University hopes to address ‘gender divide’ in financial donations
Dartmouth University is seeking to have more of its female alumnae give it more money, undertaking a capital campaign in order to shrink the “gender gap” in donations.
The school’s most recent capital campaign, titled “The Call to Lead,” will, in part, “encourage 100 donations of $1 million or more” from women graduates, as well as “expand membership of the Centennial Circle,” a group of female donors, “from its current 188 members to 250 members by 2019,” The Dartmouth reports.
Prior to the founding of the Centennial Circle four years ago in 2014, male donors “gave 4.7 times more money than women,” The Dartmouth reports. In the intervening four years that gap has shrunk to 2.5.
The school is also hoping to solicit donations from women to “help rebuild Dartmouth Hall — a project that will cost $25 million.”
From The Dartmouth:
Previous fundraising tactics created competition between class years, which was successful for targeting men associated with the College, but women were not receptive to it, Laine said. The focus of the current initiative is to have women reach across class years and encourage each other to give to the College, [Centennial Circle Director Mindi] Laine said.
Like the Centennial Circle, the emphasis on alumnae giving in the campaign came from alumnae of the College.
“To me, the thing that I am excited by in these initiatives is that they came from us,” said a founder of the Centennial Circle and one of the alumnae driving the initiative Caroline Hribar ’00. “This wasn’t something that Dartmouth said ‘We’ve got this marketing ploy and we want you to help sell it.’”
According to vice president for communications at the College Justin Anderson, 53 alumnae and widows of Dartmouth alumni have committed to donations of $1 million or more to the College so far. In comparison, four women donated at least $1 million during Dartmouth’s previous capital campaign, which ended in 2010, Anderson said.
According to one Dartmouth alumna, donors will have opportunities to “name specific classrooms and parts of the building after communities alumnae find important.”
MORE: Dartmouth devotes $1 million per year for diversity initiative
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