It has come to The Rotunda’s attention that there was a misunderstanding of terminology in last week’s Alumni Giving article. The use of “alumni donations” and “alumni participation” were used interchangeably unknowingly to the fact that they have two different meanings. In actuality, “alumni giving” for the University has been increasing gradually whereas “alumni participation” is on the decline. The quote “alumni giving is on a downward spiral…” should have shown as “alumni participation is on a downward spiral…” Total alumni giving to the University has increased since the 90’s, instead of the previous statement in article, which said “this past fiscal year was the first time since the 90’s that alumni donations have increased.”
Although alumni giving has risen in the last fiscal year, Longwood still does not receive a significant amount of donations.
Public universities have a more difficult time getting alumni to give back, says Courtney Hodges, VP for Institutional Advancement.
According to Hodges, this past fiscal year was the first time since the 90’s that alumni giving has increased. In 2014, it dropped to about 9.47 percent but this past year it raised over a percentage point at 10.94 percent.
Alumni participation rate is defined as the percentage of undergraduate alumni that have made a gift to their alma mater in the current fiscal year. Of the 4,569 donors to Longwood in 2015, the university received gifts from 2,976 undergraduate alumni, according to Hodges.
“It’s always lower in public schools than it is in private schools… I think maybe some of it is us, maybe we need to help our alumni understand why it matters to give to your school,” says Hodges. “I think that a lot of people think that if they could only give ten dollars it won’t make a difference, so they think they need to wait until they can give $10,000.”
With the recent Grand Opening of the Maugins Alumni Center, the university is hopeful for an increase in alumni participation.
“I think a lot of it is both directly and indirectly tied to fundraising, now we absolutely want alumni to feel compelled to give a gift and whether that is time a gift of time like volunteering or treasure,” says Ryan Catherwood, Asst. Vice President for Alumni Relations.
Catherwood foresees the new Alumni Center catering not only to Alumni but students interested in connecting with alumni as well.
According to Catherwood, Longwood is not hurt by low giving numbers but compared to other universities, it receives less financial support from alumni.
“We have almost 600 people who give every year at least once a year for more than 25 years,” says Hodges.
According to Hodges, alumni giving is on a national downward spiral, leaving Longwood as not the only academic institution affected by low giving numbers.
This means that smaller groups of people are giving more money individually rather than larger groups of people giving less money individually, Hodges emphasized that this is still a positive thing but can have detrimental effects in the long run if it doesn’t increase.
“We have different ways to engage alumni now and to let them know what’s going on and we have to be better at using more than one channel,” says Hodges.
The Alumni Center plans to increase alumni participation by engaging alumni through networking events and inviting those who are set in their career path to return and give advice to current students.
“Right now we’re really looking for getting involvement through advice,” says Paige Rollins, Asst. Director of Live Digital Events.
According to Rollins, more alumni right out of school are currently more willing to give their time instead of their money. Coming out of college student debt is extremely prominent, so giving time is a more feasible option and can have a more direct effect on students.
The purpose of the alumni center is to connect alumni with the student body in hopes of benefiting not only the university’s future, but the students’ as well.
“I think Longwood has just been through a lot of different changes and we need to engage our alum and let them know that even though it says Longwood University instead of Longwood College and even though it’s a little bigger, the parts that they love about Longwood when they were here, are still here,” says Hodges.
