Centre News

The Centre Fund, which is supported by many of the gifts alumni
give to the College, is “unrestricted and limitless in its ability to
help Centre students,” assistant director of annual giving James
Barnard says.

The Flame Run, a blog run by the Centre alumni office, will post
videos of the “Ten Reasons Not to Give to Centre College.” The
videos will also be posted on the Centre alumni Facebook wall
and Twitter account.

With only one week left in Centre College’s fiscal year, time is running out for alumni to give to the College and recapture the national title for alumni giving. The last time Centre was No. 1 for the percentage of alumni who give to their alma mater was 2004, and the College community hopes this will be the year that Centre reclaims the title.

Alumni giving is currently at 52 percent (with many gifts coming in daily), and the alumni office hopes to increase that percentage to 60 before July 1. Giving to Centre before that deadline also means each gift will go further to help the College: every gift, regardless of size, is currently being matched two-to-one as part of the “Second Mile” challenge.

The anonymous donor who created the challenge has inspired many alumni to give this year. “The challenge has encouraged some people to contribute who may otherwise have been ‘on the fence,’” says James Barnard, assistant director of annual giving. “Sometimes people feel that if they can’t give a lot of money, there’s no point. The Second Mile challenge illustrates how every dollar counts. A gift of $25 is combined with the $50 match and is suddenly capable of achieving much more.

“While one individual may not feel able to make a huge difference,” he adds, “when we all pool our money together, we’re capable of achieving a lot.”

Many of the gifts support the Centre Fund, which “allows the College to use gifts where they are needed most,” Barnard says. “It’s unrestricted and limitless in its ability to help Centre students. While designated gifts fund specific projects or scholarships, the Centre Fund literally funds the Centre Experience. We would not be the same Centre without it—it helps to make us the unique College we are.”

For the final week of the challenge (and the fiscal year), Centre’s alumni office is counting down the top 10 reasons not to give to Centre College. Each day, they will post videos online on the Centre alumni web site, as well as on Facebook and Twitter.

By viewing the videos, alumni and friends of the College will learn 10 reasons not to give to Centre, including, “Library Books are expensive—can’t students just use Wikipedia?”

Check out the videos each day beginning Friday, June 25, for more reasons not to give. To give to Centre, click here.