1963's video fund-raiser
Now that most homes have VCRs, alert institutions are using videos as a dramatic way of touching people's hearts and checkbooks. One of the pioneers was Dartmouth's class of 1963 and their seven-minute video cassette created as a key element in reaching a 25th Reunion goal of $1.2 million.
Realizing it would take more than pie charts in a brochure, late last year the class leadership conceived the idea of bringing the Alumni Fund story to life through the medium of television. Class president Dave Schaefer produced a storyboard that won a quick okay from the '63 executive committee and the close cooperation of College administrators, specifically Alumni Fund director Henry Eberhardt and assistant director of alumni affairs Sally Prescott.
After hiring a Boston production company, the next step was signing up about a dozen undergraduate sons and daughters of '63s to help with the taping, done in one day in January. Six of the students appeared on camera and spoke about personal highlights in the Dartmouth experience in the classroom and in extra-curricular activities. These featured players included Dennis Eagle's son Jevin '88, Paul Kappel's daughter Kim '88, David Bunting's son Derek '89, Jim Friedman's daughter Laura '91, Jim Davies's son Chris '88, and Bob Baker's daughter Lara '88.
The evocative video also includes Dartmouth songs and history, stills of the campus, and a message about the importance of the Alumni Fund from President Freedman. Then the video reprises a particularly apt John Sloan Dickey quote: "Whatever the origin of the way Dartmouth men feel about the College, it is now a part of their heritage that anything less than extraordinary response to any call from the College would be letting them selves down."
The cost not including a lot of volunteer time was just under $5,000. Copies of the tape were sent primarily to '63s who are regular givers but who had not yet responded to the 1988 appeal about 350 people. Almost immediately a classmate who usually sends $100 upped his donation to $5,000, instantly making the video technique cost-effective. And within a week there were another half-dozen gifts totaling $70,000.
