In a world where the state continues to cut funding to higher education – the governor’s proposed budget would see Fort Lewis College take a $577,000 hit next year – the role of alumni generosity takes on an even higher importance.
Mark Jastorff, vice president for advancement, and his staff have set the first-ever $1 million goal for the alumni Annual Fund campaign. That’s an increase of $120,000 over last year, and they brought in an additional $175,000 the previous year.
“If you look at who donates to most colleges and universities, it’s usually 70 percent from alumni, 30 percent other donors,” Jastorff said. “We’re the inverse right now, so there should be a lot of room to grow alumni giving.”
The national average for percentage of alumni who give is about 4.5 percent. FLC’s alumni come in at 3 to 3.5 percent. More than 600 alumni donated more than $520,000 of last year’s total, and gifts of $100 or less added up to $113,000 of alumni giving.
It’s not as though alumni can’t afford to give. According to Payscale, the median salary for FLC grads from graduation to five years out is just over $38,000, and 10 years out, that rises to $68,000. And according to The Institute for College Access and Success, FLC students graduate with the lowest average student debt in Colorado, averaging $19,507. Colorado’s average is $25,064, and the national average is $28,950.
“Durango is a big part of the attraction of FLC,” said Mitch Davis, spokesman for the college. “Some students like it so much, they stay and wait tables to enjoy the outdoor recreation, which takes the salary levels down some.”
One of the college’s challenges until a few years ago was that it only had contact with about 10,000 to 12,000 of its approximately 28,000 alumni, about 43 percent. Finding them was a priority for President Dene Thomas when she began her tenure at the Fort. With the help of social media, that number has increased to 90 percent, about 25,000.
The college is working harder at getting its message out and making alumni and the community feel connected to the school and its future. Last week, its new biannual magazine came off the press. The cover features not an image from campus, as many college publications are wont to do, but a student member of the college’s Engineers Without Borders chapter in Nicaragua.
“We chose Engineers Without Borders because it is celebrating its 10th anniversary,” Jastorff said. “It pulls students from multiple disciplines across campus, and it’s changing the world.”
The magazine features current student and faculty achievements, alumni accomplishments and activities, athletics, an orange river and information about Durango. It will be mailed to alumni, parents of current students, benefactors, legislators, civic leaders and government officials, Jastorff said, as well as going into the Welcome Center and area hotels.
“We hope it will inspire alumni to pay it forward,” he said. “They haven’t done it at higher numbers in part because we haven’t engaged them and asked.”
abutler@durangoherald.com
