Record Fundraising Year Results in $18.58 Milliion in Gifts

By John Bogley ’85
Vice President for Development and College Relations

The Now Is the Time Campaign inspired record giving by alumni, parents and friends in fiscal year 2012. The previous high was $15.25 million, achieved just last year. The outpouring of support over the last two fiscal years represents tremendous growth from the average of $11.8 million per year during the previous decade and is dramatically enhancing the student experience both in the classroom and around campus.

Donors gave $4.65 million in gifts to supplement current operations

Tuition payments and endowment income form the backbone of the college’s budget. Each year, the generous support of thousands of donors supplements the budget and supports current operations. Gifts to the Whitman Annual Fund support college priorities, such as faculty salaries and scholarships, while also helping meet emerging needs. In addition, many donors direct their gifts to specific projects or departments, providing support for their annual operating budgets. These gifts have an immediate impact.

Donors added $8.9 million to the endowment to provide permanent support for faculty, scholarships, and academic and co-curricular programs

The Campaign has increased endowment gifts from an average of $3.8 million per year over the past decade to this new record level. Several new scholarship endowments were created, and others received significant new support, including those that assist first-generation students, music majors and those studying abroad. All reunion funds and the Class of 2012 focused on building scholarship endowments. Additional gifts endowed or supplemented several longstanding programs, including environmental studies, Latin American studies, community service and community-based learning, local internships and the Whitman Institute for Scholastic Enrichment. These directed funds, as well as large estate gifts to unrestricted endowment, will help ensure Whitman can continue to be a leader in educating students in the liberal arts.

Donors gave $5 million in annuities and trusts and $4.39 million in bequest gifts that will build financial strength in the long term

Planned gifts are a strategic investment benefitting donors, heirs and the college. This year’s totals are also records for Whitman. Each year, matured legacy gifts have a profound impact on college programs. The gifts planned this year will provide new endowments to support scholarships and other donor-designated priorities in years to come.

Buoyed by these results, Whitman College’s staff and faculty join all of you – our loyal supporters – in committing to continued success of the $150 million Now Is the Time Campaign and a future for Whitman and its students where aspirations for excellence are met with the broad-based, enthusiastic and generous support of those who care about the college.