The Alumni Fund

The 60th Alumni Fund got under way the first of this month with the largest goal in history - $3,750,000 - half a million over the record sum raised last year.

Chairman McCulloch announced at the start that the fund had received from three anonymous alumni donors a major challenge gift of $250,000, to match dollarfor-dollar increased gifts from alumni who gave $100 or less last year and new gifts from donors who did not contribute in 1973.

He also announced pre-campaign pledges and gifts totalling $1,100,000 from a little more than 5,000 contributors.

Classes holding reunions this year are expected to contribute a substantial portion of the total goal through the Reunion Giving Program. The Class of 1938 has established a record goal of $215,000 for its delayed 35th reunion. The 50-year Class of 1924 is seeking $200,000. Other major reunion goals are $175,000 for the Class of 1934; $150,000 each for the classes of 1939, 1940, and 1949; and $100,000 each for the classes of 1958, 1959, and 1960.

All receipts from the fund are unrestricted and go directly into the current year's operating budget. The 1974 goal, in response to the Trustees' request for an accelerated fund, represents $250,000 more than that originally projected for the 60th anniversary campaign, only one step short of the $4 million, once set for 1976, which the fund hopes to achieve in 1975.

The Dartmouth Alumni Fund, third oldest in the country, has come a long way since 536 contributors gave $6,580 in 1915. It reached the million-dollar level in 1961 and the two-million mark five years later. Last year the fund surpassed $3 million for the first time.