtained, not more than enough to provide for an athletic field. In the last years of the nineteenth century Dr. Tucker appealed for funds with which to build a new auditorium. Again the response was slow. The foundations of the building were laid in 1901, but the structure had to wait five years for further money to accumulate. Some spark was needed to arouse the emotions of the graduates and this spark, in a very literal sense, was supplied by the burning of Dartmouth Hall in February, 1904. This building had been the center of the College activities of all Dartmouth men for more than a hundred years, and its destruction was felt by every alumnus as a profound personal loss. Under the impetus of skilful organization, the response of the graduates was ready and immediate and soon the subscription amounted to $240,000, which was adequate to rebuild Dartmouth Hall and to complete the still rudimentary Webster Hall. The importance of the movement was not limited to its immediate financial success, but came far more from the fact that Dartmouth men became convinced that they actually could contribute, en masse, to the welfare of the College, and that high personal satisfaction could be derived from such sacrifices. So, when in 1908 the requests came to the graduate group for money to be used for the erection of a much needed gymnasium, $109,000 was secured with far less difficulty than had been experienced in obtaining sums much smaller in earlier years.

TUCKER FUND FOUNDED

In 1906, through the suggestion of Henry H. Hilton '9O, came the establishment of the "Tucker Alumni Scholarship and Instruction Fund," the parent of the present Alumni Fund. Modeled upon an undertaking instituted at Yale, it was originally intended solely for scholarship purposes, more specifically to make up for the decreasing rates of interest on the scholarship funds of the College. The work of solicitation was in the hands of a committee of which Mr. Hilton was chairman during the entire eight years of the existence of the fund. E. M. Hopkins 'Ol, then secretary of the College, served as secretary until 1910, when he was succeeded by H. G. Pender '97. In the first year $5147 was obtained, but in subsequent years the annual subscription generally fluctuated between $3OOO and $4OOO, except in 1911-12, when it rose to $4721. The work was obviously hampered by the simultaneous call for subscriptions for the gymnasium. It was the idea at this time that only the interest upon the amount received should be used and so, at the termination of its activities, the fund committee could show an increase of College endowments of $13,742 as a result of its efforts.

In 1914, largely through the initiative of Mr. Hopkins (who had left Hanover in 1910 to embark on a business career) came the institution of the Dartmouth Alumni Council, designed to be an executive group of alumni from various sections of the country and representing various interests in the College. A cross section of the alumni body, it is sufficiently small to act quickly and efficiently and to respond adequately to conditions as they develop. Among the other activities assigned to this body was the management of the Fund, the name of which was changed to the "Dartmouth College Alumni Fund on the Tucker Foundation." At the same time the purpose of the Fund was changed from one concerned solely with scholarships, the interest only to be available, to one the principal of which might be devoted to general College purposes. At first, indeed, it was the plan that one quarter of the annual receipts should always be reserved for endowment, but eventually it was found better to make the Fund wholly available for whatever emergency might develop. The management was placed in the hands of a small committee, with an executive secretary to attend to details, agents were appointed who were responsible for the solicitation of the various classes, and the endeavor was made to provide for closer organization and more intensive effort than had been possible in previous years.

ALUMNI COUNCIL EFFORTS

The response was immediate. In the first year the returns were $6580, about double the average annual amount obtained in the preceding period, and it rose in the two following years to $lO,OOO and then to $17,000. In the year 1917-18, with the advent of American participation in the World War, the College was confronted with a most serious financial crisis. Coming suddenly, with no adequate time for preparation, the institution was faced with a staggering drop of student revenue. In the existence of the alumni Council the machinery was at hand to meet this emergency and most effectively did it operate, bringing in for that year over $62,000, a most astounding result, considering any yield that had previously been obtained. It is true that subscriptions fell off somewhat in the following year, but from that point they maintained a steady upward slope until in 1929 they reached a maximum of nearly $130,000. Such funds are excellent barometers of economic conditions, and during the depression the yield lessened, reaching its lowest point, $67,000, in 1933. Since then it has risen steadily, the amount contributed in 1937 being $106,847.16. In all, the alumni have paid in to the College $1,866,- 422.81 through the Fund since its origin.

ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE FUND

The accomplishments of the movement are many. Its contribution to the settlement of the financial difficulties resulting from the war has already been mentioned. It assumed and extinguished the gymnasium debt. It provides scholarships for promising graduates looking forward to college teaching. It has now assumed the responsibility for the rebuilding of Dartmouth Hall, burned for a second time. But the greatest merit of the Fund is that of availability—the fact that its return, unrestricted as it is, may be immediately applied at the points of greatest stress. As a result of this availability the College is given a reasonable leeway in its operation. It may proceed without that degree of parsimony which might otherwise be necessary and which would bring with it educational inefficiency. Year after year the institution has been able thus to operate, and the normal deficits thus created have in every case been met by the Alumni Fund. It is not too much to say that it constitutes the "fundamental basis of adequate college finance."

Of course these results have not been attained without the untiring efforts of many men. They are men of importance in their chosen fields, busy men, men whose services command high remuneration in the world of affairs. To the writer, as he observes the tireless activities and live personal interests of the members of the Alumni Council continuing year after year, the wonder ever increases that these graduates of the College put at the service of the institution, so freely and so gladly, their efforts, their experience, and their wisdom, with the desire of no other reward than their own satisfaction that such service is rendered. This article is indeed sponsored by the Council, but the writer entered upon it only with the understanding that no censorship should be applied. A discussion of the Alumni Fund would be woefully incomplete without mention of the men, who in successive years, have carried on its activities with high success. So, ruthlessly indifferent to their blushes, let the names of the chairmen of the Fund committee appear. Following' Mr. Hilton, already mentioned as the originator of the plan, they are as follows: F. A. Howland 'B7, E. W. Knight 'B7, T. W. Streeter 'O4, C. G. McDavitt 'OO, A. L. Priddy 'l5, G. M. Morris '11, F. H. Leggett '9B, W. J. Minsch 'O7, J. C. Sterling 'll, J. W. Hubbell '2l, S. S. Larmon 'l4. These men indeed deserve well of the College. Nor should the laborious and exacting work of the cessive executive secretaries—H. E. Keyes 'oo, R. R. Larmon 'l9, R. P. Booth '22, R. C. Strong '24, S. C. Hayward '26, and A. I. Dickerson '3o—be ignored. Unfortunately the class agents are too numerous to permit publication of their names, but in many ways they are the most important of all. They are on the firing line, the actual work of solicitation is in their hands, their tasks are laborious and not always attractive. Upon their efficiency the real success of the fund depends. As the class agents go, so goes the Fund, is axiomatic to those who know its workings. Many of them labor year after year with uniform effectiveness but with no thought of reward beyond their satisfaction in work that is well done. And finally we go back to the alumni themselves, whose contributions, great and small, poured out for so many years, have made the enterprise successful. It is the glory of the Dartmouth Fund that the proposition of its contributors to living graduates (72% in 1937) surpasses that in any other similar fund in all the land. An institution whose sons, year after year, thus rally to her support possesses a reserve of strength the measurement of which is by no means limited to mere questions of finance. Such response is but an indication of the living unity of Dartmouth.

KEYSTONE OF COLLEGE FINANCES

sueSo the Fund has become a resource upon which the financial managers of the College, year after year, have come to rely. Of course it is not the whole story of College finance. The task of meeting the needs of the times, in a period of increasing costs—the task of placing Dartmouth, for the first time, in such a position of financial strength that it could compete on equal terms (as it never could in previous years) in expenditures for instruction, administration and library facilities with its normal rivals, is not one in which the fund has played the leading role. Not much of the increase in the book value of the productive investments since the installation of President Hopkins—roughly from 14,000,000 to sl7,ooo,ooo—is due to that source. Nor do the proceeds normally cover much more than 5% of College expenditures. But, on the other hand, such figures are highly fallacious if they are used, without qualification, to measure the importance of the Alumni Fund.

Every business man knows that the final 5% in a closely balanced budget is likely to be the crucial test. He knows that failure to attain that amount, if long continued, means weakness and eventual death to the enterprise—he knows that if it is steadily available, the enterprise prospers. Moreover the availability of the Fund, already mentioned, increases its utility far beyond its value in terms of figures. It is not too much to say that a dollar freely at the disposal of an educational institution is worth two the use of which is rigorously restricted. It is often surprising, in considering institutions whose published assets amount to scores of millions, to observe the actual penury which may prevail in many highly neces- sary but unspectacular activities. Money held in reserve for special ends not only lacks immediate availability, but often it has to be supplemented from general sources that those ends may be attained. So, income of the nature of that obtained from the Alumni Fund is of the highest value to any college. Nor need we be over- anxious because the money is spent at once, rather than held for endowment. It has never seemed feasible to appeal to the Dartmouth constituency for huge sub- scriptions for endowments. Nor, in the light of recent experience, does it appear that capital reposing in the generosity and loyalty of men is more subject to loss or to fluctuations in returns than capital in stocks and bonds.

One modification and enlargement of the Fund seems to the writer both feasible and desirable. Many classes maintain a high record of giving throughout their whole career, but eventually their members die and the class disappears from view. Frequently such classes desire to supplement their contributions to the Fund by special gifts to the College. Individual members, also, may have the same purpose, but with insufficient means to accomplish large and spectacular aimsSuch gifts are now made and they are welcome, but they tend to scattered ends, and lack the opportunity to add themselves one to another and thus achieve the importance which accretion might give. Moreover, it sometimes happens that gifts made for special purposes lose their effectiveness with the change of conditions in the lapse of time. Unrestricted funds never diminish in utility. It would seem desirable, therefore, for classes which wish to perpetuate their names by making special gifts to the College, or for individuals who have donations in mind either to be given in the name of their class or in their own name or perhaps the two combined, to designate the money as endowment of the Alumni Fund, the interest alone to be used. It might thus be possible for an annual income to be produced, from this class endowment, amounting to as much as the yearly contributions of the class when it was active, an income which would be perpetuated years after the class had disappeared.

In this way the accretion of the fund by gifts which, individually, might not be large, combined with current donations of living classes, would raise the annual income to amounts which would make an even more significant contribution to College efficiency than is now the case. The loyalty of the dead, the liberality of successive generations of Dartmouth men, would thus be for them a perpetual memorial, and a yearly renewed memory of the devotion of the past.

Author of: "History of Dartmouth College"