Tuesday, June 11, 2013

You are worth more than 55 Harvard alumni

Some facts for thinking on:
  • Alumni giving rates are a key concern for Shimer College, particularly in regard to maintaining accreditation (something all alumni, and especially all graduates, have an interest in).
  • Harvard currently has about 323,000 living alumni, and an undergraduate enrollment of about 6,700.
  • Shimer has about 5,600 living alumni, and a current enrollment of about 140.
  • Therefore, each additional Shimer alum who gives something this year has an impact on Shimer's giving rate that is equivalent to the impact of 57.7 Harvard alums on Harvard's giving rate.
  • The median Shimer alum is undoubtedly somewhat poorer than the median Harvard alum, but the amount you give is secondary.  In terms of the alumni giving rate, a $5 donation is exactly as valuable as a $500 one.
  • Shimer's fiscal year ends on June 30, and all donations up to that time are being matched 100%.  
  • Therefore, not only is your donation worth as much proportionally as 58 donations to Harvard, it's also worth twice as much in actual dollars as it would have been at any other time... but only if you donate now.

1 comment :

dansbooks said...

Just convinced an alum who has never given (in over 30 years) to contribute $250. Matched, that makes $500 for Shimer. Imagine if 500 alums/friends did the same...$250,000...