Support our campaign; every gift matters

By Brett Vermilyea

The donor participation rate has a deeper impact than just dollars raised.

Participation is a key measuring stick by which foundations, corporations, prospective faculty and students, and other organizations gauge a university. In their eyes, it equals an explicit endorsement of the school’s mission and an investment in its future. The higher the participation, the more comfortable they are investing their own time and money.

It’s the classic situation of success begetting more success. Recently, Bold.Brilliant.Binghamton — The Campaign for Binghamton University hit nearly 20 percent alumni participation with 18,484 alumni making gifts (counting all — parents, friends, faculty, staff and others — the number jumps to 28,302 donors.)

For Binghamton, a public university relatively new at fundraising (we hired our first major gifts fundraising officer less than 20 years ago), that’s a pretty impressive number. It reflects how invested tens of thousands of people are in the University and its mission to aid students in accessing the American dream through one of the best academic programs in the country.

But, we need to do better. It’s a cliché, but every gift really does matter. It increases our participation rate, and there’s power in numbers — if every one of the alumni who hasn’t yet participated gave at least $10 a year, we could transform nearly 150 lives with a tuition-free education. Learn more at our campaign's website.