The Fund's First Month
CHAIRMAN, 1961 ALUMNI FUND
One of the three months of our 1961 Alumni Fund Campaign is now history, and the $300,000 contributed to date by over 4,000 alumni puts us well ahead of last year but slightly behind our record-setting 1957 pace.
Your Alumni Fund Committee believes that the achievement of our one-million-dollar goal this spring depends primarily upon the understanding by all Dartmouth men of the College goals and of the important relationship of our Fund to the achievement of these goals.
We are doing our best to communicate such understanding to all alumni. For example, President Dickey and I have recently returned from a trip to nine major alumni centers, coast-to-coast, carrying the Fund message to over 1,400 alumni, including 700 Class Agents. The opening Fund Committee mailing piece contained significant information on Dartmouth's goals and the objectives which the Fund Committee has set to help in the realization of these. The largest Class Agent organization in history - some 2,800 workers - is helping to disseminate such information through their fine efforts on behalf of the Fund.
To further assist in such understanding Professor John Stewart of the English Department at Dartmouth has written the text for the May Alumni Fund Committee mailing leaflet which has just been sent to all non-contributors. Every alumnus will be interested in the exciting teaching and stimulating academic programs described by Professor Stewart in this folder.
As chairman of the 1961 Alumni Fund campaign I think it important to share with each alumnus two thoughts which are basic to our efforts this spring:
First, Dartmouth increasingly finds herself in very direct competition with the best private and public colleges and universities for a top-flight faculty, student body and facilities. The resources which make it possible for the College to be competitive with the best come largely from three sources - tuition, endowment income, and alumni gifts, all competitive areas in themselves. In respect to tuition, Dartmouth is competitive with the best colleges in the country. However, in endowment per student the College is well behind many sister institutions and this pattern is not likely to change in the foreseeable future. Thus, Dartmouth must rely in ever-increasing measure upon strong alumni support.
Secondly, as President Dickey emphasized in his alumni talks last month, the Dartmouth Alumni Fund over the past 46 years has enabled Dartmouth to stay up with the front-runners. The major challenge facing the Fund today is whether the Fund can continue its traditional role in the face of the rapidly accelerating competition.
I think that the results of our campaign to date clearly indicate that most alumni already understand the importance of this competition and realize that the success of Dartmouth's programs and plans this year and in the future depend squarely on what we do through the Alumni Fund. I am confident of what our response will be.
Alumni Fund leaders at the 1961 kick-off dinner in New York in March were (l to r) Raymond J. Buck Jr. '52, Fund Office associate; Herman Swarzman (father of Herbert '58), member of the Parents Committee; Forrest C. Billings '28, Fund Committee; Vice President Orton H. Hicks '21; John D. Dodd 'as, Fund chairman; Alexander S. Cunningham '33, president of the New York alumni association, toastmaster; President Dickey; Robert N. Stevens '27, president of the Class Chairmen and Presidents Association; Henri P. Esquerre '26, Alumni Council member; Edward B. Redman '06, the senior head class agent present; and Clifford L. Jordan Jr. '45, executive secretary of the Alumni Fund.
Alumni Fund leaders at the 1961 kick-off dinner in New York in March were (l to r) Raymond J. Buck Jr. '52, Fund Office associate; Herman Swarzman (father of Herbert '58), member of the Parents Committee; Forrest C. Billings '28, Fund Committee; Vice President Orton H. Hicks '21; John D. Dodd 'as, Fund chairman; Alexander S. Cunningham '33, president of the New York alumni association, toastmaster; President Dickey; Robert N. Stevens '27, president of the Class Chairmen and Presidents Association; Henri P. Esquerre '26, Alumni Council member; Edward B. Redman '06, the senior head class agent present; and Clifford L. Jordan Jr. '45, executive secretary of the Alumni Fund.
