THE REASONS Behind Corporate Gifts to Dartmouth

ONE of Dartmouth's major growing points during President Dickey's administration has been a broadened and intensified effort to strengthen the financial resources of the College. Important among the programs being carried out by the Development Office, and one having a very great potential, is the program seeking corporation support.

In 1953, the first year of the program, corporate gifts to Dartmouth totaled $45,000. In 1954 this total grew to $78,000. This year it is anticipated that it will reach the $100,000 mark.

These gifts came from small as well as large companies, with purposes ranging from unrestricted use to gifts for class projects. In order to indicate the thinking behind this support of the College, the ALUMNI MAGAZINE has invited alumni associated with some of the contributing companies to present the following views.

By H. N. MULLER JR. '35 Executive Secretary,Westinghouse Educational Foundation

While Westinghouse has long recognized American industry's obligation to higher education, and has tried to do its corporate part in discharging this obligation, it is only eleven years ago that the Westinghouse Educational Foundation was founded to both increase and stabilize this educational support. From relatively modest beginnings, the program of this Foundation has greatly expanded. It now includes annual support of scores of fellowships, hundreds of scholarships, several professorships, contributions to special building funds, and most recently, cash gifts to over one hundred colleges to defray regular operating expenses.

Worthy of note is the fact that the Trustees of the Westinghouse Educational Foundation have in nearly all cases committed each program of support for five years, so that continuity in scholarships, fellowships, etc. is assured. Even in the case of contributions to operating expenses, the Foundation in each case informed colleges when they would receive additional funds, within the immediate five-year period. We are convinced that such planning of available funds allows the recipient institutions to better place their financial program. Many of America's leading educators have firmly corroborated this belief with entirely voluntary testimony.

Two years ago last spring the Westinghouse Educational Foundation established a fellowship at Dartmouth, specifically in the Tuck-Thayer graduate business and engineering program. As is the case in all of our Foundation fellowships, the college administration selects each annual recipient and completely administers the program. The Foundation simply forwards supporting funds each year when notified from Hanover that a well-qualified recipient has been selected. The annual stipend is $2500, which provides $1700 to the student and $800 to the College in support of the fellowship.

This year the Foundation had the great pleasure of presenting President Dickey with a check for $7500 to defray regular operating expenses. At the same time we confirmed to the College that an equal contribution would be made to Dartmouth in 1958. Dr. Dickey was one of the educators who voluntarily confirmed, from the administrator's point of view, the wisdom of our five-year planned policy.

Speaking for the Trustees of the Westinghouse Educational Foundation, our program has been enthusiastically received by the colleges and universities of America, and has provided a sincere satisfaction to the donor. We are proud of our support programs at Dartmouth and have every confidence that they will continue far into the future.

By WALTER L. KIDDE '24 Treasurer, Walter Kidde & Co.,Belleville, N. J.

At Walter Kidde & Company we have been conscious of the increasing dependence of industry on minds trained by institutions of higher education in liberal arts as well as the more specialized or technical fields. Over the years we have made substantial contributions to the engineering college of our founder, which also was the Alma Mater of many of our employees. With the growing recognition of the increasing need of support on the part of all colleges, our management began to look for some basis by which we could determine both the amount and the distribution of a more widespread support program. I believe that an excellent solution to this rather baffling problem was found in the action of our Board in agreeing to match the gifts of our employees to their own colleges and universities. A limit of $500 per individual was applied for practical economic reasons, and a minimum of $100 per institution, for practical administrative purposes.

This program has now been in operation for nearly a year and is proving reasonable and workable. An appropriation of $10,000 for the first year will be more than adequate. Of a total of about 1,700 employees, approximately 240 are college graduates, mostly engineers. Stevens Institute with 46 representatives will still be the largest beneficiary, but Dartmouth with five will receive the second largest donation of $930, followed by Princeton, Rutgers and two or three others.

We believe our plan demonstrates that smaller companies, as well as corporate giants, can contribute their reasonable share, such share becoming a substantial one because of the multiplier involved if many of the very large number of smaller companies should adopt similar plans. We also, believe our plan will prove beneficial to the colleges in two ways, both due to the corporate gifts themselves and also through the stimulus thereby provided to increased alumni giving. We have seen this happen in our own case through the efforts of alumni committees vying with each other for the largest share of the company's donations.

By HENRY B. VAN DYNE '12 President, Van Dyne Oil Co., Troy, Pa.

The Van Dyne Oil Company Scholarship which we established represents a desire on the part of a small company to do something for education in general and Dartmouth in particular, in keeping with the general trend of thinking on the part of corporations, both large and small, of the desirability of aid to educational institutions. Naturally, as a small company operating in a limited area, we are unable to participate in this very worthwhile program to anything like the extent possible for a large or national corporation, but we did feel that we and other small business concerns could at least do something and decided that we could pay to Dartmouth each year, out of our earnings, an amount at least equal to the full tuition of one student. This was made easier by the fact that approximately one-half of the cost is offset by the saving in taxes.

I have been asked by a Dartmouth classmate just how we felt we were helping Dartmouth by paying the yearly tuition amounting to $980 for one student when the actual cost to the college is over $1600 a year for that same student. My answer is that since the College wisely provides scholarship aid for some 25 per cent of the students, our scholarship does help, at least to the extent of underwriting for the College the established tuition fee of one deserving student; and also, since the invested funds of the College yield approximately 4%, the amount we pay annually is approximately the return on a $25,000 addition to Dartmouth funds allocated to student aid.

It is my belief that among the hundreds of small business operations owned or controlled by Dartmouth men there is a considerable amount of thought being given to scholarship aid for the College." In setting up a scholarship aid plan for Dartmouth no one should be influenced by the fact that his plan will be smaller in scope than that of some other business or corporation. After all, none of us small business men can hope to match the plans of national corporations or foundations, but collectively we can do much for Dartmouth.

By HARRISON F. DUNNING '30 Vice President, Scott Paper Company

During the last decade, business and industrial leaders have generally come to the realization that American educational institutions face many serious financial problems. Conversely, they reached the conclusion that such educational institutions are vital to business and industry's future growth in terms of the well-trained men they provide American industry. This is a particularly pertinent factor at Scott Paper Company because it is the fastest growing company in America's fastest growing industry at the present time. Obviously, the time is here for business and industry to take a more personal, direct and financial interest in these institutions and their programs.

However, "industry is, basically, responsible to its customers, its employees and its shareholders. At Scott Paper Company we felt very strongly that any aid-to-education program we might develop must serve the interests of those three parties - as well as the interests of the colleges.

We best serve our customers by developing within our business talented people who can make constant improvements in our field of operations. Obviously, such a program is enhanced by high calibre men who have been well trained at the college level.

To serve the interests of our employees in such a program, we developed what we think is a new approach called the Student Aid Plan. Under this Plan some financial assistance is made available to the son or daughter of every qualified Scott employee during each of the student's four years of college. We hope this will encourage more of our employees' children to take advantage of higher education. A qualified employee is one who has had a sufficient length of service to be considered permanent with the organization, and one whose earnings have not exceeded that point where we feel he can comfortably handle the complete cost of a college education for his son or daughter.

A further way of serving shareholders, customers, and employees, as well as the cause of higher education, has been developed by the Trustees of the Scott Paper Company Foundation. Under it, colleges and universities receiving contributions from company employees, will benefit from a further unrestricted contribution from the Scott Foundation. Everyone at Scott is particularly pleased with this program whereby the schools are aided in direct relationship to the willingness of their graduates employed at Scott to support their annual giving programs. Under this College Alumnus Contribution Plan, our company Foundation will match any contribution made by any qualified employee to his college during its annual alumni fund drive, up to an amount of $500 per year per employee.

While this Plan has been in operation for only one year, we are enthusiastic about its early success and hope that it can be developed into a substantial source of funds for the colleges and universities which have and will provide outstanding young men and women for our business.

Another program coming under the Scott banner has attracted wide interest. It, too, has been established by the Scott Paper Company Foundation. Called the Scott Scholarship Award Program, it now encompasses more than a dozen colleges and universities around the country. Under the Program, the student, who is selected by a committee consisting of key faculty members and fellow students, receives ? 1,000 a year for each of his or her last two years of study, and the college receives $1,000 each year as an unrestricted gift in recognition of the fact that tuition alone does not cover the full cost of a college education.

The student is selected, generally, on the basis of Rhodes Scholarship specifications, but must be a young man or woman who has signified his or her intention of pursuing a business or industrial career.

The company offers employment to each award winner during the summer months. At the conclusion of each man's education, it is naturally our hope that he will gravitate toward Scott and prove to be a potent force in the future development and growth of our company. There is no oblgation on either the student or the company, however.

We feel that in the Scott name there is a well-balanced, three-way approach to the problem of supporting higher education. We feel the net result of this program will be to help colleges, which are alert to the needs of business and industry, and which encourage high calibre men and women to join our ranks.

These Scott plans are still in their infancy. They are, naturally, being studied constantly and will be revised and even liberalized in the future if it is found that such action is indicated. It does seem to us that Scott Paper Company and the Scott Foundation have found an excellent starting point which meets many of the needs of all segments of business, industry, and higher education.

BY ALBERT BRADLEY '15 Executive Vice PresidentGeneral Motors Corporation

History shows that the advancement of a society is speeded up as the accumulation of fundamental knowledge is accelerated, and as that knowledge is ever more broadly disseminated and more widely applied in productive effort. In our free society we depend primarily upon our institutions of higher learning for the development of an ever wider fund of basic knowledge in the arts and sciences. It follows that it is the responsibility of every citizen to support higher education.

In the view of General Motors - and a growing number of our leading industrial organizations share this view - this responsibility devolves on the corporate as well as the private citizen.

General Motors for many years has implemented this belief, by supporting its own school of higher education; by grants to other institutions of higher learning, and in a number of other ways. Annual outlays for such purposes have been averaging $2.5 million.

Early in 1955 General Motors announced a greatly expanded program of financial support to higher education. Briefly, the program is comprised of three parts: the National Scholarship Plan, the College Scholarship Plan, and the Foundation Plan.

Awards under the scholarship plans depend upon demonstrated need and can range up to $2,000 per year. In addition private colleges and universities receive annual grants-in-aid for each GM scholarship student equivalent to the tuition rate charged, with a minimum of $500 and a maximum of $800 per year. These funds are unrestricted. Scholarship winners are free to choose any field of study they desire. Recipients of national scholarship awards may select any accredited college, public or private, they wish to attend. Among the entering freshmen at Dartmouth this fall are five holders of General Motors scholarships.

The Foundation plan makes available unrestricted financial support to private colleges and universities over and above that provided for in the scholarship plans.

The annual outlay for the expanded General Motors program of financial support is estimated at $2 million, bringing our total yearly contribution to higher education to $4.5 million. When the program is in full operation there will be a total of 1,400 students in colleges and universities on GM scholarships.

Our objective in launching the expanded program is two-fold: First, to help meet the need of colleges and universities for unrestricted funds; and, second, to enable young people of outstanding talents to develop their abilities.

General Motors believes that this program of support will contribute importantly to maintaining and improving the quality of education. It is hoped that it will bring to the fore outstanding young men and women who will be able to make substantial contributions in many fields to the security and progress of our country and the world.

By JOHN C. HUBBARD '29, Chairman and G. MORRISON HUBBARD JR. '32, PresidentHubbard, Westervelt & Mottelay, Inc.,New York

Why does a small organization doing corporate and real estate financing like Hubbard, Westervelt & Mottelay, Inc., donate funds to Dartmouth College under the College's corporate giving program?

If answered honestly we would have to say it is because of sentiment. Our father, George M. Hubbard '02, founder of this firm, loved Dartmouth as we do. It is our hope that by giving we may help Dartmouth to continue its position as an outstanding liberal arts college for the training of men in "competence and conscience."

Casting aside sentiment, we realize that it costs money to operate a successful educational plant such as Dartmouth is. We also realize that it may be more difficult for the small liberal arts college to obtain corporate funds than for the big universities with their specialized courses which may more readily be endowed by corporations. For this reason we supplement our personal gifts, which go through the Alumni Fund, with corporate giving.

Our funds currently go only to Dartmouth because we are not large enough to have an across-the-board formula for giving to educational institutions. However, if enough small corporations give to one, two, or three colleges the volume, as in the Alumni Fund, would be substantial.

In our case, we believe in the building of the permanent endowment for the College, and thus have asked that our gifts be left as part of this heritage. We have further requested that the income be used at the discretion of the College, preferably for paying faculty salaries and maintenance of the plant. We do this with the thought that if the faculty and plant are of the very highest caliber the College will be in an excellent position to attract the most desirable students.

JAMES D. CORBETT '32 as a partner of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Beane made a contribution to his Class Memorial Fund. His firm's statement which appeared in the Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Beane annual report for 1954 explains the philosophy behind the gift as follows:

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Beane believes that every citizen and every business organization owes a debt to educational and charitable institutions.

Without America's privately-run liberal arts schools and colleges our freedom of thought and initiative would vanish and our way of life might perish.

Without our competent and well-organized charities - both nationwide or local many of our people might suffer in poverty or despair despite living in the Land of Plenty.

The sharp rise in operating costs during recent years has placed a great burden on these institutions. Many schools, colleges and charities which were comfortably fixed in terms of 1930 dollars are almost broke in terms of 1955 dollars. Educational institutions have been particularly hard hit because of the great rise in enrollment with large increases ahead. The latest reports show almost half of all U.S. colleges operate at a loss.

Fortunately our tax laws provide liberal allowances for educational and charitable contributions. We urge our customers and friends to contribute as generously as possible.

In the year 1954 the firm of Merrill Lynch and its partners as individuals contributed more than 750,000 to 250 schools and colleges, plus 900 separate charities.

Most of these grants were made to small and medium sized liberal arts colleges while the charitable contributions were to national and local organizations.

Gifts of $2,750,000 in a single year is a large sum. This firm considers it a sound investment in America.

By L. L. FREEMAN '33 President, L. L. Freeman, Inc.,Racine, Wis.

Why does a corporation make a gift to an educational institution?

The answers are patent. Public relations, social consciousness, community responsibility in its largest sense and tax avoidance. Those are the cold factual ones.

But why does a corporation in which I have a vital interest make a contribution to Dartmouth? That's a different matter. All of the stated logical reasons apply, but probably the motivating one is the same reason a man loves his wife.

Probably every Dartmouth alumnus owes some of whatever degree of success he may have achieved to the fact that he is a Dartmouth man. His support of the College as an individual has been, in a sense, a repayment of the personal debt that he owes to Dartmouth - part of the difference between what he paid and what it cost the College to educate him; part of his desire to see the College continue to grow and to help meet that increasing dollar difference between what a student pays and what the College must bear. While I realize that this growing gap must continue to be met by both personal and corporate gifts, I have preferred, in the present instance, to look at the matter in a way more closely related to the time element of our business.

We are a mortgage banking institution. We invest institutional funds - life insurance companies, banks, trusts, etc. — in real estate mortgages. Every one of the commitments we make calls for a repayment "in the future."

Economists tell us that much of the economic prosperity of this nation is due to the extensive use of credit. While I am not too concerned with the present volume of that, I am concerned about the ability of our youth to live with the indebtedness now being created. I believe therefore that an investment in the education of the young men who must create the wealth to help repay that debt is definitely in order.

That is why there is a sense of satisfaction in directing our corporate gift into a scholarship fund so that some young man who could not otherwise attend Dartmouth can be a student at the College that past personal gifts have helped make great. That young man will be better equipped because of his time at Hanover to meet the demands of the future.

And what better way than to make that corporate gift to a scholarship fund being established in the name of and by my own class?

The patent logical reasons for a corporate gift pall in the sentimental satisfaction of making a gift to Dartmouth a good investment in the future.

As a further indication of the way in which the program of corporate giving is gaining momentum, a list of those companies which contributed to Dartmouth during the fiscal year ended June go, 1955, is appended:

Alloy Steel Products Company, Inc. Alton Canning Company, Inc. S. Barker's Sons Company Brooks Brothers C. F. Burns & Son Burns Lyons Corporation Colonial Management Associates Columbia Broadcasting System Foundation Harry C. Davis & Company E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company Dwyer Products Corporation Erico Products Company First National Stores, Inc. Ford Motor Company Fund General Electric Company General Motors Corporation Georgeson & Company A. B. Gile Company Hubbard, Westervelt & Mottelay, Inc. Johnson Foundation, S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. Walter Kidde & Company Foundation Lederle Laboratories Division of American Cyanamid Co. Lehigh Warehouse & Affiliated Company Foundation Lennen & Newell, Inc. Lockheed Leadership Fund J. M. Mathes, Inc. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner 8c Beane Metropolitan Distributors Otto Ulbrich Company Pierce-Crook Chevrolet, Inc. James M. Pierce Corporation Procter & Gamble Company Sanborn Company Scott Paper Company Smith Oil Re.fining Company Sumner Sollitt Company Sprague Electric Company Standard Milling Company Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) Tomlinson & Hawley Tobacco Industry Research Committee United States Steel Corporation Van Dyne Oil Company The Victor Foundation Young & Rubicam, Inc. Westinghouse Educational Foundation