The 1950 Alumni Fund
MOST, if not all of us, have at one time or another been recruited to engage in fundraising activities for one cause or another. It has been my experience that properly done, such fundraising activities, regardless of how worthy the cause, represent hard work. This is equally true of Alumni Fund activities.
Yet, there comes from participation in the Alumni Fund activity a measure of personal satisfaction which far more than compensates for the effort put in. I know that all past and present Alumni Fund workers share this belief with me.
There are some very definite reasons why Alumni Fund activity is such a gratifying experience. For one thing, there is the knowledge that we have an especially worthy cause. The liberal arts college in general, and Dartmouth College in particular, represents that cause. The extent to which we can preserve the best features of the so-called private enterprise system and the extent to which we can safeguard our personal liberty and freedom will be measured by the quality of our leadership. The privately endowed liberal arts college has in the past been the major source of such leadership. We must make certain that we can look to this same source for the development of our future leaders. The nation, and indeed the world, requires the clear, objective and well-rounded thinking for which the liberal arts college trains men and in which it encourages them to exercise. It requires the characteristics of leadership which the liberal arts college develops in man. The realization of the tremendous importance of the place of the liberal arts college in our present and future makes Alumni Fund work a satisfying experience. Then there is that intangible which is known as the spirit of Dartmouth men. It has often been said by those outside the Dartmouth alumni body that Dartmouth is not only a college but a religion. That, too, adds to the pleasure of Alumni Fund work.
Furthermore, there is a willingness on the part of class agents, their associates, and newsletter editors to contribute their time, their ability, and their money to the Dartmouth cause, which makes it a comparatively easy task to build up the Dartmouth Alumni Fund team.
Finally, there is the wholehearted, warm and generous response of the alumni body, both graduate and non-graduate, which enriches those who participate actively in the Alumni Fund. Undoubtedly, this wholehearted response is based on a realization of what Dartmouth has given to each of us in the past and a further realization that what Dartmouth has given to us has been made possible primarily through the efforts of those alumni who preceded us. With that realization comes a recognition of our responsibility to enable Dartmouth to share its great assets with those who will follow us.
Even in the light of the outstanding product which we have to sell, of the outstanding sales organization which we have in our class agents, their associates, and the newsletter editors, of the extremely able Alumni Fund staff in Hanover, and of the natural market which we have in loyal Dartmouth alumni—even in the light of these facts, the 1950 Alumni Fund was exceptionally successful.
A new high in number of contributors to the Fund was established with a total of 14,945. This tops the 1949 high by 426, and represents the eighteenth consecutive year in which there has been an increase in the number of contributors.
The $400,000 objective set for the Fund was the highest in almost forty years of Fund history, and this objective was exceeded by nearly $15,000. The $414,916 total represents an increase of $28,300 over 1949, and is second only to the 1946 record. The Fund has now topped its objective for twelve consecutive years.
The net proceeds of the Fund were duly turned over to the Trustees of the College for unrestricted use in support of the current operations of the College. It is heart ening to note that these funds were sufficient to balance the budget for the past fiscal year.
Elsewhere in this issue of the MAGAZINE you will find a detailed listing of the results attained by the various classes. These statistical results tell more eloquently than can I the achievements of Dartmouth men in supporting the Fund during the past year.
Particularly noteworthy is the performance of many of the older classes. A large percentage of the members of these classes are retired. Despite this, they continue to support the College with great generosity. Here and there, other classes have done jobs which are outstanding even in the light of the over-all excellence of the Fund. In each case, this is a great tribute not only to the class itself but to the work of the class agent and his associates, and in many instances to the work of previous class agents who laid a sound foundation on which the current class agent could build. Milton has said, "Nothing great is ever accomplished without enthusiasm." Certainly these classes have had enthusiastic leadership and an enthusiastic response to that leadership.
Dartmouth men have every reason to be proud of their Alumni Fund. The loyalty and generosity of Dartmouth men as evidenced by the Fund results are pointed to by colleges and universities throughout the nation as setting the level to which others would aspire.
However, in the perspective of past and present Fund results and looking into the future responsibilities with which the Fund will be charged, we would not be entirely factual if we did not recognize that there is room for both improvement and growth.
In view of Dartmouth's future needs and traditional dependency upon the Alumni Fund to meet those needs, it becomes quite apparent that great improvement can still be made in the light of what constitutes realistic giving. For example, the average gift in 1950 was $27.76. This compares with an average of $26.63 in 1949. A number of colleges and universities, although lacking the participation which Dartmouth enjoys, nevertheless have far surpassed us in per capita giving.
In studying the records, it is apparent that far too many men are giving in amounts of $5, $10, $l5, $25, and even $5O, a figure which many established years ago and which they have never raised. These men have remained on dead center as far as contributing to Dartmouth is concerned, even though their ability to give may have increased tremendously.
Of the 60 classes which were assigned objectives, only 29 met their objectives in 1950. Had the 31 classes which failed to meet their objectives succeeded, then the amount contributed to the College would have been increased by $38,100. Obviously then, almost half the classes failing to meet their objectives are being carried by the remaining half of the classes which equaled or exceeded their goals.
A study of the statistical results will show that many of the classes which failed to meet their objectives fall in that group which has been out of college for less than twenty years. The fact that these classes represent more than 60 per cent of the entire alumni body increases the seriousness of the problem. It has been my observation that far too many of the members of these younger classes have adopted an unrealistic measure both of the needs of the College and of the potential for increased giving by members of these classes.
Only 30 per cent of the alumni of the College are "Regulars," that is, men who have given for ten years or more consecutively or every year since graduation for five or more years. Only 65 per cent of the graduates of the College participate in the Alumni Fund. Were it not for the income from Class Memorial Funds, which is added to the Alumni Fund contributions each year, the Fund would actually have failed to attain its objective for several years past.
FINANCIAL NEEDS STUDIED
For the past two years, the Development Council, the Trustees of the College, the Administration, and specialists from outside the alumni body have been studying Dartmouth's present and future needs, with the objective of definitizing the longrange needs of the College and of coordinating all fund-raising activities.
In all these studies, one consideration has been paramount; namely, that the integrity of the Alumni Fund must be protected at all costs. Dartmouth alumni have themselves been the leading influence in maintaining that this must be our fundamental concept.
If we are to adhere to this concept, however, we must view the Fund in a realistic light. For example, of 173,000,000 which was given to seven Ivy League colleges from 1946 through 1948, Dartmouth received only 4.6 per cent. That Dartmouth has suffered in its endowment in comparison with other colleges of similar standing during those years and during previous years becomes quite apparent when we consider another fact. Of eight New England men's colleges, Dartmouth ranked next to last in the amount of endowment per student.
Originally, the Alumni Fund represented the difference between what the College needed just to hold its own and what it needed to grow and improve. In other words, the Alumni Fund in those years made it possible for Dartmouth constantly to improve in quality.
More recently, however, the Alumni Fund has not grown fast enough to keep pace with a rising price level. Consequently, the Fund is now meeting irreducible deficits but it is not providing any margin for growth either quantitatively or qualitatively.
The Alumni Fund has been sufficient only to enable Dartmouth to hold its own in the hard struggle against rising costs in an inflationary period. Indeed, the College has had to cut back and to tighten its belt. Within certain limits, this need not be harmful. Beyond these limits, however, the quality of Dartmouth must suffer. If the integrity of the Alumni Fund is to be protected at all costs, then it becomes apparent that the alumni friends of the College who support the Alumni Fund must accept these new and greater responsibilities. Certainly I am of the firm conviction that when Dartmouth alumni are given the facts which will enable them to judge the future needs of Dartmouth they will meet this challenge as they have always met every challenge involving the future of the College.
FUND POTENTIAL IS STRONG
In facing this challenge, it is encouraging to note that we are doing so in full strength. The Alumni Fund has been soundly conceived and soundly built over the years since 1914. In its past chairmen it has had exceptionally able leadership. In its present voluntary organization of class agents and their associates, newsletter editors, and all those who actively participate in the Alumni Fund—a group numbering somewhat over nine hundredit has an enthusiastic and experienced corps of loyal workers.
Your Chairman has been fortunate in having two excellent Alumni Fund Committees to guide him. The 1950 Committee was composed of John F. Conners '14, William H. Morton '32, Justin A. Stanley '33, and C. Boyd Rogers '35. The 1951 Committee is composed of John R. Mason '15, John C. Woodhouse 'si, Stephen A. Osborn '27, and F. William Andres '29.
In Hanover, we have an able Alumni Fund Office staffed by sound, experienced and hard-working individuals. I have said before, and wish to repeat, that they serve far beyond the call of duty.
Finally, in the alumni body of somewhat over 23,000, we have a strength and a loyalty which are not equaled anywhere throughout the world by the alumni of any other college or university.
In expressing my sincere thanks to all the above groups and to those other friends of Dartmouth who made the 1950 Alumni Fund a successful one, may I also express my firm conviction that your loyalty to Dartmouth, and that of others who will join with you, assures the success of the Alumni Fund in meeting whatever greater responsibilities may lie ahead.
FUND CHAIRMAN: Charles J. Zimmerman '23 of Hartford, Conn., who headed the Alumni Council's Fund Committee in the successful 1950 campaign.
CHAIRMAN OF THE ALUMNI FUND COMMITTEE
