Vice President's Report

To Trinity’s generous benefactors:

I am writing this for three reasons. First, on behalf of a very grateful College, I wish to convey to you our heartfelt appreciation for your philanthropic investment. We know that charitable giving is a voluntary act. You have many philanthropic choices, and you have made Trinity one of your giving priorities. That you have chosen Trinity makes us very appreciative. We genuinely thank you.

Just as you have giving choices, our students have choices, too. They are bright, ambitious, and hopeful. They tell us they selected Trinity as their college because of great faculty members like Ward Curran, Cheryl Greenberg, Drew Hyland, Joan Morrison, and dozens more. They chose Trinity because the College provides generous financial aid to those who need it. They choose Trinity because of our urban and global programs, including opportunities to intern and volunteer in Hartford, or go to Rome, Paris, and now Shanghai, among other choices, where they learn to be both knowledgeable about, and comfortable in, urban settings. They chose Trinity because 40 percent of them are student-athletes playing one or more of our 29 varsity sports, competing at the highest level among our NESCAC peers. They chose Trinity because of a robust career services program, science summer research opportunities, the historic Long Walk, and an abundance of other features that define the Trinity environment and the Trinity experience.

Every example of why these inquisitive, eager, motivated students choose Trinity is also an example of where your philanthropy hits the target. Without your investment, there would be fewer professors, larger classes, and less access to the real mentoring that is a signature of Trinity’s academic excellence.

Without your philanthropy, fewer students would be given financial aid, which would deny them, and the entire Trinity community, opportunities to learn, to grow, and to contribute. Absent your gifts, we would have a far less robust intercollegiate athletic program, fewer Hartford or summer science internships, a diminished career services program, and a discernible reduction in the number of opportunities that Trinity has to help transform students of promise into self-confident, adaptable, industrious leaders. Of course, some of this is paid for by tuition. But charitable giving is that extra hand of providence that adds tangible value and distinction. It is your hands at work.

Philanthropy is clearly a team sport at Trinity, and, at least figuratively, one of our most successful varsity sports! This past year, more than 12,500 alumni, parents, friends, faculty, staff, students, and charitable organizations combined to contribute $39.4 million in gifts. Most noteworthy:

• The Trinity College Fund achieved a record $8.674 million.
• Trinity’s parents contributed a record $1.366 million to the Trinity College Fund total, and recorded 1,888 parent donors, a donor level never before achieved.
• 52.6 percent of the faculty and more than one-third of the staff contributed to special financial aid funds for students in need.
• 90.88 percent of the Class of 2009 supported this year’s Senior Class Gift Scholarship.
• Nearly 1,100 alumni, parents, and friends were Long Walk Societies members, the largest number in history.
• For more information about Trinity's income and expenses, click here.

What stimulated such a phenomenal year for charitable giving, when so many other colleges were seeing steep declines in giving? It started with the 222 Pacesetters who pooled over $4.8 million in gifts to incentivize other donors to give to Trinity. We want to give a special salute to this group, many of them members of the Board of Trustees, the Board of Fellows, and the Executive Committee of the National Alumni Association, for setting an incredible example of advancing Trinity.

There is an old proverb that says, “If you would have a blessing upon your riches, bestow a good portion of them in charity.” Trinity is blessed by so many who live by this proverb. Thank you, immensely, for what you have done as benefactors, and what it means to this great college and its mission. 

Sincerely,

Ronald A. Joyce
Vice President for College Advancement