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Class Giving Goal: $200,000.00 - Annual Fund
$800,000.00-Class of 1960 Presidential Scholarship
Participation Goal: 100%
Ocotober Letter to Classmates from Mickey Lloyd
Dear Classmates:
Earlier this summer you received an announcement regarding our 50th Reunion Scholarship Fund. This is a fitting Class of 1960 leadership project, and one that is much needed by Trinity College. The purpose of this letter is to provide additional information about the Presidential Scholarship Program and how you can help.
The Presidential Scholars Program offers full-tuition grants to a select group of applicants whose intellectual promise is of the highest order. It was conceived in the fall of 2005 by the Faculty’s Admissions and Financial Aid Committee, and was first offered in the fall of 2006 under a pilot program. The Committee believed that scholarships would entice six or eight exemplary top-tier students to enroll at Trinity.
The results far exceeded the Committee’s expectations, and to date, Trinity has welcomed over 40 Presidential Scholars. Indeed before the Presidential Scholars Program, Trinity yielded virtually none of the students from the top 2% of admitted applicants. After three years the yield has been 10-15% of the top 2% candidates.
Your Fiftieth Reunion Committee felt that this program is worthy of our support and ask that you, as a member of the Class of 1960, give serious consideration to participating in an imaginative advancement effort which ultimately will provide 100% of the tuition to our Class of 1960 Presidential Scholar. As mentioned earlier, we must raise $800,000 in outright gifts, life income gifts, and documented bequest intentions to establish this perpetual endowment fund, which eventually will generate approximately $40,000 annually to fund the tuition of one Scholar each year. It is likely that the funds will be awarded to the same student throughout his or her academic career at Trinity.
In addition to supporting The Class of 1960 Presidential Scholarship Fund, we need to continue to sustain Trinity’s Annual Fund, which provides about 8% of the total operating budget of the College. Your participation is vital for us to raise $200,000 in gifts to be received by the College before
June 30, 2010.
The Reunion Committee is excited and challenged by this project. We have committed to a successful effort whereby every member of the Class of 1960 will have an opportunity to speak with, ask questions about, and then hopefully commit to participate in this worthwhile program.
A member of the committee will be contacting you this fall in the hope that you will join us in this important effort. Thanks for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Mickey Lloyd
September letter to Classmates from Micky Lloyd
Dear Classmates,
During the past year, a group of Class of ’60 Alumni met on several occasions to begin the planning process for our 50th Class Reunion scheduled to take place in June, 2010.
A key element of virtually all 50th Reunions (whether at Trinity or any other academic institution of merit) is the Class Gift. It is customary for the Class to offer the College a gift, usually in the form of cash donations that are folded into the operating budget of the institution or the endowment, or split in some proportion between the two. Some gifts are created and handled differently to ensure a lasting tie to the gifting class.
Our group believed strongly that our Class Gift ought to meet three key criteria:
1. Its benefits should flow directly to the basic mission of Trinity, and to the excellence of the place;
2. It should be timeless and durable, living and growing far beyond the time of when it is given;
3. It should, in perpetuity, be linked to the Trinity Class of 1960.
After deliberation and consulting with the College, we enthusiastically agreed upon a gift to be called The Class of 1960 Presidential Scholarship Program.
Here’s the rationale for this decision. Trinity is the envy of most colleges, with a gifted faculty, able students, a rigorous academic program and a long-standing tradition of excellence. However, while our student body today is a highly intelligent and motivated group, the simple truth is that the competition for the best and brightest students has become increasingly intense, and we find that sometimes we are not attracting the very brightest 1 or 2 percent of candidates. We accept them, but they generally opt for another college, often because the other colleges are offering more substantial merit and need-based financial aid packages.
When President Jones joined Trinity, he began a Presidential Scholars Program, which offered full scholarships to the very brightest students in the land; not simply to those who qualified based on financial need. The results are nothing short of remarkable. These 10 to 15 students each year have set, and are continuing to set, a wonderful and lively tone to the classroom and the overall academic community of Trinity. These young people light up the place and set a wonderful example that others are anxious to emulate. Remember, these are students who have the choice of virtually any college or
university in the world, and have selected Trinity.
The mission of Trinity and all highly selective colleges is to provide the strongest and most rigorous academic program possible to the best talent the College can attract. That is precisely what this program can do and why the Class of 1960 wants to be a part of it. That is why we intend to establish an endowed scholarship fund, the income
from which will be used to provide grants in aid to the most highly qualified individuals who apply for admission to our College. We urge every member of our Class to endorse and to contribute to this Program.
This is the 50th anniversary of our graduation - a milestone for each of us (57 members of our class –
20% of us – have already passed on) and a wonderful opportunity to do something of great value, that
will be enduring for generations, and that will assist your Trinity in being one of the finest colleges in
the country.
This is our time. This is our 50th. This is our chance to do something that will make a difference to a
place we love and a place that is worthy. This is our time to do something wonderful that will last
forever.
Sincerely,
Mickey Lloyd
P.S. Over the coming months you will receive additional information about options to fund this
Scholarship. The Goal is to raise a 50th Reunion Gift of one million dollars from outright gifts, life
income gifts and documented bequest intentions. Of that total, approximately $800,000 will create The
Class of 1960 Presidential Scholarship Fund and the balance will be directed to the Alumni Fund to
help current Trinity students.
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