Author: Shilpa Bhongir
Student Philanthropy Club has changed its name to the Council for Alumni and Student Engagement (CASE) to provide a more accurate description of the club’s mission and to spread awareness about Occidental’s reliance on alumni contributions.
The decision was made on Sept. 25, during the club’s first meeting of the year.
“We started Student Philanthropy club as a way to try and educate students on where their tuition goes at Oxy, what happens with alumni giving and how [the college] is being paid for,” President of CASE Monique Danser (senior) said.
Under the previous name, many students assumed that Student Philanthropy Club focused on charity efforts or that members solicited donations for the college.
“We found that the name didn’t really tell people what the club was about. It was hard to spread the word and people didn’t really have an idea of what was going on. So we really wanted to change the name to attract more student interest,” Danser said.
CASE organizes student-alumni mixers, benefit dinners, and uses Facebook and Twitter to help spread information about the benefits of alumni contributions.
On Facebook, CASE raffles out prizes to students once they reach a certain amount of likes on status updates about alumni contributions.
CASE highlights how 60 percent of the costs to run Occidental are paid through student tuition while the other 40 percent is covered through alumni and parent donations.
“Even if you are on full tuition, everyone receives [this] silent scholarship,” Staff Adviser of CASE and Assistant Director of Annual Giving Lucy Richardson said.
CASE introduced 60/40 week in February of 2011, which included student-alumni mixers where young alumni spoke about their careers.
“Everyone was very supportive, surprised and gracious when they realized how much they rely on alumni,” Vice President of CASE, History Major and Philosophy minor Laurel Cox (junior) said.
In addition, CASE advertises other student benefits that are a result of alumni giving.
For example, CASE highlights that alumnus Ian McKinnon donated $5 million this year to create the under construction McKinnon Family Center for Politics and Global Affairs, the largest gift from a living individual in the college’s history according to the Office of Annual Giving.
Through personal visits, letters and Telefund, the Office of Annual Giving raises about $4 million annually from alumni with donations from roughly 35 percent of all alumni.
The Office of Annual Giving hopes for a contribution rate of 40 percent of all alumni this year.
Still, this rate would be significantly less than top schools. According to the U.S News and World Report, 61 percent of alumni donate at Princeton University, which is the highest percentage of alumni-gift givers in the country.
While the college’s alumni giving rate is not as high as other schools, CASE still aims to thank alumni for the donations they have made.
“We want to be a catalyst and spark some thought about what’s happening with Oxy, where the money goes and what it’s like to be a student and alumni,” Danser said. “Students should celebrate and be grateful that we have this wonderful alumni community that we will one day be a part of.”
This article has been archived, for more requests please contact us via the support system.
