The gifts that alumni, parents and friends of the University make in response to yearly requests for support comprise The Annual Fund. Annual giving is a way in which the largest numbers of constituents are able to support MSOE. The
Annual Fund includes unrestricted gifts and gifts restricted for current
operations. Gifts to the Fund are expended in the fiscal year in which they
are received.
• How is the Annual Fund used?
Annual gifts support the annual operating budget. They provide the needed
financial resources to support academic programs, scholarships, equipment and
materials purchases, computers for labs, student services, as well as
academic and co-curricular programming and activities. MSOE depends on annual
gifts to sustain its position of academic excellence.
• What is the average size gift made to the Annual Fund?
During the 2010 - 2011 fiscal year,
the average gift made to the Annual Fund was $711. The average alumni gift
is $210.
• How many alumni give to MSOE? How does this compare to the giving rates at peer institutions?
During 2009 - 2010, 14% of MSOE's 18,000 living alumni contributed to the Annual Fund. The participation rate of a college's alumni is often
used to indicate alumni satisfaction. In fact, organizations that rank
colleges and universities, and many foundations that support them, consider
alumni giving as the sole indicator of the satisfaction of former students
with their education.
The top ranked technology-based universities, and their graduates, your and our competition, all have alumni giving levels in excess of 25%; in fact the top few have alumni giving levels above 35%.
This can be fixed—you can make a difference in MSOE’s national rank. All you have to do is make a gift to the MSOE Alumni Annual Fund - Make a gift today!
As our national rank improves, so does the perception and value of the education you received at MSOE. In addition, the added alumni support will assist the university with program development and scholarship support.
For example; if only 1250 of the non-donor alumni make a gift by June 30, 2012, our participation rate would jump to 20%. What is even more astounding is that if they make a gift of $50 and their company matches the gift it would result in an additional $125,000 dollars of support for MSOE and the students we serve. As you can see it’s all in the numbers.
• How can my gift make a difference?
Every gift counts toward increasing our participation rate. By making a
gift, the donor is choosing to take an active role in the life of the
university. Each gift has immediate impact. Consider this: every dollar given
to the Annual Fund equals the spendable income that $20 in the endowment
generates. Alumni giving serves as an important measure by which foundations
gauge alumni involvement and satisfaction. Foundations often consider alumni
participation rates when making major gifts to colleges and universities.
Just as important, some college guidebooks use alumni giving participation
rates as the sole criterion to assess alumni satisfaction when determining
overall institutional ratings of quality.
• What are matching gifts and will my employer match my gift?
Matching gifts are dollars matched by employers in response to charitable
contributions made by employees. Retirees, as well as spouses and domestic
partners of employees, often are also eligible for corporate matching gifts.
To find out if your employer is a matching gift company, please contact your
personnel or human resources office. To have your gift matched, complete a
matching gift form and return it, along with your contribution, to the
Development Office.