February 24, 2010 | Read Time: 1 minute
Like many other nonprofit groups, colleges have been challenged in recent years by declining numbers of donors–in their case, alumni who make annual gifts.
While the annual Voluntary Support of Education survey found the lowest-ever rate of alumni giving in the history of the survey last year, at least five institutions are bucking the trend, according to a new article in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Among the successes:
• The president of the College of the Holy Cross, in Worcester, Mass., holds breakfast meetings for young alumni. That has helped push alumni participation above 50 percent, far above the 10-percent national average.
• Carlton College, in Northfield, Minn., received gifts from more than half of it alumni last year. Its annual fund director attributes the high participation rate to student volunteers who thank donors in different ways, including athletic and other groups that post thank-you videos on the college’s Web site.
• Amherst College, in Massachusetts, connects alumni with professors through activities such as an online book club featuring books by faculty members and a lecture series in which faculty members make presentations and take questions from alumni in hour-long conference calls.
