In part due to President Rosenberg’s efforts at engaging alumni in the life of the college and donations from young alumni, rates of alumni giving have improved in recent years.

Last year, President Rosenberg visited with 20 different groups of alumni around the world to discuss the importance of alumni giving to the college.

According to Interim Vice President for Advancement Mark Kronholm, Macalester’s alumni giving ranking in U.S News and World Report improved from 71st among liberal arts colleges last year to 62nd this year. Last year a record 8,260 of approximately 20,000 alumni pledged money to the college, an improvement of 800 over the previous record.

“We are certainly not the lowest, but we are not where we would like to be,” Kronholm said. “We are trying to make it clear to alums how important regular and consistent support is.”

The dollar amount of alumni giving declined slightly between 2002-2003 and 2003-2004. Kronholm attributed this decline to two large one-time gifts in 2002-2003 fiscal year.

Kronholm credits the increase in giving rate to Rosenberg’s efforts at involving alumni in the college and what he said were more effective means of contacting potential donors.

“Rosenberg has made it clear that alumni engagement is a priority,” Kronholm said. “He emphasizes the importance of alums in the life of the college and stresses that we cannot continue to maintain a high level of academic quality if we aren’t successful at increasing support from alums.”

Kronholm said that the alumni office is supporting Rosenberg’s message and that, overall, he has seen positive reactions from alumni when they are asked to give more.

According to Kronholm, young alumni who graduated in the 1990s or 2000s have a high rate of giving and a higher percentage of these young alumni give than those who graduated in the 1980s. Kronholm said he believes this trend bodes well for future giving.

“It is very encouraging that young alumni are willing to be so supportive,” he said.

According to Kronholm, the college solicits donations not only from graduates, but also from parents of current and past students, corporations and foundations and what Kronholm termed a “constituency of friends,” who have no connection to Macalester but still pledge money to the college.

Donors can choose to give money to the Annual Fund, which becomes part of the operating budget of the college. According to Kronholm, last year the Annual Fund added $2.5 million to the operating budget.

Annual Fund organizers contact potential donors either over the phone, via mail or email, or by visiting donors in person. Kronholm said that donations to the Annual Fund range from $1 to $100,000.

“Historically our Annual Fund has not been as strong as other schools,” Director of the Annual Fund Heather Riddle-Kimm wrote in an email. “I expect that we will fix that in the next couple of years because most alumni had a great experience at Mac, love the work the college does and are willing to give and give at higher levels when asked.”

Riddle-Kimm said that the Annual Fund’s biggest problem is not alumni attitudes toward giving, but finding enough volunteers to call potential donors and ask for donations. Riddle-Kimm said that she and her staff have spent the past six weeks trying to find enough work-study students to call donors, but they have not yet filled all shifts.

Donors can also choose to give to the endowment, to a special fund for facilities, or to special programs such as summer research and various symposia and conferences. Kronholm said that the majority of donations to the Annual Fund, endowment and facilities come from individuals and that corporations and foundations are more likely to sponsor special programs and conferences.

The recent debate over need-blind admissions on campus has called attention to the issue of alumni giving. Opponents of the Resource and Planning Committee’s (RPC) recommendations have proposed a five-year, $40 million capital campaign to enable the college to maintain need-blind admissions. Kronholm says that such a campaign is not realistic, given the current rates of alumni giving.

“Raising $40 million [at this point in time] is not feasible under our current situation,” Kronholm said. “Financial aid is important, but so is supporting faculty and providing quality facilities and academic programs to students. There are lots of priorities our donors want to make sure are supported.”