At their 50th Reunion on April 28-30, the Class of 1956 had two big leaSons to celebrate. The first -- a return to campus that was 50 wars in the making. The second -- a record-breaking class gift of $9,281,529 -- an achievement the class worked on together. "I think our class has finally figured out that the state is not supporting the College at the level it once was," says Jane Thompson Kaplan '56, who, along with Bruce '56 and Betsey Davis Hathaway '56, co-chaired this year's 50th Reunion gift committee. As state funding has declined (it now stands at less than 19 percent) reunion gifts have become an ever more essential source of funding for the College. Recent SOtll Reunion classes have risen to that challenge, leading the way among all classes celebrating reunions and consistently setting records, not only with giving, but with participation.
"We looked at our gift as a way for our class to give something back for future generations. Put simply, we love our College," says Ed Coco '55, who chaired his class's reunion gift committee last year, an effort that raised $2.137 million, "But part of our job also was to keep raising the ban We wanted the class after us to be able to learn from what we did and do even better"
Achieving ambitious goals requires elbow grease on behalf of each 50111 Reunion gift committee, which usually is comprised of 12 to 15 members. "It does take a considerable ifinount of time and teamwork it was a good eight months of hard work that occurred, really, on a daily basis," Coco admits. "But that commitment has to happen in order for the fundraising effort to be successful."
When each committee Initially meets, the group determines which areas to Support through its class gift. This year's reunion class, for example, decided to designate 75 percent of their gift to fund a need-based student scholarship named for the Class of 1956, 20 percent to the Fund for Coaching Excellence (which provides support for Tribe coaching salaries), and 5 percent to Alumni House operations. However; class members can designate their gifts to other areas, and these contribution,' will be included with the total class gift.
The committees have been 'very aware that their' success depends in large part on the alllount of participation they can generate from thell' class, which for most 50th Reunions -- has averaged about 50 percent. "We wanted people to think about giving whatever they could afford," Bruce Hathaway says. "We encouraged everybody to Participate."
"Of course, we really wanted 100 percent participation," Betsey Hathaway adds, "but we set our goal at 56 percent because it matched our class year and it seemed like all achievable number"
In 1984, the Class of 1934 assembled the first 50th Reunion class gift committee, raising a total of S51,000 for librarv acquisitions. Fifteen years laten the Class of 1949 hecmne the first 50th Reunion class to raise more than Si million and, since that time, even' 50th Reunion gift committee has exceeded that amount,
The Class of 1956's record-breaking numbers were aided in large part 1)3' two major commitments: one from Jim '57 and Jane Thompson Kaplan to the men's basketball program and a second from Bob and Sally Ives Gore '56 for the Integrated Science Center.
Over the years, 50th Reunion gifts have supported everything from endowed professorships to student scholarships to Swem Library's expansion and renovation. In the past 10 veal's, 50th Reunion efforts have contributed more than $521.7 million to William and Man's people and programs.
So what makes the 50th Reunion gift effort so successful? Perhaps it's the relationships forged with classmates that have endured over the years. "It's really been the people we've met here," Jane says. "I think people make a special effort at their 50th Class Reunion to give in honor of those special relationships."
The Hathaways agree. In fact, at William and Mary the couple forged a memorable relationship of their own, meeting the very first day of freshman year "We've had a fantastic life," Betsey says. "We attribute much of that to William and Mary"
Photo by John T. Wallace
