University Celebrates 40th Anniversary of Fund-Raising Milestone

This fall marks the 40th anniversary of what might be regarded as an early social-networking campaign—albeit one missing an online component. Forty years ago, students spontaneously rallied to help raise more than $1-million in a matter of months to save Duquesne University, in Pittsburgh, from closure.

In these tough financial times, the campaign’s spirit and success may help many other organizations as they seek inspiration on the best ways to raise money.

Duquesne went into a financial hole in 1969 after building new facilities to meet academic standards and attract students from outside Pittsburgh, and then it was suddenly hit with a blow: Nearby University of Pittsburgh became a state institution, and its tuition was cut in half, thereby undercutting Duquesne’s selling point as a low-cost commuter school.

By 1970 Duquesne was facing $3-million worth of debt and a hard choice: increase tuition on top of a big rise in the preceding year or close the university’s doors.

Members of the student government got wind of the university’s predicament and late one night in April 1970 visited the home of the then-president, the Rev. Henry J. McAnulty. Shortly afterward, on April 21, Mr. McAnulty canceled classes and held a meeting for the entire student body. Rita Ferko, the student government’s president, proposed another approach: Instead of raising tuition or closing down, Ms. Ferko said, the university could try what she called a “third alternative,” with students pitching in to raise $1-million through door-to-door solicitations, calling alumni for donations, and raffles.

More than 550 students volunteered to join the effort on the spot, and they formed a slogan: “Duquesne needs $1-million from someone or $1 from a million someones.” By August, the group of volunteers grew to more than 2,000 students whose door-to-door fund-raising effort reached more than 40,000 households.

By busing students to different neighborhoods each night and encouraging them to knock on doors and ask for $1 from each person they encountered, the campaign eventually raised $300,000. That caught the attention of the Richard King Mellon Foundation, which matched the door-to-door gifts, bringing the total to $600,000. And by September 1970, additional contributions from alumni and local residents increased the amount raised to $2-million.

The campaign was “viral for its day,” said Karen Ferrick-Roman, the university’s media-relations manager. She says that as the university celebrates the 40th anniversary of the drive, one of its goals is to show that fund-raising tools may change with the times but the motivations for giving rarely change.