The 2015 senior class gift campaign has raised $20,143.30 in contributions from the graduating class, senior class gift co-chair Zachary Nelson ’15 said. While official donation and participation numbers were not finalized by press time, 54 percent of the Class of 2015 had contributed to the gift as of Wednesday. This marks a continued decrease in percentage participation from previous years.
The Class of 1965 donated $115 for every student contribution of any amount. Combined with the contributions of the Class of 2015, the gift totaled $85,830.90.
Rather than giving this money directly to the College, the 2015 class gift goes toward financial aid, senior class gift co-chair Angela Gu ’15 said. The class gift will be divided among the financial aid packages of members of the Class of 2019 in $1,000 portions. Last year, 34 students in the Class of 2018 were supported in part by the Class of 2014’s gift.
Gu added that the financial aid allows the College to have a more diverse student body. She said that the campaign is beneficial because it encourages the senior class to be active alumni.
“The senior class gift is about support for your class and saying thank you,” senior class gift co-chair Janine Leger ’15 emphasized. “Your gratitude is shown by helping someone else have access to the Dartmouth experience.”
Students submitted applications to the Dartmouth College Fund and were selected to be co-chairs in the fall, while the team of volunteers came together in the winter. Although the senior class gift campaign officially kicked off during spring term, the three co-chairs and 47 volunteers worked throughout the year.
“We worked with the Dartmouth College Fund to learn what it meant to give and how to solicit gifts,” Leger said. “Our school relies on people being giving and supportive to the College.”
The co-chairs and volunteers spent winter term developing a campaign strategy, then spent spring term focusing on actively fundraising. The campaign included tabling at the Collis Center and Baker-Berry Library and hosting senior tails, an event held at Salt Hill Pub for the graduating class, Gu said. She added that the campaign was a great opportunity to get to know more members of the Class of 2015 and to discuss with them the importance of giving.
Donors who gave $20.15 or more could honor a member of the Dartmouth community who had an impact on their Dartmouth experience. Additionally, those who contributed $100 or more will later be recognized as members of the College’s 1769 Society, which honors alumni who have made significant donations to the College.
Valerie Zhao ’15, a volunteer for the 2015 senior class gift campaign, said that she and other volunteers solicited individual donations from classmates and friends.
Zhao said that she highlight the purpose of the senior class gift, to support incoming students receiving financial aid, while soliciting donations.
“We had to emphasize that the money was going completely to the ’19s,” Zhao added.
Zhao said that the campaign could be difficult at times because it was hard to explain the importance of giving when some students were unhappy with the College.
In past years, the overall rate of student participation in the senior class gift has declined. The Class of 2014 saw a 60 percent participation rate, lower than the previous year’s rate of 70 percent. Sine 2007, the average rate has been 82.5 percent participation, with a peak in 2010 at 99 percent.
Leger said that many students opted not to donate to the senior class gift because they did not approve of recent changes at the College, such as various academic proposals and the hard alcohol ban that came out of the “Moving Dartmouth Forward” policy initiative.
Gu said that the Class of 2015 felt those effects most acutely, citing turnover in the President’s office, “Moving Dartmouth Forward” and new Greek life policies among the ways that Dartmouth has changed since their arrival in Hanover.
“Some students [who opted not to donate] see giving to the senior class gift as support of the administration,” Gu said. “However, once we explained that the donations are going directly to the ’19s, some students have changed their minds.”