Q. Didn't the record-breaking Challenging Women Campaign reduce the need for the Annual Fund?
A. The recently completed, and very successful, Challenging Women Campaign represented a sizable investment in the College's facilities and educational programs. However, the Annual Fund is used to meet current, recurring, and even unanticipated needs.
The Campaign allowed the College to rejuvenate Dalton Hall, create Cambrian Row to house student activities, create a new home for Psychology in Bettws-Y-Coed all important projects to house today's academic and student programs. The College was also able to add faculty positions in emerging disciplines, establish a robust summer internship program, and add nearly $36 million in endowed scholarship support. The Campaign provided the investment necessary to allow these enhancements to occur, and it is the Annual Fund that permits them to flourish.
Q. How did the Annual Fund fare in the Challenging Women Campaign?
A. Overall, the Annual Fund raised a total of $38 million for the Challenging Women Campaign. Over the last seven years the Annual Fund grew a remarkable 75% as alumnae/i, parents, and friends joined together to give unrestricted support to the College's greatest needs. These gifts are the lifeblood for the College, adding essential support where it is needed most. The bulk of the increase in the Annual Fund was a result of growth in the Slade Society, the Annual Fund's leadership gift society.
Q. What is the Annual Fund?
A. The Annual Fund represents unrestricted gifts received by the College on an annual basis from undergraduate alumnae, graduate alumnae/i of the two graduate schools, parents, and friends of the College. Gifts to the Annual Fund support ongoing core costs, such as financial aid, and allow the College to seize new opportunities.
Strong annual giving works with a strong endowment to reduce tuition dependence. In 2008-09 gifts to the Annual Fund totaled $4,921,912. It would take an additional $109 million in endowment to generate this income.
Q. If I make a gift to the Annual Fund, where does it go?
A. Gifts to the Annual Fund support
Q. Can my gift to the Annual Fund be directed to support a particular need or program?
A. Yes. Leadership gifts of $3,500 and above can be designated for a summer internship, student scholarship, or faculty enhancement. Click here for more information.
Back to top »
Q. What is the average size gift made to the Annual Fund?
A. In 2008-09, the average gift made to the Annual Fund was $699. Gifts ranged from $1 to $241,000.
Gifts at the leadership level are particularly important in setting the pace for the growth of the Annual Fund.
Back to top »
Q. Bryn Mawr has a large endowment. Why does the College need more money?
A. Bryn Mawr’s endowment is $523.5 million (as of 5/31/09). Sound financial practice and Board mandate allow the College to spend only a percentage of the endowment each year - generally 4.5% - so that the endowment will continue to support College programs into the future. Endowment income thus underwrites only a portion of the College’s operating costs (approximately 28% in 2008-09). Tuition and fees contribute an additional 51%. Gifts from alumnae/i, parents, and friends are crucial to meeting core expenses for faculty, students, facilities, and programs.
Back to top »
Q. How many alumnae/i give to Bryn Mawr College? How does this compare to giving rates at peer institutions?
A. During 2008-09, 5,401 undergraduate alumnae made annual gifts to the College’s Annual Fund (36%).
It is important to note that organizations that rank colleges and universities consider alumnae/i giving as the sole indicator of the satisfaction of former students with their education.
Below are the 2007-08 participation rates of other institutions. Increasing the number of alumnae/i who give to the Annual Fund can make a difference on many fronts!
Participation Rate Annual Fund $
Alumni Participation Rate |
Annual Fund $ |
|
Williams |
62% |
$11,152,791 |
Amherst |
62% |
$10,041,678 |
Swarthmore |
57% |
$4,956,685 |
Haverford |
49% |
$3,609,296 |
Wellesley |
48% |
$8,367,104 |
Smith |
37% |
$10,720,458 |
Bryn Mawr |
35% |
$4,965,892 |
For more information, please contact:
Mary DiMarino
Director of Annual Giving Programs
610-526-5123
Lisa Shafer
Director of the Parents' Fund
Associate Director, Annual Giving
610-526-5128
Lauren Craley
Assistant Director, Annual Giving
610-526-7396