Aug 14, 2008 - Claremont, Calif. - The results are in.

It was an excellent fund-raising year for Harvey Mudd College, according to President Maria Klawe.

“We exceeded our annual fund goal for the year, raising more than $4 million,” said Klawe. “This represents a more than 30 percent increase over last year’s total. We are particularly grateful to our exceptionally generous trustees, whose annual fund giving of $1,252,634 set an all-time HMC record.”

In fact, 100 percent of trustees contributed to the annual fund, elevating the total dollars raised by 60 percent over last year.

The Alumni Association Board of Governors also achieved 100 percent in donations and pledges, and contributions by HMC alumni to the annual fund reached $2,081,409, up 26 percent from the previous year.

“The college is very grateful to the more than 2000 alumni, parents, faculty, staff, students and friends who generously supported the annual fund, despite a challenging economic climate,” said Marc Archambault, HMC’s vice president for college advancement.

Gifts to the annual fund allow the college to provide essential financial aid and faculty resources, which are not fully covered by tuition or income from the endowment.  Through their support of the annual fund, alumni, parents and friends have considerable impact on the quality of education provided by the college.

Other significant developments included an increase of more than 70 percent in support contributed by parents and a 7 percent jump in the overall number of donors to the college.

Total giving by faculty and staff grew by 20 percent, fueled in part by a 10 percent increase in the number of donors.

In addition to these important constituencies, dollars received from private foundations also climbed 20 percent.

Overall, the total number of gifts, pledges, grants and contracts received by the college from all sources, including those directed to the annual fund, grew 15 percent from last year, to almost $15 million.

The only reported decrease was in alumni participation, which came in at 36 percent, significantly lower than the college’s target of 41 percent.  The figure is calculated by dividing the number of alumni donors by the total number of alumni for whom the college has sound contact information.

“Although we received gifts from nearly the same number of alumni as last year, we solicited a much larger alumni base because we’ve worked hard to locate many of the alumni we had lost touch with over the years,” Archambault explained. “Simply finding lost alumni is a critical first step in encouraging them to reengage with the college. But, of course, building those relationships takes more than one year. This first year, because the denominator in the participation rate calculation was larger, while the number of donors held steady, our rate dropped.”

“The other major factor contributing to the low participation rate is the economic downturn, which has resulted in drops of two to four percent in participation rates at most colleges,” added Klawe. “While the participation rate is disappointing, I am delighted by our excellent outcomes in all other areas.”