To make a gift to Centre, call the Alumni Office toll-free at 877-678-9822, or click here.

RELEASED: May 26, 2005

DANVILLE, KY—While horse racing won't produce a Triple Crown champion this year, Centre College is still hoping to succeed in its own version of racing's ultimate prize. Centre's "Triple Crown Challenge" was announced in February after the College received a $250,000 challenge gift from an anonymous alumnus designed to aid Centre's annual giving efforts, which end on June 30. With six weeks to go in the race, Centre is in good position but must finish strong at the wire to succeed.

Coming off of the success of the "$100K Challenge" last spring, which propelled the College back to the top position in the country in annual alumni participation for the first time in three years, this year's anonymous alumnus had three goals in mind when issuing this challenge:

Leg One – The anonymous alumnus pledged $100,000 to the College if an additional 2,500 alumni made a gift of any size between Feb. 1 and June 30. To date, over 1,500 alumni have responded to this segment of the challenge, which means the College needs fewer than 1,000 gifts from alumni who have not yet made a gift during the 2004-05 annual giving year (July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005).

Leg Two – The donor has pledged an additional $150,000 to match new and increased gifts to Centre. That means that all Centre alumni and friends can help ensure the College receives all of the available $150,000, regardless of the size and date of previous gifts. Presently, $105,711 of the $150,000 in matching funds has been utilized.

Leg Three – By increasing both the number of donors and the size of individual gifts, Centre maximizes the resources available for student financial aid, which remains the College's highest financial priority. Last year, Centre ranked 13th in the country for the average alumni gift – just ahead of Stanford. This year, the College has set a goal of breaking into the top 10.

"We're optimistic that our alumni and friends will rise to the challenge as they have for so many years," says Jamey Elliott '96, director of annual giving. "We'll certainly continue to do everything we can over the next few weeks to take advantage of this unbelievable opportunity provided by the generosity of our anonymous alumnus."

The ultimate goal is to raise as much money for students, faculty and staff as possible. "I believe our alumni have earned their national reputation for loyalty, in part, because they realize that every gift to Centre really does make a difference," says Shawn Lyons '81, associate vice president for development and alumni affairs. "That's certainly the case with the Triple Crown Challenge and the promise of $250,000."

To help ensure that the Triple Crown winner is wearing gold, black, and white silks this year, call the Alumni Office toll-free at 877-678-9822, or make a gift online at http://gifts.centre.edu/.

- end -

Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

For news archives go to http://www.centre.edu/web/news/newsarchive.html.

Back to News and Events Home Page