Annual fund reaches all-time high of $6.35 million

By Jocelyn Wright     8/21/08 7:00pm

The Rice Annual Fund raised an all-time high of $6.35 million last year, providing more money for a variety of undergraduate programs including scholarships, fellowships and residential college life.The money raised by the annual fund is classified as unrestricted funds, meaning the entirety of the money raised in a given fiscal year is spent on programs that will directly impact students, such as scholarships, fellowships, residential college life and books and subscriptions for Fondren Library. The Annual Fund also donates to Dean of Undergraduates Robin Forman's budget, which provides funds for the Student Association and Rice Program Council, as well as study breaks. Large-scale donations for construction of new buildings or residential colleges are not part of the Annual Fund, Rice An-nual Fund Director Ginger Nash said.

"We try to put the Annual Fund dollars to use to sustain and embrace the intellectual capital [the students] so as new buildings are created on campus we're filling them with the best of the best," Nash said.

The fund accepts donations in all denominations and allows donors to earmark the funds they provide for either scholarships, fellowships or residential college life. This year, approximately $2 million of the funds raised went toward undergraduate scholarships and fellowships, Rice Annual Fund Director Ginger Nash said.

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Nash said the fund aimed to put the money where it would be used most.

"We try to put a dollar in the buckets that most touched student life," Nash said.

In addition to scholarships and fellowships, the Annual Fund provides a portion of the costs for purchasing about 49,000 books and 16,000 serial subscriptions and online services for Fondren, Director of News and Media Relations BJ Almond said.

The amount of money raised for the Annual Fund has had double digit percentage growth for the past four years, after President David Leebron challenged Development to double the amount raised, Nash said.

Last March, the Annual Fund challenged alumni from the nine residential colleges to have the greatest number of donors to the fund that month. Sid Richardson College won the challenge and was given a $1,000 check for having the greatest alumni participation in the month of March. Overall donations to the annual fund as a part of this challenge totaled $448,559, Almond said. The Senior Gift campaign is also part of efforts to raise additional funds for the Annual Fund. This year, 35 percent of the senior class donated about $6,000 to the Annual Fund, Nash said.

The number of donations from alumni factors into Rice's U.S. News & World Report rankings as one of the determining factors for alumni loyalty, which makes up about five percent of Rice's overall ranking. Nash said the number of people who gave money to the Annual Fund and other Rice philanthropy was more important than the dollar amount raised.

"We have done all we can to get alums to be aware that the amount they donate doesn't matter, participation does," Nash said.

Currently, U.S. News & World Report ranks Rice 13th overall for alumni loyalty.

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