Thousands of Names

IN THIS ISSUE THE ALUMNI MAGAZINE presents a detailed report on another of the Dartmouth Alumni Fund achievements which over the years have demonstrated, in strikingly consistent fashion, the unique loyalty of Dartmouth men. A few institutions with larger alumni bodies have posted greater fund totals in amount and number of contributors, but in relation to its potential the Dartmouth Alumni Fund still shows the way to all others. The high percentage of Dartmouth alumni contributing to the Fund year after year is the envy of the college world.

In his report on the Alumni Fund results for 1948, Chairman Richard A. Hoi ton 'lB rightly pays highest tribute to the devoted work of the class agents. The grand total of $381,949.48 from 13,629 contributors—the second highest amount and the greatest number of contributors in Dartmouth's Fund history—is primarily their achieve- ment. Behind them stands a large corps of hard-working assistant agents, and behind these assistant agents stand the thousands of Dartmouth men whose names will be found listed in their respective class columns this month. The most impressive reading in the whole 1948 Fund report, in our opinion, is to be found in the long lists of individual contributors accompanying the class notes and making this such an oversized issue.

Under the chairmanship of Mr. Holton during the past two years, the Alumni Fund Committee of the Alumni Council has placed primary emphasis upon participation with an eye to broadening the perma- nent base upon which the Fund may operate in years to come. The financial outlook for the privately endowed col- lege now and in the foreseeable future is such that Dartmouth's educational operations hinge in a really important way upon the consistency with which the Alumni Fund can achieve its preset results, or better them. The best Way to guarantee the Fund's stability is to strive, as the Fund's directors have been striving with some success, to increase, first, the number of Dartmouth men contributing to the Alumni Fund and, then, from this expanding list to develop the number of so-called "regulars" whose faithful participation in the Fund year after year provides its long-range strength. This year the Fund hopes to attain 14,000 contributors for the first time in its history. It is a goal within reach—easily within reach if each Dartmouth man will understand that far from being merely a nice, round figure to shoot at, this 1949 goal of at least 14,000 contributors has great significance behind it. It boils down to an individual challenge and an individual responsibility. If every Dartmouth man whose name appears in this issue as a contributor were to make sure that it appears again next year, this plus the hundreds of missing names the Fund will surely add before June 30 would produce a participation record that would really put daylight between Dartmouth and the rest of the field.

With so much emphasis on participation and regularity in giving, the alumnus may be inclined to ask why the College cannot manage its finances so as to avoid the large annual "deficits" which the Alumni Fund must cover. The answer is simple. The College does not run itself financially into the hole each year and then rely upon the Fund to bail it out. For years the estimated income of the Alumni Fund has been part of the regular operating budget of the College. The Fund is not used for "deficit" financing; it represents the College's "living endowment" and provides regularly an annual income equivalent to that from an endowment of millions of dollars. Dartmouth depends upon this "living endowment" to offset the inadequacy of its capital funds, which in proportion to the national position of the College and its enrollment are far lower than the funds of many sister institutions. That is why long-range stability is so important to the Alumni Fund and why each Dartmouth man should understand the true nature of the Fund and his individual importance to its success.