Alumni giving percentage up at MSU
Mississippi State University marked its highest giving year with over $86 million in gifts and pledges from alumni and friends for fiscal year 2012. With a $6 million increase over the previous year, the MSU Foundation also celebrated an 18.1 percentage in alumni giving participation.
When many colleges and universities are experiencing downturns in private contributions, Mississippi State has been fortunate to garner more than $60 million for the past four consecutive years. In addition, the alumni giving rate has experienced an upward trend and risen from 14.7 percent in FY09.
“Alumni giving percentage is one of the categories evaluated when calculating alumni satisfaction at an institution of higher learning, and therefore an important aspect in fundraising efforts,” stated Barbie Hampel, director of the annual giving program for the MSU Foundation.
Corporations and foundations strongly consider alumni satisfaction when deciding whether to donate to a particular university or not. When alumni participation is low, it is sometimes difficult to garner support from these external partners.
“It typically takes around 1,000 new donors to help raise the participation rate by one percent,” continued Hampel. “Though we are averaging ahead of many of our Southeastern Conference counterparts, we still have room to improve in order to compete nationally.”
Gifts of any amount to any area of the university count toward the overall participation rate. Annual gifts are tax deductible and also activate membership to the MSU Alumni Association.
For information on how to make a gift to Mississippi State University, please visit the Foundation website at msufoundation.com/ways/give, or contact Hampel at 662-325-5975 or bhampel@foundation.msstate.edu.