Hartford, Conn., August 5, 2008 – For a third straight fiscal year, Trinity College has achieved several new fundraising records, thanks to the generosity of donors to the College.
Overall, gifts to Trinity for all purposes reached $36.6 million, a 32 percent increase over the prior year. Included in that amount was a record $8.2 million in unrestricted annual gifts for The Trinity College Fund, and a Trinity Fund total that reached $13.8 million, another record for the College.
Trinity’s alumni giving participation rate was 55.4 percent – among the highest alumni participation rates of all national colleges and universities. This is the third consecutive year that alumni participation has exceeded 55 percent.
Parent giving set new records, with 1,812 donors and $1.31 million raised for the Parents Fund, nearly a $150,000 increase over last year. Total parent giving for all purposes was almost $2.8 million.
Graduating seniors also showed strong support, with 92 percent of the members of the Class of 2008 contributing to The Trinity Fund. Again, this is the third straight year that graduating seniors have topped 90 percent class participation.
In reflecting on these results, President James F. Jones, Jr. said, “It is uplifting to see this level of philanthropic investment by so many. Our goals continue to be to expand access to students of talent and promise, sustain the excellence of our faculty, and ensure that our physical environment best nurtures learning, in and outside the classroom. It is heartening to see that our 13,000 donors share our passion for these goals.”
Jones also praised the leadership of Thayer Bigelow ’65, George Kellner ’64, and Cornie Thornburgh ’80, tri-chairs of the Cornerstone Campaign for Trinity, a $350-million comprehensive fundraising effort that was publically launched in October 2007. To date, $140.4 million has been given or pledged towards the six-year Cornerstone Campaign, which has a targeted completion date of June 2012 and includes The Trinity Fund, gifts to endowment, special projects, and campus improvements. The campaign seeks to raise $215 million in new gifts to Trinity’s endowment, which had an estimated value of $415 million at the close of the fiscal year (June 2008). This past year, alumni added $19 million more in gifts to the endowment. Campus improvements encompassed by the campaign include a $32.9-million project on schedule to be completed by the start of the new school year: the historic restoration and renovation of Trinity’s Long Walk buildings, one of the country’s finest examples of collegiate Gothic architecture, originally constructed in 1875-1878.
For the second year in a row, Trinity’s fundraising success also has received national recognition from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), with a 2008 CASE-WealthEngine Award for Educational Fundraising. Trinity is one of 11 colleges in the category of Private Liberal Arts Institutions receiving the national award for Overall Fundraising Performance. Along with Trinity, the other honorees include Colgate University, Middlebury College, Wesleyan University, and Williams College.