7/16/12
A Special Thank You From Randolph-Macon College
Randolph-Macon College reached its goal of 38% alumni giving participation—a level that hadn’t been reached since 1993—for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012. This achievement marks another success in Randolph-Macon’s ongoing efforts to involve
alumni even more fully in the life of the college. It is also an important indicator of the good health of Randolph-Macon’s overall giving program, which is vital to the success of today’s students and to the $100 million
Building Extraordinary capital campaign. Giving among parents, faculty and staff also continued to be strong this year.
This year’s stellar giving participation among alumni was further encouraged by the
Abbate Family Challenge.
In May, Mimi Abbate McGinty ’97, Catherine Coughlin Abbate ’94 and Christopher Abbate issued a special giving challenge, “38 for 38,” to Randolph-Macon alumni. They promised to donate $38,000 to Randolph-Macon if the 38% goal was reached by June 30, 2012.
The challenge motivated many alumni to give before the deadline. A cadre of dedicated alumni volunteers also made this year’s success possible by reaching out to their classmates about the importance of giving back to Randolph-Macon.
“We are grateful for this tremendous support,” said President Robert R. Lindgren. “Our alumni are special in so many ways—school spirit and generosity are just a few—and they help make Randolph-Macon a vital, dynamic college. Our special thanks to the Abbates for their incredible ’38 for 38’ challenge and for bringing together so many loyal Yellow Jackets.”
Last but not least, Barclay DuPriest,
bookstore manager and a beloved member of the Randolph-Macon community, was once again a steadfast and effective cheerleader for the annual giving program.
“The Abbate family’s generous challenge gift is amazing,” says DuPriest. “Equally amazing was the response of our wonderful alumni. Almost everyone I called, e-mailed or reached through social media enthusiastically agreed to help us meet the challenge. What fun it was to turn on my computer each morning to find dozens of e-mails declaring ‘I gave’ or ‘I know we can do this.’”