Alumni Fund Running Ahead of '55 Pace
THE 1956 Alumni Fund, three weeks after its formal start, had rolled up an impressive dollar total of $275,000. This was $22,500 more than had been received by April 21 last year, when new records were set in all categories of the Fund.
In participation, however, the Fund up to April 21 was lagging behind last year. The 4,800 contributors on that date numbered 166 less than the total for the first three campaign weeks in 1955. In a few classes, participation is strong, with twelve having over 100 contributors, led by 1952 with 159. The Class of 1903 is the first class to go over 100% of dollar objective.
More dollars and fewer contributors combined to produce a substantial increase in the average gift, which was up from $50.85 to $57.29. Of the alumni gifts received, 38 per cent were either increases over last year or were from new contributors. This was the brighter side of the picture that led William G. Morton '28, 1956 Alumni Fund chairman, to declare, "This could be Dartmouth's greatest year!"
Also off to a strong start is the 1956 Dartmouth parents campaign for the Alumni Fund. By mid-April this had produced $14,000 from 170 parents. These figures were some fifty contributors and $5,000 off the 1955 pace, owing largely to the fact that the 1956 campaign started one week later. The number of Dartmouth parents working in this year's drive is the largest in Fund history. Thirty-eight are serving on the national committee under the chairmanship of Michael L. Adley of New Haven, Conn.; and seventeen others are
serving on the special New York Regional Committee under the chairmanship of Moe Naitove of New York City. The 1956 parents campaign seeks $50,000 toward the Alumni Fund goal of $775,000. Last year a record total of $50,596 was contributed by 1,050 parents.
A second general mailing from the Alumni Fund Committee to all alumni will go out about May 1. It consists of a brief letter from Chairman Morton and an Alumni Fund blotter featuring in color a painting of Dartmouth Row and the campus, done by Paul Sample '20.
The May mailing piece is one of three general appeals with which the Fund Committee supplements the individual class campaigns. Active this year in some seventy class campaigns are more than 2,000 alumni workers, a record number for the Fund. In addition to dollar objectives, new levels of participation will be goals of the drives directed by the Class Agents. Last year 69.4 per cent of all living alumni made gifts, which put Dartmouth and Princeton in a tie for an all-time participation record for college fund-raising. Princeton recently closed its 1955-56 annual giving campaign with a new participation mark of 70.7 per cent, and a cash total of more than one million dollars.
A great many of the Class Agents and assistant agents attended the kick-off dinners at which Prof. Donald H. Morrison, Provost of the College, and Fund Chairman Morton were the principal speakers. At the Boston dinner outstanding Class Agent achievements in 1955 were recognized by the award of the James B. Reynolds Trophy to Ford H. Whelden '25 and the John R. Mason Trophy to Gary H. Mansur '51. At Philadelphia, the Harvey P. Hood Trophy was awarded to Richard W. Lippman '42; and at New York, a special posthumous tribute was paid to the late Harr F. Ranney '24. The citations accompanying these awards will be found with the respective class columns in this issue.
