The PhD in Leadership & Change is excited to officially announce our 2021-22 Campaign, our proactive effort to secure $200,000 for the program’s scholarship funds during this anniversary year, our 20th!
Our record to date is off-the-charts amazing and we are hopeful you’ll think so and be willing to help us reach our goals.
Where to start? Since our first alumni donation in 2007, 14 years ago, over 105 individual alumni donors have contributed to one of our funds in one-time or annual pledges. That is nothing short of amazing given that, as of the writing of the newsletter, we have 287 graduates. Meaning almost 40% of our alumni have contributed from $20 to $25,000 in one-time donations to $2,500 to $50,000 in multiyear pledges.
Let’s pause for a second and process this. Thirty-seven percent of our alumni are donors. The average alumni giving rate during the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 academic years was 8%, according to data that 1,451 ranked colleges, reported to U.S. News in an annual survey.
Of course, there are a few colleges and universities that have higher percentages, like Harvard, Princeton, Williams where the averages are over 40%. I’m glad to share the spotlight with them.
We are also proud to share that since our first donation from a generous program supporter, we have actually raised over a million dollars. Approximately 20 new and continuing students, faculty and program friends a year benefit from our scholarship and research funds.
Our goals for this year is to raise “200 by 20,” meaning to raise $200,000 in contributions during this 20th year.
Is it possible? We won’t know unless we try. But I’m thrilled to say we have already brought in $75,000 in new dollars as part of this campaign. Some of these new commitments have gone to set up new tuition scholarships or research funds. We are thrilled to provide these funding opportunities to support current students in their doctoral journey. So, thank you one and all.
We will be reaching out the next few months to seek your support in this campaign.