Stewardship and Reunion Giving

25th Reunion Gift Record-Setting Reunion for Alumni Annual Fund

Reunion 2007 broke several Alumni Annual Fund (AAF) records for participation and money raised. Thanks to enthusiastic volunteers and donors, Carleton alumni contributed more than $6 million to the AAF for the first time in history.

Reunion giving highlights include:

Reunion classes contributed a combined record total of $2,519,535 to the AAF, an increase of more than 110 percent over what these same classes raised in fiscal year 2006.
Reunion classes averaged 58.5 percent for participation, which led to a record-matching rate of 56 percent for overall alumni participation in fiscal year 2007, up 2 percent from the previous year and the first increase in five years.
Leading all reunion classes in participation, the Class of 1972 set a new 35th-reunion participation record with 72 percent of the class contributing to the AAF.
The Classes of 1952 and 1962 set new gift records. With a contribution of $804,617, the Class of 1962 more than quadrupled its fiscal year 2006 gift and tripled the prior 45th-reunion record.
Each class from the 10th reunion to the 55th reunion raised more than $77,000.
Paul Van Valkenburg, Charlie Cogan, and Beth Pearson led the Class of 1982, known during Reunion weekend as the "Raiders of the Lost Art," to an astounding 25th-reunion gift. Fifty-five percent of the class (271 members) gave $351,651 to Carleton, quadrupling their previous largest class gift and reaching their highest participation level.
The Class of 1957 achieved a 78 percent participation level and presented Carleton with a gift of $9.1 million in current gifts and future commitments during the alumni convocation.

Lunch and Legacies

Laurel Grotzinger ’57 and Lowell Larson ’57 Spirits were high at the annual Reunion luncheon hosted by the College to honor members of the Joseph Lee Heywood Society and to thank them for their gifts of future support. The Heywood Society includes more than 1,400 living members who have provided for Carleton in their estate plans or through a deferred gift.

Honorary 2007 Heywood Society co-chairs Laurel Grotzinger ’57 and Lowell Larson ’57 spoke about their decisions to support Carleton beyond their lifetimes.

John Smith-Ricco ’07 “The legacy we create now will help future generations, just as the thoughtfulness of those who preceded us benefits many Carleton students today,” said Grotzinger.

In his remarks to members of the Heywood Society, recent Carleton graduate John Smith-Ricco ’07—the recipient of the Walter G. Andrews ’35 and Louise Seeger Andrews ’35 Scholarship (established by a planned gift) and the ABC Diversity Scholarship—offered this perspective: “Carleton invited me to think differently about how I could [live] my life, giving me a chance to be vulnerable to the uncertainty of new experiences. Because of you, students like me are afforded the privilege of this education.”

GOLDEN YEARS

50th Reunion Fundraisers Members of the Class of 1957 celebrated their 50th reunion by sharing memories and stories while renewing friendships and recalling formative Carleton experiences.

“Over these past 50 years, my classmates and I have come to value deeply each reunion and our ongoing association with the College,” said class president John Sheagren. “Among all the gifts the College has given us, the most precious are our friendships and our education, which continue to this day and beyond.”

Sheagren and Katherine Werness Youngblood were co-chairs for the reunion planning team that included 33 of their classmates. Publicity co-chairs Belle Burridge Scott and Dick Patsey directed a successful effort that brought back to campus 45 percent of the group—110 out of 242 classmates. Program co-chairs Nancy Reed Mancuso and Roger Atwood, who passed away on March 19, 2007, coordinated a rich slate of activities for the weekend. Class gift co-chairs Ruth Harkison Waterbury and Bill Comer led the class’s fund-raising activities.

A portion of the class’s reunion gift will fund the Class of 1957 Visiting Scholar for Interdisciplinary Studies, a position that will increase opportunities for students to learn from the diverse perspectives visiting scholars bring to campus.

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