Giving to Goshen College Fund surpasses goal and alumni participation rate rises

GOSHEN, Ind. – Goshen College reports that annual giving for the 2007-08 fiscal year, which ended June 30, reached a 15-year high, which will allow the college to provide more student aid, promote academic excellence and innovation and foster greater spiritual development.

Vice President of Institutional Advancement William A. Jones said the increased level of giving will help the college pay for urgent and important needs and is an indication that faculty, staff, alumni, parents, friends and local residents strongly support the college’s mission.

“We are so grateful for the generosity of our supporters who continue to believe in the quality of education we provide to our students and in our Christ-centered core values,” Jones said. “We thank them for their gifts, prayers and encouragement.”

During this fiscal year, the unrestricted Goshen College Fund received the largest amount of contributions in the last 15 years, a total of $2,119,388, Jones reported. This is $157,275 more than last year and 5.97 percent above the college’s goal of raising $2 million.

Gifts to the Goshen College Fund directly support the college’s operating budget, which includes the special and ordinary costs of striving to fulfill the college’s mission: more than $7 million in unrestricted student scholarship aid (with additional endowed and restricted scholarship aid bringing the total student financial assistance from the college to more than $8.3 million); the salaries and benefits for more than 300 faculty and staff; and a myriad of other costs, like $800,000 in gas and electricity bills.

After four years of decline, the percent of alumni who gave increased in 2007-08, from 25.9 percent to 26.7 percent. There were 4,459 alumni who gave a total of $3,780,650, which is $1,078,171 more than last year.

Overall giving to Goshen College totaled $5,146,285 in contributions. This total includes the GC Fund as well as gifts for specific purposes or the endowment.

Contributing towards the overall giving were 4,489 total donor households, 204 more alumni households than last year. One hundred percent of the 15 members of the college’s Board of Directors contributed a total of $91,997. And, for the first time on record, 100 percent of the 22 members of the college’s Alumni Board contributed. There were 151 faculty and staff who contributed a total of $101,747. And churches gave $200,043 this year.

President James E. Brenneman said, “I am so thankful for the abundant support we have received from alumni, friends, churches and businesses this year. They have captured the vision of where this top-tier Christ-centered academic institution is headed as we prepare students for successful careers and vocations that will both change individual lives and the world.”

Editors: For more information about this release or to arrange an interview, contact Goshen College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S.News & World Report‘s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu.