Glass Funds and the Capital Campaign

IN a special message sent to all alumni last January announcing plans for Dartmouth's 200 th Anniversary Development Program and the two-year Capital Gifts Campaign which is the first step in this effort, President Dickey pointed out that "Dartmouth leads from strength" in this undertaking because "at every critical period during the College's long life, others have had the courage and foresight to build strength upon strength for the future."

Second only to Dartmouth's incomparable Alumni Fund in providing such strength has been the Class Memorial Fund program. In operation only twenty years, this program has built up a total endowment of $1,613,935 from 25th-reunion-year class gifts and subsequent additions. The Class of 1913 inaugurated this program in 1938 and ever since the Class Memorial Funds have increased yearly. Seven of the ten most recent 25th reunion classes have presented gifts in excess of $100,000; the Class of 1923, whose fund now totals $130,875, was the first class to reach the $100,000 level. The Class of 1930 holds the record for the largest Class Memorial Fund total with $152,593, while this past June the Class of 1932, in a fine campaign, produced $109,475. Other classes exceeding $100,000 were 1925, 1926, 1927, and 1929.

Income from the endowment provided by Memorial Fund classes is credited annually to the Dartmouth Alumni Fund and has been a major factor in the establishment of new Alumni Fund dollar records in recent years. For example, at the end of the 1957 Alumni Fund campaign a total of $68,238 in Memorial Fund income was added to the Alumni Fund, helping the Fund to reach a dollar record of .1928,592.

As plans for Dartmouth's two-year Capital Gifts Campaign developed, it became clear that a continuation of the Alumni Fund and Class Memorial Funds on a normal basis during the Capital Gifts Campaign would be unwise, if not impossible, from the viewpoint of the Capital Gifts effort.

The role to be played by the Alumni Fund is now under study and a plan is expected to be announced to all alumni within the next few months.

Last fall there were a dozen Dartmouth classes, ranging from 1932 (which completed its Memorial Fund campaign last June) through the Class of 1942, engaged in some form of Memorial Fund activity leading up to their 25th reunions. It was clear that members of these classes could not support simultaneously both a Class Memorial Fund and the Capital Gifts Campaign effort. It was also clear that without the wholehearted support of this group of Dartmouth classes, the chances for success in the Capital Gifts Campaign would be seriously impaired. Moreover, it was confidently expected that the Capital Gifts Campaign would produce substantially greater results than the Memorial Fund efforts.

Therefore, Charles J. Zimmerman '23. chairman of the Capital Gifts Campaign, requested the Class Gifts Committee, the five-man committee of the Dartmouth Alumni Council concerned with Memorial Funds, to study the problem and work out with the Class Memorial Fund chairmen and other class officers a plan which would enable the Capital Gifts Campaign to proceed with maximum effectiveness and yet preserve the strength of the Memorial Fund program.

Under the chairmanship of Edwin C. Chinlund '29, the Class Gifts Committee held a series of meetings last fall with the Class Memorial Fund chairmen and other class officers both in groups and individually, to explore with them the problem and secure suggestions as to a solution. Following these meetings, the Class Gifts Committee proceeded to draft various proposals for integration of the Class Memorial Fund programs with the Capital Gifts Campaign. These proposals were discussed at various stages with the Memorial Fund chairmen and other class and College officers.

After some months of study and work a plan was ready for presentation by the Class Gifts Committee to the Alumni Council at its meeting last June. The Committee report, as presented by Mr. Chinlund, was unanimously approved by the Council and became immediately effective.

The Class Gifts Committee program calls for a suspension of all Class Memorial Fund solicitation and direct activity (except for the Class of 1933 as discussed later) for the period of the Capital Gifts Campaign (July 1, 1957 through June 30, 1959). Classes directly affected are those between the 15th and 25th reunions, 1934 to 1942.

The program also provides that "whereever feasible, publicity as to giving to Dartmouth by classes should include total gifts by each class to its Memorial Fund as such and to the Capital Gifts Campaign." This means that a new yardstick is available for measuring class giving, and provides an expanded basis for the traditional 25th reunion gift announceent.

Moreover, to enable these classes whose Memorial Fund activity is curtailed by the Capital Gifts Campaign to have a substantial, permanent endowment fund in existence at Dartmouth, similar to the one they have already worked hard to create, the Class Gifts Committee provides that:

"For the Classes of 1934 through 1937, who will have little or no opportunity to raise a 25th Reunion Memorial Fund as such, except to the extent that they have already done so, an amount equivalent to the largest Memorial Fund previously raised be credited on the College's books as a Memorial Fund, providing that total gifts by or on behalf of members of the class to their Memorial Fund as such and to the Capital Gifts Campaign are at least equivalent to this amount."

The Committee report also proposes that for those classes whose Memorial Fund programs will be disrupted presumably to a lesser extent, a similar allocation, perhaps on a percentage basis, be worked out. The Class Gifts Committee felt that a final decision on the amounts to be allocated for these classes should be left to a later date when all considerations, including the progress of the Capital Gifts Campaign, could be taken into account.

The Class of 1933 posed a special problem inasmuch as the 1933 campaign was entering its final stages preparatory to presentation of its 25th-year gift next June. The Committee therefore recommended that 1933 be exempted from the above program and the Alumni Council approved.

During the past summer the 1933 Memorial Fund chairman, Donald F. D'Arcy, met with the chairman of the Class Gifts Committee and College officials and mapped plans whereby the 1933 Memorial Fund team would conduct a combined Memorial Fund-Capital Gifts Campaign among its members; with the amount of the permanent 1933 Memorial Fund representing the total of all gifts received through June 1958. All gifts and pledges received after June 1958 will count as Capital Campaign contributions.

In a letter sent last month to all Class Memorial Fund chairmen, Mr. Zimmerman expressed his complete satisfaction with the plan and his appreciation for the part which the Memorial Fund chairmen and other class officers had played in solving a difficult problem. "You have added an important element of strength to the foundation of the Capital Gifts Campaign," he concluded, "and I know that the enthusiastic support of Dartmouth's 200 th Anniversary objectives, which you have demonstrated in helping to work out this solution, will set the pace for your classmates in the busy and exciting Dartmouth months ahead."

Edwin C. Chinlund '29, chairman of theAlumni Council's Committee on Class Gifts.