---

BY MARY PRAGER

In print | April 10, 2008

Never has your money been worth more. Starting this week, students can donate money to the new Fund the Future 10:1 Campaign, an initiative to raise money for the college’s loan-free program. Most notably, Giles Kemp ‘72 will match the sum of students’ personal donations tenfold. The campaign will last throughout this fiscal year, which ends June 30.

The idea for the initiative grew out of a board meeting in December. “Kemp approached [Student Council President] Peter Gardner with an idea he had about wanting to get students involved, by starting a matching grant fund,” Student Council Appointments Chair Nate Erskine ‘10 said. "I think the idea is that what he wants and what Student Council wants is for the whole entire community to get behind this, regardless of whether they’re on financial aid or not."

Student Council members will be tabling in Parrish Wednesday and Thursday of this and next week. Students, faculty, staff, parents and alumni will be able to slip cash or a check into envelopes, seal them and write their name and class year. The envelopes will be sent to the appropriate office and account.

Kemp’s offer to donate ten times students’ contributions is, as far as Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Stephen Bayer knows, unique to Swarthmore. “I haven’t heard of other 10:1 matches,” he said. “I heard of 2:1, 3:1, we have a 5:1 anonymous match for the senior class gift to the Annual Fund, but nothing like a 10:1 — this is pretty astounding.”

According to Bayer, the college is using a three-tiered fund raising plan. The first tier focuses on funding the loan-free financial aid plan. The second sets to address the increasing cost of financial aid, which for many outstrips increases in income. The third tier deals with financial aid for international students. “The goal eventually [is] going need-blind for international students, although that probably won’t happen in the next couple of years,” Bayer said. “Gil Kemp, being an amazing, wonderfully philanthropic member of the board, has chosen to challenge the students with a wonderful matching gift.”

At the moment, there is no set target for the campaign. While Kemp may have set a cap, he has not made it public. “We’re aiming to see how much we can get,” Gardner said. “Several thousand dollars from students would be ideal.”

According to Director of Alumni Development Patricia A. Laws, the Fund the Future campaign dates back to the Board of Managers’ decision to make Swarthmore financial aid packages loan-free. The loan-free initiative, which the Board of Managers announced Dec. 12, 2007, demonstrates Swarthmore’s commitment to leveling the financial playing field for students and their parents, according to Laws. Student “Swarthmore” loans will be replaced by grants starting in the fall. According to the Swarthmore Web site, endowing the program requires an extra $40 million. The interest earned from the $40 million would provide the $1.7 million annually necessary to fund the loan-free plan.

The Fund the Future campaign would contribute to the above amount, although, according to Gardner, the campaign is largely a symbolic gesture to show that students care about the initiative, about financial aid and about accessibility and diversity of all classes. “That’s the spirit of philanthropy we should be taking,” he said.

Laws hopes the Fund the Future campaign will help motivate alumni, parents and friends of the college to also donate. “Student Council has really shown exceptional leadership in launching this campaign and student philanthropy will inspire alumni to act, too,” Laws said in an e-mail. The college currently has a goal of raising $20 million by June 30, 2010. So far, $4.5 million, or 22.5%, has been committed.

The college’s annual Report of Gifts will publish names of students who donate money, be it one cent or a hundred dollars. The college will respect those who request anonymity, although Laws says this year’s report may require extra pages to fit all the students who donate to the campaign.

Swarthmore is currently transitioning between two major capital campaigns. The last campaign, “The Meaning of Swarthmore,” ended in Dec. 2006 and raised $245 million, exceeding its goal of $230 million. The current initiative, Bayer said, “stems from the desire to raise a tremendous amount of money for financial aid for the next couple of years,” while the college gears up for the next major capital campaign.

As with any small private institution, Swarthmore relies on donations from community members to cover expenses each year. “We’re only spending about 4% of the endowment every year,” Bayer said. “It’s not a checking account.”

However, the college is by no means relying on student contributions with this 10:1 campaign. Rather, Bayer highlighted the educational component of the campaign as an opportunity for students to learn about philanthropy in general, and about how philanthropists can leverage their gifts by encouraging other people to donate.

“It’s not about how much, it’s just about engaging them in philanthropy in general and recognizing the school is a place that requires significant donations to run every year,” Bayer said.

Student Council members will be promoting the Fund the Future campaign over the next few weeks. Their first event, a discussion by Jim Bock, took place Tuesday evening.

---

« RETURN TO NEWS

« PREV ARTICLE | NEXT ARTICLE »