Campaign Update: Faculty/Staff Campaign off to a strong start

The 2010-2011 Faculty/Staff Campaign is off to its best start ever with donors contributing more than $234,000 in gifts and pledges to the annual giving drive. That total is approximately $48,000 higher than what faculty and staff contributed in gifts and pledges at this time last year. More than 40 percent of faculty and staff have made a gift or pledge to this year’s campaign.

Campaign co-chairs Jim Drummond and Rhonda Belton encourage all faculty and staff to participate in this year’s fund drive, emphasizing that the campaign runs until May 31, 2011.

The early success of this year’s campaign has been attributed in part to the grassroots fundraising effort led by Drummond and Belton and dozens of volunteer faculty and staff captains who have helped spread the word among their colleagues about the importance of annual giving to the university. Check out the Faculty/Staff Campaign website for a full list of captains.

“Giving back to Elon University is an investment in the students and in us,” says Robert Buchholz, captain for the Physical Plant office. “It is a way to support Elon and make it a better place to learn and work.”

Physical Plant is joined by many other departments that have seen a significant increase in campaign participation. Faculty captains Carol Smith (Health and Human Performance), Alan Russell (Mathematics), Don Grady (Communications), Glenda Crawford (Education) and Herb House (Biology) have worked hard to achieve major increases in participation levels. Staff captains like Buchholz, Sherri Wolford (Human Resources), Sue Johnson (Campus Safety and Police) and Brian O’Shea (Student Life) have witnessed similar successes in their offices.

Crawford has discussed the importance of participation with her colleagues. “Foundations and other philanthropic organizations look very carefully at the percentage of Elon community members who give before they decide whether to make gifts or award grants to the university,” says Crawford. “A gift of any size is important and vital to the success of the campaign and the university.”

Another factor in the early success of this year’s campaign has been the 100 percent participation from faculty and staff at the Elon School of Law.

Keep the momentum going by making a gift online to the Faculty/Staff Campaign. All gifts to the Faculty/Staff Campaign count toward Ever Elon: The Campaign for the Future of Our University, currently in its final year. To date, donors have contributed more than $84 million in gifts and pledges toward the $100 million goal.

Thank you for your support!
 

By University Advancement Staff.

Recent Gifts and Pledges of $10,000 or More

To view the latest list of donors, please click this link and use your full e-mail address (name@elon.edu) and password to access the PDF file.