Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Regents Incentivizes 2013 Gifts

Georgetown’s Board of Regents will match each percent of student participation in the Class of 2013 Fund with a gift of $1,000, the board announced Wednesday.

This announcement comes after the senior class hit 500 gifts in November, the earliest in the year a class has ever reached that milestone. These gifts marked a class participation rate of 30 percent.

This year’s match comes in lieu of an initially anonymous $1 million gift from graduate parents James (B ’80) and Elizabeth (NHS ’80) Eisensteinlast year that made the Class of 2012 Fund the most successful ever.

Class of 2013 Fund co-chairs Jessica Douglass (MSB ’13) and Christina Dupre (SFS ’13) see the contribution as a commitment to philanthropy.

“We have a lot more parents that were involved in [the decision]… and the way they look at giving is a lot more of actually giving as opposed to how much they give,” Dupre said.

Douglass, who became involved in Georgetown-related philanthropy through the 1634 Society, agreed.

“It’s just getting in that spirit and tradition of giving back,” Douglass said. “The message that we and [the Office of Advancement] and rest of the school are trying to say is that anyone can make a difference.”

In an email to Douglass, the Board of Regents shared their enthusiasm for the progress thus far.

“The Regents believe strongly in the importance of your efforts in creating a class of young philanthropists who are already making a priority to give back to Georgetown. Every one of your gifts matters and we hope that this match will help boost your fundraising efforts,” the email read.

Dupre is confident that the Class of 2013 can continue the upward trend and surpass the Class of 2012’s participation rate of 70 percent.

“Seeing the success of last year has been helpful in learning what works well and what we can improve on,” said Dupre. “Our goal this year is 85 percent participation, and if we reach 85 percent [the Regents] will donate $85,000.”

The class fund will support the Campaign for Georgetown and its 1789 Scholarship Imperative, which funds 1,789 undergraduate scholarships. Nonetheless, bothco-chairs encouraged members of the senior class to make contributions to specific Georgetown programs and services based on their individual passions.

“What we’re trying to make people understand is that you’re not just arbitrarily giving your money to Georgetown. If you have something that has really been a big part of your experience here, you can donate to that,” said Dupre.

Upcoming events will include a wine and cheese tasting, school-oriented speakers and event nights and a challenge to raise 224 new gifts by Georgetown’s 224th birthday Jan. 21.

Douglass stressed that participation in these events is imperative to the class fund’s overall success.

“It’s a lot, but we’re hoping that people will step up to the plate. That would be really amazing and that would bring us up close to 45 percent,” she said.

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